Possible New Owner Looking for Tips

[Ron505]

This truck has been in Ohio it's whole life, and it has minimal surface rust on the under carriage that I will take care of with  a good  scrubbing and Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator.   Working with my bank now.  

This thing is almost as clean as the other two GM Trucks that I have purchased.  2000 Z71 in 2000 with 11k  miles, and my 2007 GMT900 in 08 with 14k miles.   I'd say that whoever had this took very good care of it, and put some money into it.  Glad to see that there are still people out there that take care of their stuff.  I was beginning to worry. 

Next on the list:

Full service

Slush mats

Seat Covers

Shocks

Level

Tires and maybe wheels

Headlights

[truckguy82]

1 hour ago, MixerDriver said:

I wouldn't expect you to have any rust problems since the longest you've had a vehicle was 18 months. Keep a vehicle a few years, and you'll see rust. 

No florida is weird, its almost like arizona. Old cars still look fantastic.

[KARNUT]

So, ocean front property in Arizona is true I thought that was a joke.


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[Ron505]

Ok guys, I discovered a tick today. You can hear it pretty well outside.  Seems like it's towards the back of the motor/firewall.

In my searches on the forum,  I'm reading all kinds of things from fuel pump, fuel line, direct injection noise, bent pushrods, lifters, etc...

WTF!  Has GM changed that much over the last 10 years?   Am I going to regret this? 

 

Please help before I sign on the dotted line.

 

[Loco-diablo]

It’s at a dealer, yes? A Chevrolet dealer? What do they say about it. They should look at it so see what it is.


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[Ron505]

Yes, they say it is normal.  I even had them pull another one up next to it with the same mileage, and it sounds very close to the same.  Maybe not quite as loud.

[Ron505]

I stopped at 3 different GM dealerships this morning (non of them is the one I am buying form).

 

1st one said that's the GM sound, due to the direct injection, and it's normal.

2nd said that the high pressure fuel pump makes that sound, and it is normal.

3rd said that it is the sound of the newer 5.3's, and that I could try a heavier, conventional weight oil, because they are using that oil to save gas only.  But it's the normal sound. 

[Donstar]

You are buying a used truck and every hiccup is going to worry you for awhile. New vehicles can also have problems but the warranty reduces such worries!   I doubt there are any known issues with the vehicle you're considering especially with the dealer letting you take it home for a few days prior to purchase.   You still have lots of powertrain warranty.  

I don't know your circumstances, but on the surface I believe I have found myself in a comparable situation where I could afford a higher trim level truck with some miles on the odometer.   I discovered that a more basic new truck, when factoring in other costs, was just as achievable.  Your "next on the list" items would be mostly covered by buying new and any tick, drip or rattle will be fixed for free.  My truck costs for my first two years of ownership of my 2015 was just fuel and insurance.  Any extra money spent on it was voluntary.   Before you sign on the dotted line,  see what your dealer has in new stock that has been sitting on the lot for awhile.  BTW I'm not a salesman nor am I fan of car loans.  I am simply providing my perspective.

[wforrest08]

Bought my 15 new off the lot in 15. Now has 29,xxx miles has made the pump/drive noise from day one (I’m assuming, didn’t notice it for a couple days but I was in a new truck coma) like they all do. There has been a fair amount of discussion on this site and every other GM forum about it and whether it’s the pump or the drive or injectors or something else (do a couple google searches fuel pump noise, injector noise, direct drive noise thousands of pages of this) and a handful of “remidies” (like heavy oil or noise deadening materials) none of which I would do, but that’s me. The corvettes, some GM SUVs and sedans have this “issue” also.

 

 Apparently it’s the nature of the beast with DI motors and the high fuel pressure they require at least with GM.

 

Your only going to get minimal lip service from service department employees at any stealership about this cause I can’t imagine any salesmen telling customers about this at the time of purchase causing hundreds if not thousands of them to return at some point to inquire about it probably usually at the service department counter.

 

 

[wforrest08]

On 2/25/2018 at 11:59 PM, tanner709 said:

You're right but, a nice well balanced tandem axle will haul like a breeze. It's just the starts and stops that you really have to watch.

You’re ?% correct. I was actually impressed with my little 5.3 once I got her rolling from stops. But stopping was definitely nerve racking even with dual axle trailer brakes and a lot of gain set on the controller. 

[tanner709]

3 minutes ago, wforrest08 said:

You’re ?% correct. I was actually impressed with my little 5.3 once I got her rolling from stops. But stopping was definitely nerve racking even with dual axle trailer brakes and a lot of gain set on the controller. 

Yeah I was impressed too, did not have the braking issue but I always stayed under the limit. I also used tow/haul mode as qell, which really helped stopping power by downshifting.

 

Here's a pic of a 16' enclosed trailer, steel

chassis, tandem axle, with electric brakes. I typically set the gain @ 1.0 on the stock trailer brake. LT tires really help me here, there's 2 sections of steel scaffold, 50 sheets of 1/2" plywood, tools, and other odds and ends in that trailer. I'd guess somewhere around the 7-8k lb mark, no issues

[shadowsnkx]

Congrats on the purchase, I picked up a 15 with 29k miles at the end of December. Every noise has bothered me, but i'm starting to get used to it.