Creak from body bushing?

unkleJ · August 3, 2004

It seems that my truck has developed a creak under braking from the rear/passenger side body bushing. Do any of you have this problem? I haven't retorqued the bolt yet... hopefully that will fix it.

Jeff

dukbludvl · August 4, 2004

Yeah, I've had that problem for a long time. It even does it now when I have shut the engine off and get out of the truck sometimes (well, I am 6'7" and about 300 pounds). I've tried spraying silicone on the bushings front and back. sometimes that seems to dampen it a bit for a while, but not very long. Let me know if you find out the exact cause of yours -- even if it's tightening a bolt. I'd like to fix mine and maybe it would be the same cause as yours.

deepdiver1950 · August 4, 2004

For 2 years I had a bad squeak (creak) coming from what seemed to be the passenger door. 3 or 4 times I brought it to the dealer but they said that they couldn’t duplicate the problem and yet every time I would get it back this creak would go away for a couple of months. Finally I complained so much that the dealer changed all the rubber on the door and re-aligned it. Creak still there. One day I was talking to a shop mechanic & I asked him why the creak went away after I brought it to the shop only to return latter. He explained to me that any time a customer complains about a squeak that they automatically spray the whole undercarriage with oil hopping to get it. This explains why it went away only to return. And then The dealer decide that both of my rear springs were bad & they changed them. The day that I picked up the truck I asked the service manager if they had test drove the truck to see if the noise was still there. He assured me that they had & that the creaking was gone. When I left there I got about 1/2 mile down the road and there it was just as bad as ever ( d**n lying dealers ). I decided to stop at a body shop on my way home and ask them about it. The guy took a ride in the truck, came back and reached under the truck. He put his hand on the rubber mount that the cab is mounted on and he said “ this is the problem, tighten it and spray it with oil”. I did that and the squeak went away for a while, when it came back I priced a new one. $28, I will change it myself. I never cease to be amazed at how stupid these dealers are. 2 years & many hundreds of dollars in time and materials and they never found the problem ( the guy at the body shop found it in 5 minutes ). I have not and will not tell the dealer what I have learned.

Dustin07 · August 4, 2004

DeepDiver1950- how the hell do you only have 19K on a 2001?

deepdiver1950 · August 4, 2004

I have another vehicle that is my work car so I don't drive the truck much, but the amazing thing is how much trouble that I've had with this truck considering that It only has 19,000 miles. Profesional grade? That is a joke at best or an outright lie.

OUMike · August 4, 2004

Profesional grade? That is a joke at best or an outright lie.

This is a sore nerve with some people. Professional Grade and GMC definatly go hand in hand. Every make and every model is going to have a handfull of trucks that arn't perfect. I have a 94' Silverado, and I would stack its dependability against anyones 03 or 04. Nothing has gone wrong on that truck that shoudln't have gone wrong.

You mentioned your truck has 19,000 miles. That is the worst thing for a car. To sit. Should be about double that. Just my $.02.

deepdiver1950 · August 5, 2004

OUMIKE------Perhaps you are right. But the stainless steel muffler,that should last 100,000 miles, has rotted out twice. The dealer says that it is because I don’t drive the truck enough. I say that it is because it is made out of a cheap grade of stainless. Is it possible ( I think probable) that the quality has dropped since your 94 was built? I have a 90 olds, I got it in 91 with 12,000 miles it now has 140,000, and it has never been in the shop, except for a couple mufflers. The olds has been a much better vehicle than the GMC. I do feel that the quality of all Gm products has dropped in recent years.

Maybe you were lucky enough to get one of the better trucks that were built in 94 and I was unlucky enough to get one of the lesser trucks that were built in 01. But I can see that you read this forum often & I'm sure that you must have noticed, as I have, that a lot of guys are having a lot of trouble with their newer trucks.

unkleJ · August 7, 2004

Well, I tried to retorque the bolts...it did nothing. So I made an appointment at the dealer for Friday... They told me it was my seat....I said its not my seat because in the rain the other night the creak disappeared. Long story short, the dealers suck, just like I expected. So, my next plan of attack is taking apart the body mount and coating it with polyurathane bushing lube... This stuff sticks to everything and it should never wear off. I'll keep you guys posted to see how it works...

I'm a bit pissed off that my 4200 mile truck is creaking... I should have bought that subaru STI, or toyota... o-well, I just hate these little problems.

unkleJ · August 7, 2004

OK, so it was in fact coming from the body mount...and the creak is 97% gone (only does it once and a while, though through the 10 test drive I did) Heres what I did. I found out that GM uses a product called Viscotene, which is made by Wynns, on the assembly line to cure creaks and other noises coming from body mounts and other bushings. The lubricate goes on as a watery film and dies to a sticky flim. This film is waterproof and won't come off unless cleaned with WD/40. So I guess we will see how that works out. FYI - I just sprayed the outside, I didn't take the mount apart.

If the creak comes back, I will take the mount apart and coat it with a product called Formula 5 Prelube. This producted is used to lubricate polyurethane bushings and has the same sticky/waterproof qualities that should make it last a long time.

Hope this helps

Jeff

unkleJ · August 7, 2004

sorry, I can't spell sometimes. I meant Lubricant, and Dries

99-2door · August 7, 2004

OUMIKE------Perhaps you are right. But the stainless steel muffler,that should last 100,000 miles, has rotted out twice. The dealer says that it is because I don’t drive the truck enough. I say that it is because it is made out of a cheap grade of stainless. Is it possible ( I think probable) that the quality has dropped since your 94 was built? I have a 90 olds, I got it in 91 with 12,000 miles it now has 140,000, and it has never been in the shop, except for a couple mufflers. The olds has been a much better vehicle than the GMC. I do feel that the quality of all Gm products has dropped in recent years.

Maybe you were lucky enough to get one of the better trucks that were built in 94 and I was unlucky enough to get one of the lesser trucks that were built in 01. But I can see that you read this forum often & I'm sure that you must have noticed, as I have, that a lot of guys are having a lot of trouble with their newer trucks.

Do you primarily use the truck for very short trips? If the exhaust doesn't reach and maintain a certain temp every once in awhile condensation is expelled from the muffler. You will see this on short trip vehicles all the time. The mufflers rust out. Doesn't matter what it is made of.

A lady that my dad worked with only lived a few blocks from the job. She drove her truck everday but only a short distnace eash trip. She had to put a muffler on that thing at least once a year.