Sierra Questions

02slt · September 17, 2008

Gentlemen,

I recently bought a Sierra and had a few questions that I hope you guys could help me out with. It is a bit of a long read, but I would appreciate the insight.

it's an 02 Sierra ext. cab, 5.3L & 215xxx km's on it.

1. I'm going to be doing a tune up soon, but I couldn't decide what spark plugs to get. Is it practical to use the super expensive platinum, iridium, iridium fusion etc. plugs? Or is it better to use good ole AC Delcos? I'm not looking for extra power, just want the engine to run efficiently.

The truck is stock, and is going to remain stock... only mod I might do in the future is an intake.

2. 1st-2nd shifts VERY hard, and if you are going slow it feels as if someone rear ended you. Does anyone else have this problem? or is it just a sign that the tranny is starting to wear out?

Does anyone know of any additives or quick fixes to alleviate this problem? Kind of hoping it isn't a sign that the tranny is on its way out.

3. A few weeks after I picked up my truck, I went to a local dealership to check for any outstanding recalls, they took it in the next day and performed a recall service on the front wheel speed sensors.

As I was leaving the dealership I noticed that the abs light was on, I went back to the dealership and was told my abs wasn't working when I dropped the truck off, and that there was 30+ trouble codes stored in the ecu. I told the service adviser that the abs was working properly, and there was no lights prior to dropping the truck off, but he told me that the mechanic found these problems prior to performing the recall work, and that if I wanted to have it diagnosed/repaired it would be out of my pocket at the regular rate of $80/hour.

How should I deal with this situation? The previous owner had the truck in for another ABS related recall a few years ago, and there was no problems with the abs.. or error lights prior to dropping the truck off, but now I'm being told that if I want it repaired the cost is going to come out of my pocket.

Hopefully you guys can help me out, thanks in advance

Cheers

Rich

tramz · September 17, 2008

Hey Rich,

1. I would stay with the AC spark plug, maybe one up that fires a little hotter but I wouldn't spend the extra $$ on others. Others will have their own opinion about that.

2. The tranny, I had the same shifting issue with my last truck - '99. When it shifted, it was like one bad-a$$ shift kit, but no chirping, on a wet road it'd break traction...oh yeah, when I hooked up my code reader it came back with a generic code "clutch slipping". Not what I wanted to see. Anyway, I called a buddy that owns a tranny shop and told him. He suggested doing a pan drain and filter change and see if it helped. If not, he said he'd flush it and top it back off and see if any change. He said he doesn't recommend a flush, something about "fluid shock", but at this point it couldn't hurt. Worst case rebuild. Well after the filter change the problem disappeared. Can't say you'd have the same result, but may give you some peace of mind, for what its worth.

3. I have no advise, but if it were me, I'd record all the codes, then clear them and see what pinged back.

02slt · September 19, 2008

Thanks for the reply,

I was kind of leaning towards the delcos, since I don't see how a $70 set of plugs can make a substantial difference.

What exactly did you do to fix the problem in your tranny? I'm a little confused about the fluid shock... and filter, I wasn't aware that there is a ATF filter. Do I have to get this from GM? or will my local parts store have one?

Thanks again bud

tramz · September 19, 2008

Thanks for the reply,

I was kind of leaning towards the delcos, since I don't see how a $70 set of plugs can make a substantial difference.

What exactly did you do to fix the problem in your tranny? I'm a little confused about the fluid shock... and filter, I wasn't aware that there is a ATF filter. Do I have to get this from GM? or will my local parts store have one?

Thanks again bud

I dropped the pan and inside attached to the bottom of the transmission is a filter, more like a screen. You can pick it up at any parts store. Replaced it and topped the fluid back off and the hard shift quit. Fluid Shock is the term my budding used. I think it has to do with the torque converter and replacing old fluid with new fluid and other sh*t I know very little about. The good news is that I didn't have to worry about flushing, shocking or whatever because the filter change corrected the problem, for me.