[phoebeisis]

Ticad
221,150 MILES- still love it- it will be 6 years this June.
I had manifold gaskets done-2 years back
Should have done it myself-lone story
I have an oil leak-not horrendous-I'll have to track down a fix
But it is still EXTREMELY reliable-Oh-changed starter also-went with a reduction starter instead of stock direct drive

Wow-just popped hood-
WHERE IS THE COIL?? I haven't changed a coil since 1976-on a 1971 383 Cuda (and it didn't really need it-I was just "improving" its performance(wasting $$)
You let me know where that sucker is when you find out?
Guessing it is buried somewhere near distributor??
How dod you know you need one??
Charlie
PS Still love it-I'm going to be more flush soon- 62 yo SS- so I might upgraded to a 2004-but probably not-this one is so reliable-might not be an upgrade

 

[Family Force 6]

We purchased our 99 K1500 Suburban 5 years ago with 140,000 miles on it. It now has 197,000. I've replaced many of the same things others have mentioned:
Fuel Pump (made noise for 4 1/2 years, then just died about 4-5 months ago)
Radiator
Oil cooler lines
Pitman arm
Tie rod ends (don't skimp, buy Moog)
Ball joints (upper and lower)- don't skimp on the lowers, they're a pain to replace
A/C line is leaking- still haven't fixed that
Brakes- strangely, I've had decent luck with the fronts (I now have ceramics on) but it's the rear drums that are a pain. I've changed out everything and they still make a bunch of noise at low speeds. GM under-engineered on a major safety component- it's ridiculous.
One I haven't seen mentioned is the Transfer Case.
I have the "auto 4-wd" (NP08 or NP246) transfer case which is known for having "pump rub failure". I didn't experience the leak, but my transfer case went out at about 180,000. I purchased a "rebuilt" unit that failed within 5 months and it's been a fiasco ever since- but that's my issue.
I've also replaced both CV axles and the side view mirror a few times.
Someone mentioned the three way heater hose connection will cause a FAST loss of anti-freeze when it busts and your temp gauge won't pop (no fluid, no reading) so be warned on that.
I'm now leaking from the rear main and front main seal, not horrible but enough to be irritating.
That's about all I can think of now.

 

[Billy D]

98 Burb 1500 SLT 4x4 (father owned it and I bought it from him about two years ago). It has had it's share of issues which I will list but have not seen a few of the common ones listed.

1. Brakes suck. Have gone through brakes plenty of times over the years.
2. Dash lights near heat controls, etc. have worked on and off over the years when it feels like working. This started early on.
3. Fitting where the coolant enters the manifold blew out threads and all. I think my father drove it overheated or something. New fitting and a re-thread fixed it. Believe the coolant ate away at the fitting.
4. Upper and lower ball joints at about 129k.
5. Exhaust manifold gaskets and doughnut gasket at bottom of manifold. Did all at the same time at about 128k miles but had the exhaust leak for a long while.
6. Air conditioning has been nothing but a problem from about 100k onward. Still trying to get it all worked out. Had the whole rear evaporator and lines replaced, but now the front seems to be the issue with a leak or something else. Too be continued on the cure of this come this spring.
7. The original alarm issue where it allows you to start the truck then it shuts itself off. This has been a battle over the years and happens once in a while but rarely. Letting truck sit for 20 minutes resets the system and starts after.
8. Radiator got a top pinhole leak at about 110k and was replaced.
9. Coil crapped out at about 140k and was replaced.

Tranny still going strong and never serviced. Differential fluids never changed and still doing fine. Transfer case fluid never serviced. Original fuel pump at 151k and still going strong (however, truck rarely ever was run below half tank of gas over its lifetime). No intake manifold gasket issues. Only tuned up once at about 98k and still going well on that tune up.

- - - Updated - - -

I think the last time I researched the headlight problem the best answer I got was the multifunction switch...and that required taking the steering wheel column apart....it basically gave me a good excuse to run some aftermarket KC's.

Oh yeah, I had this problem too. Eventually the daytime running lights stopped working for me too, so had to spend time to fix it. The problem was a wire in the column (don't remember the color wire) near the left side dry rots and breaks off out of the connector which is the control for the main headlights. It was an SOB to get in there and solder it as best I could, but I also taped it up real good around that area so the wire does not have to move much even if someone uses the tilt steering. I learned to do it better the second time around because I have a$$ed it the first with just a little solder and someone borrowed the truck and moved the tilt wheel and the wire broke loose again.

 

[95K1500]

another common problem i've seen alot with this era of chevy truck/suv's is the seal in the front differential tube on the passenger side will leak where the cv axle bolts up to it. don't know if that was mentioned earlier or not...

 

[USAF-Suburban]

Bought my 98 C1500 back in 2001 with roughly 68K on it. Now, 12+ years later I've got 194K and it's still going strong, in fact it just made a road trip from Wichita, Kansas to Alamogordo, New Mexico with zero issues. I've done the standard maintenance that all trucks go through and then a bit more, but nothing overly excessive. Replaced fuel pump, water pump, idler pulley, A/C compressor is shot (I'm not even bothering with this one...), wiper control relay (on the firewall), countless front door handles have broken (both drivers and passenger side), intake manifold gasket, starter/selenoid, both front rotors warped within a couple months of each other, cats got COMPLETELY clogged at 175K (they were the original cats), I currently have a crank/cam correlation error code that I'm attributing to worn distributor gears but i haven't verified it yet, fixed a burst heater core hose. I'm positive there's a handful of other things I'm forgetting but for damn near 200K, you'll get very little complaints out of me. My next truck will most definitely be adorned with a bowtie.

 

[phoebeisis]

Been a while

Got a question-will also post it as new.
Smelling coolant again-but not losing much judging from radiator level-which is slowly dropping.
I have noticed the front half of the passenger's side valve cover-is "wet" looking.
Now it isn't actually wet-but it definitely has had something wet-misting or spraying on it.
Never actually wet-but you know what I mean.
I put paper around that cheezy heater hose to mainfold fitting-thinking it might be spraying leaking-but it wasn't wet after short ride?
There are other hoses fittings there-any ideas?
Thanks
Charlie
221,800 98 Suburban bought 6 years back 195,000 miles-it has been a winner-only good thing that has happened to us-$$ wise-in the last 10 years.
Going to do 3000 mile round trip-New Orleans to Flagstaff AZ in 2 months-so got some repairs to do-
luckily 25 days-first SS payment(still work-took early 62-need the $$-it will be a HUGE help)

 

[USAF-Suburban]

Been a while

Got a question-will also post it as new.
Smelling coolant again-but not losing much judging from radiator level-which is slowly dropping.
I have noticed the front half of the passenger's side valve cover-is "wet" looking.
Now it isn't actually wet-but it definitely has had something wet-misting or spraying on it.
Never actually wet-but you know what I mean.
I put paper around that cheezy heater hose to mainfold fitting-thinking it might be spraying leaking-but it wasn't wet after short ride?
There are other hoses fittings there-any ideas?
Thanks
Charlie
221,800 98 Suburban bought 6 years back 195,000 miles-it has been a winner-only good thing that has happened to us-$$ wise-in the last 10 years.
Going to do 3000 mile round trip-New Orleans to Flagstaff AZ in 2 months-so got some repairs to do-
luckily 25 days-first SS payment(still work-took early 62-need the $$-it will be a HUGE help)

I believe the cheesy heater hose you're referring to is what I had to replace in mine. The hose about 2-3 inches up from the manifold fitting took a dump on me. But mine was clearly evident when it finally went as it was spraying coolant pretty good. Now, before that I had seen some wetness in there but never figured out it was from the heater hose. As far as a fix, it was a little bit of a pain figuring it out. I took the fitting and the entire hose off and tried to find a replacement hose (with fitting already installed) but no luck. So, since the fitting itself was actually good I cut back a few inches (right before where it burst) and had to spice in new 1" hose all the way back to the T fitting by the wheelwell. Not sure if this is your issue but hope it helps.

 

[phoebeisis]

USAF
Thanks for the info- paper copied it and put it in my Suburban folder-I will probably eventually replace that fitting/hose.
It looks like that misting MIGHT be an old grommet-from that valve cover fitting that sends a hose to the intake manifold-not the PCV valve- on the other side-but must be sucking in oil fumes for some reason?? It might be misting oil on the valve cover.
So my coolant problem-Hmmm- MAYBE the gaskets or maybe a high radiator leak-which would explain why it isn't steadily dropping like other leaks would.
We'll see I guess?

USAF- in AZ- is that the Alburqurque(sic) base?? My niece and her husband have been stationed in beautiful Minot ND for the last 4 years-real garden spot in the winter-bright crisp cool days(ha,ha).She is from New Orleans-so Minot is COLD!! And despite being a pretty dry climate-IT FLOODS?? Windy and Bitter cold in winter- FLOODS in spring-hottish in summer-what more could you ask for-??
Thanks
Charlie

 

[USAF-Suburban]

Do you mean Arizona or New Mexico? We do have a couple Air Force bases in Arizona as well as 3 in New Mexico. One of them is in ABQ (Kirtland AFB). I actually had to go to Grand Forks AFB, ND quite a few years back for a blizzard they had (i'm a lineman by trade in the AF) and they had serious power outages. Now, about a week after we got done and went home the snow melted and they had some bad flooding issues. Great place to live if you can be "weather-tough"... Greg

 

[phoebeisis]

USAF

My goof-I meant the big one-with the atom bomb H- bomb museum-Kirkland.
I loved that museum- I heard it was closed for a while after 9/11 maybe it reopened??

My niece is from New Orleans-so Minot is hell on earth to her.
It used to be pretty good-cost of living wise-get a nice house for well under $100,000
but since the oil/gas boom-prices of EVERYTHING- and crime-are waaaay up.
Not up New Orleans of Alb standards-but up by upper midwest smallish city ND standards.
Luck
Charlie

 

[pacman1]

Coil: The coil is a bit of a PITA to replace. It's mounted to the intake manifold towards the back passenger side of the engine. The catch is that it's RIVETED to the bracket that mounts it to the manifold. Unbolt it, drill the rivets out, and mount the new coil with the supplied bolts. WTF GM?? Riveting a coil to the bracket?!?

Mushy brakes: I have read, but not tried yet, that the GMT800 brake master cylinder is a direct bolt on to the GMT400 and fixes this problem. I'll see if i can track down the thread over on GMT400.com where I read this.

- - - Updated - - -

Here we go: How to: NBS master cylinder swap for firm brake pedal

They go off on a hydroboost tangent, but the info is in there for a straight vacuum boost setup.

 

[naborsrb]

My problem with 1999 suburban is the cheap outside door handles crack. Ignition control module seem to go out frequently and a distributor that was flawed design from the beginning.

 

[naborsrb]

bad ignition control module, mass airflow sensor and fuel pump.

 

[pnutkar]

Old thread, but what the heck. I have a 1999 GMC 1500 Suburban, last of the tailgates, with a bit over 100k. I wanted a 2000 for the disc brakes, but the Suburban Operator (SO) insisted she wanted a tailgate. Bad things on this truck:

• From the beginning the driver's door has whistled. Each time I took it back to the dealer they wrote it up different so it wouldn't lemon. Still whistles at highway speeds.
• Replaced the driver's door inside latch/handle 2x, the SO uses it to close the door instead of the grab handle.
• Replaced all door lock actuators some years ago and now the driver's door is acting up again.
• The brakes. The worst brakes I've ever seen. Complete garbage. Many many fronts, and a few rears. Trash. Almost bought a disc brake kit for the rears but figured we'd sell this thing soon.
• Pitman arm 1x.
• Air conditioning system - condenser, dryer, compressor, hoses. Chased a leak for a couple years until I read about the compressor getting warped from bad bolt pattern torquing.
• Hate that 3rd row seat; you need to be Charles Atlas to hump it in and out.
• The CD player died long ago. It stayed dead after I saw the price of a replacement.
• Had a dead battery after it sat for a few weeks. Chased it to the vanity mirror light in the visor. Disabled and glued the little door shut.
• The remote is garbage - sometimes it works, sometimes you have to stand next to it.
• Factory Michelin's wore out in 20k miles. Soft, mooshy, squishy. Great ride though. Hard to find truck tires for the factory alloys. Our previous Suburban was a 2500 with a 454. Now that was a truck with truck tires!
• Heater hose bypass tee thing down on the passenger side of the block. Stupid thing is plastic. Broke at a most inconvenient time.

Improvements:

• Shocks all around with KYB until one rear snapped. Those got replaced with generics for now.
• Added a headlight relay kit that disables DRL, and lights all four on hi-beam.
• Got rid of the hideous GMC branded grill right away. Yuk.
• I have a set of front spring lift spacers to install. Hate the down in front stance.
• I replaced the transmission pan with one that had a drain plug. Nice upgrade for servicing.

I posted in the general forum, the reason I joined was to find an answer, that the dang thing likes to zip along all on its own. The idle sits high. If you drop it into N then back to O it's good - until you touch the gas pedal, then off it goes again running about 1200 rpm.