Looking at buying a 03-05 Suburban, what red flags should I look for?

[Flip_4_It]

My family is growing so and I am looking at purchasing a 2003-2005 Chevy Suburban Z71. I haven't owned a chevy since 2002 and was wondering what issues I should look out for on these as I'm trying to find one to purchase. It appears that most the ones I have found have between 100-150K miles on them. The few that have low (70k) miles on them are priced about $6-10K more and I can do a lot of maintenance for that additional cost. I need the long vesion as the Yukon just doesn't have enough room in the trunk.

All you Surburban owners, how are your high milage rigs doing? Are there any normal leaks, issues, rust areas, electrical issues, etc that I should inspect before purchase?

Any help would be greatly appriciated!

Thanks

 

[rxinhed]

Not a Suburban, but similar platform: we have an '05 GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab shortbed 2wd that has just turned about 110K miles. This has been pretty vanilla as trucks go, and having owned since new has only had a few problems. Our truck has a 5.3L V8 that has now used 2 water pumps already, 1 due to a leak, the other due to shearing off the pulley when an idler pulley froze - taking out the belts, hoses, and some sensor wiring. The front brake pads have been replaced 3 times, brake shoes once. Both front wheel bearing cassettes have been replaced, 1 at 78K, the other at 102K. I need to do a front end alignment after replacing the tie rod ends. We are on the 4th set of tires, OE treads went about 15K, some Bridgestone Duelers from my friends FJ lasted about 35K, then I installed some 20" rims and used tires recently replaced with new. The tail lamp assemblies have fallen off twice due to lost mounting hardware, one front DRL bulb has been replaced.

The duties of this truck have been family hauler, towing the travel and horse trailers, moving 3 times, multiple long interstate trips, and occasional use for my work. The 2wd was a let down in snow and mossy soil.

Overall, a very good vehicle that gets about 11 - 13 mpg towing various trailers over the Sierras from Sacramento to Reno, 13 - 15 mpg in town, and sometimes 20 mpg highway.

 

[HenryJ]

I have an '05 Avalanche and maintain a fleet that includes Tahoe and Silverado in from 2000-2005. The 4L60E transmissions have been rebuilt on three before 150k miles. Weak sun shell and planetary pilot bearings mostly. Later models are doing better. Check the fluid and service it according to the owners manual recommendations.
'04 had some problems with sub standard wiring. Fewer strands and less flexible. Breaks in the wiring created some "reduced engine power" drive defaults due to communications errors between the throttle body and pedal.
The 5.3L engine is a good one. I have had two with the intake manifold gasket leaks. Reving to high idle when cold and erratic idle are signs.
Waterpumps seem to go around 120k-150k miles. look for seeps dripping on to the crank pulley, or stains running back along the oil pan. Plan on rebuilding the starter and alternator about the same time. Weak cranking , or low voltage might be signs. Pretty easy fixes.
6.0L has tons of power, but the mileage and oil consumption leaves lots to be desired. My preference goes to the 5.3L.
Side gears on the open differentials were soft and flaked. An upgraded set was offered. Those with the G80 differentials did not have this problem. Make that a must find item. The Z71 should have it, just check to make sure. GT5 4.10 gearing pulls great , but you'll need taller tires to get decent highway mileage. I like mine , but higher geared rigs are getting better mileage than I. Check for slack in the differential. Place it in reverse, the to drive with the brake on an listen for a clunk or excessive slack. U-joints might be an issue for those who have been swimming frequently.
Suspension parts wear. Check the ball joints , idler, pitman, etc. They really do hold up pretty well, but after 150k it might be time. Look for tire wear and slack in the steering. Some feathering on IFS front suspension can be normal. Shocks can soften that if they are in good condition. The Z71 usually had pretty good upgrade shocks.
Instrument cluster failures are common. Stepper motors mostly. If you are handy, you can fix those yourself. Otherwise plan on $300 for a reman and flash for the install.
The interior switch illumination is a problem. Those little bulbs burn out. Plan on at least $20 for each steering wheel switch with a burned out bulb. You can tear them apart and fix them if you're handy. That ends up about $2 each. The radio has the same bulbs. It is more difficult, but can be fixed too. The CD player on the stock radio can be an issue. Many have had the CD player gobble a disk and not give it back. There is a small plastic part that breaks. Not replaceable. A CD mechanism from a used radio can be swapped in , or a replacement radio installed. They are theftlocked to the VIN so dealer programming is required.
Battery acid can eat through the plastic line for the washer pump next to the battery. If the washer fluid is low or leaks, it is likely that line. Easily fixed with a sealed battery and some hose.

Every rig has its weak points. No deal breakers for this one in my book. The Silverado that I drive has 204k miles on it and still a trusty steed. I trust my Avalanche too at less than half that mileage.

You may find some useful information here: Z71 Tahoe/Suburban.com Forum

My rig here: BLT Offroad Avalanche

 

[Flip_4_It]

Thanks for all the info! That should give me a good idea of what to look for before I drive away in a new money trap. It's nice to know that they are still running fine after that many miles, it looks like pretty standard maintenance items described so far.

 

[justbecause]

I want to bump this. I am looking at an 02-06 suburban. Because ARB discontinued the 07-14 bull bar, is there another airbag compliant winch bumper on the market?

G80 along with bench seats on middle and 3rd row are a must.

 

[kojackJKU]

As an owner of a 2005 z71, I would suggest another rig. Mine is ALWAYS breaking down, its sitting out in the garden now with no brakes....3rd time this has happened. Lost the PS pump last month, before that its poor running, the 4wd switching does not work correctly. its not a reliable model as far as I am concerned. My brother has a similar year expedition with 4 times the milage on it and its working great with only rotors and pads needing replaceing....normal wear items.

 

[Superu]

Had 223k miles on my 03 before she rolled

And no, it wasn't me driving! Black ice and the first snow of the season took out our beloved Suburban just before Thanksgiving last year.


I bought her with 98k on the clock and over the next 7 years put 2 fuel pumps in (the new design by Airtex is much more reliable than the original which relied mainly on fuel in the tank to stay cool. So, whenever you ran below a half tank, the pump started to run hot and eventually left you stranded. I took to carrying a spare under the 3rd row floor compartment)

Besides that, one starter, one alternator, brake lines (preventative medicine in road salt country), couple of sets of brakes, instrument cluster (ending up getting a nicer version from an 05 Sierra), and A/c compressor gave up the ghost just before the truck did. Almost forgot to mention the factory fog lights tend to fall apart after a while, but replacement sets can be found on amazon for $27 / pair.

I had a leveling kit in front, coil spring lift spacers in rear, General Grabber AT2 - 285/75R16, Go Rhino brush bar with Hella 500's and Alpine Head Unit and overhead DVD for the kids.

With the Bully Dog programmer, I was able to get a true 19 mpg highway setup as described. If you can find a good deal on one that you like, I say go for it and just be ready when some stuff needs fixing along the way. :ylsmoke:

 

[utherjorge]

Yeah, mine has needed only wear items. 30k in the first year I've had it, and just little things for the most part. Replace wear items as they wear, things like that...

 

[Martinjmpr]

Not sure what "airbag compliant" bumper means. AFAIK ARB is the only company that tests their bumpers to make sure the airbags work but I don't think I've ever heard of anybody with a non-ARB bumper complaining about airbags not deploying if needed. IIRC the airbag sensor is somewhere up near the fire wall anyway, nowhere near the bumper so it should be a non-issue. You will either hit hard enough for the air bag to fire or you won't. (if you do just be glad it doesn't have one of those shrapnel-filled Takata airbags like my wife's Honda CRV. We got a letter last week telling us we had a recall on it but they don't have the parts to fix it.)
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As far as Suburbans/Yukon XL's go, they're getting long in the tooth now and you can expect little niggling things to show up. Mine had a leaky intake manifold gasket that was fixed by the dealer and a stuck rear caliper that required replacing both of those. Driver's side seat heater doesn't work and one of the motors in the power seat (the up/down motor) seems to be disengaged. Other than that, it runs fine though and the interior space is impressive.
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Speaking of safety, assuming you are looking at a 1500 only, you might want to consider that the 04-06 models came with hydroboost brakes. On the 00-03 models Hydroboost was only on the 2500's I believe.
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If you want a Z71 with a 2nd row bench you're going to have to search a bit. My experience was that every Z71 I looked at had the 2nd row buckets and a sun roof, neither of which I wanted. I ultimately ended up with an LT but it has the 2nd row bench and no sun roof. Also no autoride (air suspension) which I also did not want. Other than that my LT is loaded, it even has the G80 and the heavy duty towing package (according to the sticker in the dashboard.) 136,000 miles when I bought it and sitting at just under 138,000 now. I'm hoping to put a lot of miles on it this summer.
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It's fully paid for so I don't mind sinking some money into it if it has issues, as all older vehicles do. I'd much rather have the occasional $100 - $200 repair bill than $500 sucked out of my checking account like clockwork each month, but that's just me.

 

[Burb One]

There have been a few threads recently about the GMT800 trucks.. There are few on here with them.

I have brought 2 00-06's up to over 200k, still owning one at 224k of which has been abused and used and will be for the foreseeable far future (lifted, offroading and towing 6k).

These, have by far, been the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. By far.

The only weak points un-modified from a maintenance perspective are the fuel pump and transmissions. I treat the fuel pump as a 100k consumable.

The water pumps, power steering pumps, bearings, etc. have all lasted over 200k miles for me on both and are not known weak points. I just had a wheel bearing fail after 210k miles and much of those miles were abusive towing and off road (didn't even strand me), I believe it only failed because I took it out while installing a lift kit and didn't replace it because it looked fine and I didn't want to go to the store. I just now at 224k ,replaced the original waterpump, powersteering pump, idler arm, pitman arm, and Knock sensors)

If you are a DIY for most things, I would look at three things: Overall condition of the body, Undercarriage Rust, and the #1 transmission.

If the transmission has been replaced ask for the builder and look up their reputation. If it never has been replaced and is over 150k miles, it will go out sooner than later. If the transmission is starting to slip, budget 1-1.5k into your price or try and talking them down. These things are so common wait for the right one ,or make it worth your $ money if going to replace the transmission because it's the only big ticket item that can go bad. Also see if it has an aftermarket or factory aux transmission cooler (Easily seen through the front grill- smaller radiator in front of the AC/water radiator) This can also increase the life of the transmission. If it doesn't I would plan on the $200 to add one upon purchase. Don't rely on the cooler being there if it has the factory tow package .I have seen them without them (sometimes removed at somepoint in their life because leaking etc. and the owner wanted to save a buck)

The rest of the items, I wouldn't even worry about if you are handy. Everything else on these trucks are cheap, and easy to replace. Things like the G80 and CV's off road are weak points, but not so much from a maintenance stand point or if going to be used in stock form. Also watch the cranking of the front torsion bars as that can increase front suspension wear and CV axle breakage, but again, we are talking $300 for a weekend DIY front suspension complete rebuild of all parts, and those CV's are only a liability off road.

If you are not DIY, well, I would start looking at the maintenance schedules and see what has been replaced and what will be up and compare that to the purchase price. Again, parts are cheap, labor depending on where you are, and again the transmission would be what I would focus on. The rest is like any highly reliable high mileage car, it's a crap shoot trying to pinpoint what would go wrong, until it actually does.

Edit:
And +1 to what martin said, he beat me to posting while I must have been typing. I have had a few small little things go wrong (bulbs going out in the instrument panel, stepper motor in the instrument panel, but again it's a 200k car, so as to be expected. if you are handy these are small 30 minute project that cost less than $15 or less than 50-100 locally to get fixed. For me it was an incentive to upgrade everything to red LED's or change/upgrade the part, such as the dash to include a transmission temperature gauge etc. As he mentioned, I have read the heater actuator breaking is a common problem, hasn't happened to me, but I've read it. Apparently it's a really easy fix.

 

[justcuz]

My 2000 has 270,000 miles on it. I've had it for over 10 years and am just now getting ready to put brakes on it.
Fuel pumps, water pumps and alternators are common mechanical issues, transmissions are too. Although I service mine every 12 to 15,000 miles and it's the original trans. The Autoride is just automatic air shocks, if you lift the rear end a little they never pump up unless you are way loaded down. I put H2 rear springs in mine and have never heard them pump up since.
Early 5.3's had a bad run of heads that would crack and have a mysterious coolant leak. Usually showed up as milky residue in the oil filler cap.
I've lubed the front unit bearings yearly through the abs sensor holes and they are still original too.
I think I am finally going to break down and do u joints along with the brakes.
I did a left rear window regulator last year and my CD player finally quit working.
This has been a very reliable vehicle and there is a reason there are a ton of these on the road, they are a good vehicle.
Look for the best one you can buy for the money with the best service records. Don't rush into a purchase, there are plenty to choose from.
Oh and the power steering pump is usually the electronic variable orifice valve on the back of the pump, not the actual pump.
You can unplug it until you fix it and just have constant effort power steering.

 

[rayra]

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...Vortec-Guys!-Sierra-pickup-Suburban-Yukon-etc

Covers the 2-3 chronic issues, which are intake manifold gaskets, knock sensor corrosion / failure (and you have to remove the former to get to the latter anyway. And the heater hose T connectors at the firewall. Which are also easier to work on with the intake manifold out. Parts from rockauto.com will cost <$200 to do all three repairs in one day.


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other than that, corrosion issues and 'mom taxi' are your greatest lookout. Avoid the 'mom taxi', they're usually beat to crap and the fuel pump will fail soon if it hasn't already. They're just driven poorly / flogged, and scudded around without enough gas in them to keep the fuel pump cool.

The missus has 165k on our '05 Tahoe, it's solid, only a water pump and the heater hose connection and one minor but alarming and costly fix for anyone that can't wrench for themselves was a deletion of the PCV valve and incorporation of a replacement baffle in the driver side valve cover. The baffles have small weep holes that will eventually clog and when they do you'll start aspirating oil and eventually the vehicle will start laying its own smokescreen. It's an easy near-free fix if you do it yourself. It LOOKS disastrous and unscrupulous mechanics could charge a fortune for it. In fact you might find a great deal on one with this simple problem.
She's highway commuting ~45mi / day and getting about 15mpg.

I bought a 116k mi '02 Sub about 18mos ago, for $6k. It's doing quite well. I did a full 100k mi service when I got it, mostly to establish a baseline. Some 'hi mileage' trans fluid took care of a little slippage. Still strong, about to do the trio of fixes I mentioned, sometime next week. Last weekend I drove it ~300mi on Easter Sunday for a family visit, ~75mph and managed 15.4mpg. Very happy for a comfy bus with a family in it.

Have the same 5.3L / 4L60E drivetrain and 12,000-lb tow package in both, they've performed in a very capable manner. I think the 4L60E gets a bum rap. Treat it well it will treat you well.

eta lol the GMT800 Gang are all here

 

[Martinjmpr]

eta lol the GMT800 Gang are all here

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I dunno has UPCruiser chimed in yet? :sombrero:

 

[kidphc]

In general these are high failure parts, water pump, fuel pump, intake manifold gasket, brake lines those all seem to go out like clock work on the gmt800. Power steering cooler or cooler hose for hydro boost models. Those are the normal things they come in for, that are not maintenance items. Check for transmission services and have money saved. It isn't the clutches that wear out, normally you'll see that the sun planet hosing is cracked or another hard part gave out. Watch out for pump rub on the transfer case. Outside of that the big ones are leaks and rust.

I have a 2002 z71 burb, bought it with 226K, now at 230. So far in 4 months knock sensor and harness, alternator, intake manifold gasket, the coolant reservoir and brakes. The water pump is starting to leak, same with the rear cover seal. To be fair, the truck sat for months before I bought it and almost everything I replaced so far has been original minus the brakes. I firmly believe if they had kept driving it I don't think a lot of it would of started failing yet. In either case I consider it par for the course. Still easier then the crap that gave out on my 98 expy. FYI... I do have rod and lifter noise on cold start. Which sadly is pretty normal and dissipates in 5 minutes or so.

The 00-02 gmt 800 burb/tahoe/yukon/yukon xl are different from the 2003-2006. They differ in electronics and how they are set up in the car. Some electronic mods are easier on the 00-02 and some easier on the 03-06. Seems to be more diy mod info on the later models. Frankly, the earlier ones seem to have less problem.

If I had to do it all over again. It would be a 06 2500 with the 6.0L, heavy towing package, with g80 locker w/o the comfort ride or auto ride.

Oddly enough 2 z71 burbs and 1 z71 tahoe are outside my shop all sitting next to each other. One of the burbs being mine the two others oddly enough again are in for rear brakes,

I should add. If you settle on a gmt800, doing the gmt900 brake upgrade and on the 00-02 models the high pass cross over mod are pretty decent bang for the buck. Small lift is reasonable cost also. Ford keys and spacers will net roughly 2"-3".

 

[Burb One]

In general these are high failure parts, water pump, fuel pump, intake manifold gasket, brake lines those all seem to go out like clock work on the gmt800. Power steering cooler or cooler hose for hydro boost models. Those are the normal things they come in for, that are not maintenance items. Check for transmission services and have money saved. It isn't the clutches that wear out, normally you'll see that the sun planet hosing is cracked or another hard part gave out. Watch out for pump rub on the transfer case. Outside of that the big ones are leaks and rust.

I have a 2002 z71 burb, bought it with 226K, now at 230. So far in 4 months knock sensor and harness, alternator, intake manifold gasket, the coolant reservoir and brakes. The water pump is starting to leak, same with the rear cover seal. To be fair, the truck sat for months before I bought it and almost everything I replaced so far has been original minus the brakes. I firmly believe if they had kept driving it I don't think a lot of it would of started failing yet. In either case I consider it par for the course. Still easier then the crap that gave out on my 98 expy. FYI... I do have rod and lifter noise on cold start. Which sadly is pretty normal and dissipates in 5 minutes or so.

The 00-02 gmt 800 burb/tahoe/yukon/yukon xl are different from the 2003-2006. They differ in electronics and how they are set up in the car. Some electronic mods are easier on the 00-02 and some easier on the 03-06. Seems to be more diy mod info on the later models. Frankly, the earlier ones seem to have less problem.

If I had to do it all over again. It would be a 06 2500 with the 6.0L, heavy towing package, with g80 locker w/o the comfort ride or auto ride.

Oddly enough 2 z71 burbs and 1 z71 tahoe are outside my shop all sitting next to each other. One of the burbs being mine the two others oddly enough again are in for rear brakes,

I should add. If you settle on a gmt800, doing the gmt900 brake upgrade and on the 00-02 models the high pass cross over mod are pretty decent bang for the buck. Small lift is reasonable cost also. Ford keys and spacers will net roughly 2"-3".

All good info. (I would limit torsion bar lifts expectations to 2")

kidphc- Your rod and lifter noise on cold start could just be piston slap. Almost every one of the 5.3 engines has piston slap when cold, some worse than other. Great news is piston slap doesn't do anything bad other than the noise