kfanciu
Newbie
Hi all - been lurking on the forum for a few weeks and have decided to introduce myself. I recently inherited a 1998 Chevy Tahoe LT with 83k miles. The truck has been in the family since at least 2005 but has resided at a mountain vacation home which is the reason for such low mileage. Due to a recent sale of that home, it has been added to my home's existing fleet - it joins my current cars: an '03 911 Turbo and an '08 Acura TL Type-S.
This truck was optioned by the original owner, a huge Texas A&M fan, with "Maroon Out" - nearly every interior and exterior component that can be colored was done so in maroon.
10+ years ago my (now) wife and I would use it to take road trips as it was significantly larger than the two coupes we owned. One notable trip was in 2008 from Colorado down to Texas to visit Texas A&M University where this truck gets its namesake. Unfortunately on the way home, somewhere in Kansas, I realized the coolant temp was maxed out. Pulled into a gas station to find the cooling system was completely empty. I ended up replacing the intake manifold (the culprit) myself.
Another trip was to the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado where the truck afforded us a trip to the backside offroad camping area which requires fording a small stream.
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Immediately after taking possession of the truck, we got hit with about a foot of snow in 24 hours. Was definitely nice having this guy to drive to work!
I also decided to replace the headlight bulbs with SEAlight LEDs (<$40 on Amazon). The previous bulbs were an Ultra Blue variant halogen from 10 years earlier which, as you can see from the pics below, do not look anywhere near blue when compared to the new bulb
. The original headlight lenses are in pretty good shape overall - not foggy - but still are quite poor at allowing the light through. The fluting on the lenses cause numerous 'lines' of hotspots with the new bulbs. Overall the light output is much better and seems to be minimally blinding. I looked into threads on this site discussing upgrading the lenses/housing and really don't seem to see many good options for LED or HID that can be had at a low cost and/or minimal effort, so I may just stick with this setup.
There was some significant whining coming from the truck during acceleration and "marbles in a jar" type cacophony when the motor was started cold. I replaced the belt and belt tensioner which cleaned this up considerably. There's still a little bit of whining under hard acceleration - thinking it may be the alternator. I'd changed that previously, about 12 years ago... The power steering pump was changed 3 years ago so likely not that - also no whining when turning the wheel at low speed.
The truck also had some brake drag noise while moving at low speed and squealing when backing up. Inspected the brakes to find the front passenger pads completely gone. Driver front were about half-gone. Upon teardown, I found the passenger caliper piston had seized. I committed to replacing both front calipers, pads, hoses and rotors. Amazingly, even for OEM parts, all of this cost the same as just front pads for my 911!
I was unable to fully bleed the system myself. The fronts were done easily, but I did not have a flare nut wrench that fit the rear bleeders (10mm) - it is wedged between two bolts. I also read up on the ABS unit to find it requires a scan tool to cycle/bleed. After everything was buttoned up I had a local Chevy dealer bleed it. Pedal is much better but still does little until more than 1/3 depressed. Fine once you're used to it, but compared to the vast majority of other modern cars I've driven, this is a little annoying. Testing the ABS out on snowpacked roads near the house has proven it is working very well now that it's been properly bled.
Another issue I'm still working on tackling is the dreaded Fuse #13. I have the constellation of door lock switch not working (but remote works fine), no rear door speaker power, no center cigarette lighter power, and no lumbar. I did a once-over looking at the wiring under the seats and it seems OK... will have to check the lighter to see if those wires and unit are OK.
______
That's about all for now. I look forward to keeping up with others who own these trucks. I made an Instagram account for it if anyone's interested. @aggiewarwagon
This truck was optioned by the original owner, a huge Texas A&M fan, with "Maroon Out" - nearly every interior and exterior component that can be colored was done so in maroon.
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Tahoe at Mill Run in Breckenridge by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr
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Maroon Out by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr10+ years ago my (now) wife and I would use it to take road trips as it was significantly larger than the two coupes we owned. One notable trip was in 2008 from Colorado down to Texas to visit Texas A&M University where this truck gets its namesake. Unfortunately on the way home, somewhere in Kansas, I realized the coolant temp was maxed out. Pulled into a gas station to find the cooling system was completely empty. I ended up replacing the intake manifold (the culprit) myself.
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gen II small block chevy v8 by Kevin Fanciulli, on FlickrAnother trip was to the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado where the truck afforded us a trip to the backside offroad camping area which requires fording a small stream.
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Fording river behind the Sand Dunes by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr________
Immediately after taking possession of the truck, we got hit with about a foot of snow in 24 hours. Was definitely nice having this guy to drive to work!
You must be registered for see images attach
IMG_20191126_065125 by Kevin Fanciulli, on FlickrI also decided to replace the headlight bulbs with SEAlight LEDs (<$40 on Amazon). The previous bulbs were an Ultra Blue variant halogen from 10 years earlier which, as you can see from the pics below, do not look anywhere near blue when compared to the new bulb
. The original headlight lenses are in pretty good shape overall - not foggy - but still are quite poor at allowing the light through. The fluting on the lenses cause numerous 'lines' of hotspots with the new bulbs. Overall the light output is much better and seems to be minimally blinding. I looked into threads on this site discussing upgrading the lenses/housing and really don't seem to see many good options for LED or HID that can be had at a low cost and/or minimal effort, so I may just stick with this setup.
You must be registered for see images attach
Collage 2019-12-07 13_46_18 by Kevin Fanciulli, on FlickrThere was some significant whining coming from the truck during acceleration and "marbles in a jar" type cacophony when the motor was started cold. I replaced the belt and belt tensioner which cleaned this up considerably. There's still a little bit of whining under hard acceleration - thinking it may be the alternator. I'd changed that previously, about 12 years ago... The power steering pump was changed 3 years ago so likely not that - also no whining when turning the wheel at low speed.
The truck also had some brake drag noise while moving at low speed and squealing when backing up. Inspected the brakes to find the front passenger pads completely gone. Driver front were about half-gone. Upon teardown, I found the passenger caliper piston had seized. I committed to replacing both front calipers, pads, hoses and rotors. Amazingly, even for OEM parts, all of this cost the same as just front pads for my 911!
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IMG_20191228_132114_545 by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr
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Collage 2019-12-28 10_45_20 by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr
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IMG_20191228_210136_782 by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr
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IMG_20191229_144854_973 by Kevin Fanciulli, on Flickr
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IMG_20191229_102125 by Kevin Fanciulli, on FlickrI was unable to fully bleed the system myself. The fronts were done easily, but I did not have a flare nut wrench that fit the rear bleeders (10mm) - it is wedged between two bolts. I also read up on the ABS unit to find it requires a scan tool to cycle/bleed. After everything was buttoned up I had a local Chevy dealer bleed it. Pedal is much better but still does little until more than 1/3 depressed. Fine once you're used to it, but compared to the vast majority of other modern cars I've driven, this is a little annoying. Testing the ABS out on snowpacked roads near the house has proven it is working very well now that it's been properly bled.
Another issue I'm still working on tackling is the dreaded Fuse #13. I have the constellation of door lock switch not working (but remote works fine), no rear door speaker power, no center cigarette lighter power, and no lumbar. I did a once-over looking at the wiring under the seats and it seems OK... will have to check the lighter to see if those wires and unit are OK.
______
That's about all for now. I look forward to keeping up with others who own these trucks. I made an Instagram account for it if anyone's interested. @aggiewarwagon
