First Truck: 1997 Chevy Suburban K2500

[cjmspartans]

Hi there everyone!

I bought a 1997 Chevy Suburban K2500 with the 7.4l Vortec in late December of 2017. The truck is in awesome condition as far as the body goes, and the engine seems to be pretty bullet proof. I bought it with 159K on the clock, and racked up about 2K miles already. No leaks, transmission seems like it's in great condition with clean fluid... but took about $4K of brake work, work on the front suspension, and other random things here and there (yikes!).

I really hope to keep this truck on the road, and hope to do more DIY work on it from here on out and potentially use this forum as a resource. Fender flares will be replaced soon or repainted since the front flares are not in the best of shape.

First question: How do I flush out the rear heater core? I take it that the heater core has the two lines going up into the body on the rear passenger side, close to the exhaust pipe? It heats up very slowly and I'm sure that it needs to be back flushed.

Oh. I suppose some pictures are in order

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[Jay33089]

Welcome to the forum! Can't go wrong with a big block Burb!

 

[BowtieBrody]

Welcome to the forum! As a fellow (former) Suburban owner, and a fellow Big Block owner, I am in love with your truck!
Any major plans? Or just keep it clean and keep in on the road like you stated? I can't wait to see more!

 

[cjmspartans]

Welcome to the forum! As a fellow (former) Suburban owner, and a fellow Big Block owner, I am in love with your truck!
Any major plans? Or just keep it clean and keep in on the road like you stated? I can't wait to see more!

Thanks! I bought this truck with the intention to use it to go camping throughout Southern California, but other than that, I plan on keeping it as stock as possible and keep it in good shape.

There's some minor rust right above the windshield, which is unusual since there is zero rust anywhere else on this truck. Hopefully that'll be repaired within the year, but it's not of major priority since I live in a drier coastal climate (and we're back in drought). The $4K worth of repairs I put into it should keep it on the road for quite a long time. Anything else that comes along I should be able to repair myself, granted it's not transmission related.

 

[cjmspartans]

Welp. The shop was working on the brakes when the right side of the lift failed, so the right passenger door and the running board need to be replaced as they're damaged. It lost hydraulic pressure and the cable snapped :/ Thankfully no one was hurt, but it was tilted about 40 degrees on the right post of the lift and the top of the door was supporting the truck all night

Luckily, they said they'll do whatever it takes to make it look like nothing happened. So the door and running board will be replaced. They found a white door for it locally at a salvage yard, so that may go on... I just hope that the paint matches the rest of the truck without looking too bright or too dull. For what it's worth... they said if we need to, they'll take it to a body shop.

It's a sad day since I bought the truck mainly because the body was in perfect condition lol. Hopefully it'll look the same, if not better, in the end! Now to play the waiting game to see how long it'll take for me to get it back.

 

[GarrettGmc]

At least you were told about the problem and they're willing to get ur fixed, read somewhere recently that a shop in the bay area tried to cover up that a customers vehicle had fallen off a lift.
And welcome from fellow burb owner and far nor cal

 

[cjmspartans]

At least you were told about the problem and they're willing to get ur fixed, read somewhere recently that a shop in the bay area tried to cover up that a customers vehicle had fallen off a lift.
And welcome from fellow burb owner and far nor cal

Oh man, I'd be so angry if they tried to cover it up. These guys have been working on our cars for the past 5 years and they've always done a fantastic job... so it's nice seeing that they'll do whatever it takes to make it right.

I'm in San Luis Obispo, by the way. Nice to see another Californian on here!

 

[thz71]

Damn that sucks man! They better be providing a truck for you to drive while you're without it!

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

 

[grampadirt]

Welcome! and I too am a Suburban lover.I drive a '95 K2500 & wifey drives a '99 K1500.Beautiful country up around SLO

 

[GarrettGmc]

I think it was a Midas, cnt remember but ya that's good they're honest. An ya there's a few ppl from cali on here most from abt mid state an down