New to the group with loads of problems - kinda long

[yargnits]

Hello all. I'm new to the forum as I just bought myself a '04 Yukon SLT. With the addition of a third child, I needed something bigger than my Grand Prix.

For those of you keeping an eye for them on ebay, it's the charcoal grey one that sold about a month ago. Seen here... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0400078005&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT

It had a clean Carfax and Auto History so I took the plunge. This was my 4th vehicle purchase from ebay and the 1st one I've regretted. The truck was misrepresented by the seller. Well, it is what it is and I'm going to do the best with it I can and I'm hoping to get some advice here.

Let me tell you about the Yukon and it's plus' and minus'

2004 Yukon SLT 5.3 AWD w/86k on the clock.

Add-ons...

Alpine roof DVD/monitor - works so far
KVH A7 Sat System
- great for kids and tailgating but temperamental operation
- seems that the belt that rotates the dish is slipping.
Valentine 1 radar detector integrated into rear-view mirror
- switches concealed in cubby holes.
- cool but display shifted behind glass. need to open mirror to re-position
Audio Adaptor
- forgot the model # but allows sat and DVD systems audio to
play through truck stereo along with a mini-jack for ipod.
Second Battery
- looks like what I've seen done around the web.


Factory component problems...

Alternator whine, only heard through passenger side doors. The whine does not increase in volume with the radio, so if I crank up the tunes I don't hear it. If I turn the radio all the way down while leaving it on the whine goes away. I also hear the whine for a few seconds upon start-up even if the radio is off.

The display tells me that I need to check the tire pressure 80% of the time but it's okay.

The compass won't calibrate. This one is weird. It thinks West is North and it works in reverse. i.e. I'm driving North (in reality it's West) and turn 90 degrees to the left. It should then read I'm headed West (actually South) but the mirror says it's East!


The oil pressure gage sometimes goes past it's upper limit.

The speedometer works only half the time. I saw the class action info here but mileage puts me out of a free fix. Is it expensive or is there a DIY solution?

The driver side mirror has replacement glass in it but the mirror is suppose to have the LED arrow like the pass side. It looks like the new mirror is just stuck on but I don't want to pry it off until I have a new piece of glass. Did the '04 Yukons with arrows in the mirrors also have auto-dim and heat? The mirrors are also power folding.
- this is another thing I noticed. I've had vehicles before with curb assist
and I've always thought they could point lower... not this one. The
mirrors show me what's under my rear doors!


I'd like to add a monitor for the sat/dvd systems in the dash. If I replace the HU will the wheel controls still work?

I also want to add rear (and possible front) parking sensors and a rear camera to work with the dash monitor. My wife is going to drive this and she's been known to back over mailboxes.

I apologize if any of these questions can be answered by searching the threads. I just wanted to ask all at once... and vent a little. I hope this thing will work out in the long run.

Cheers

 

[blueflamed03]

first off, welcome to the site.

The class action suit is good to 80K now, i always assuemd 70k. But either way, your out of warranty time anyway.
You can either have a dealer fix it, or you can have it fixed at places like this:
http://www.instrumentclusters.com/

that may fix a majority of your mis-readings.

I belive the 04's didn't have the mirrors with the arrows, i could be wrong. but sounds like someone ripped, or broke the drievr side. You can find repalcements off www.stylintrucks.com
The audio mishaps could be grounding, or RCA. I suggest having a local dealer check all your issues, may cost a few hundred but may fix all the sorted wiring and whining.
Tire pressure could be changes in weather, or TPMS.

The compass is odd, maybe ask the company I posted above that does instrument repair, possibly they may have a fix or know where to go.

I know the newer trucks have to have the radio, if you go back to one semi OEM, flashed to teh VIN of your truck.

Sorry you have issues, but sounds like semi small fixes, but agree, annoying at best.

Good luck, and look forward to your feedback after you get some of these issues repaired.

 

[ecordell]

My 04' Z71 has the mirrors with the arrows in it and the curb assist only shows the rear tires, that's all you need

 

[yargnits]

Speedometer problem will be fixed soon

I did some research online and found a great tutorial for repairing the gages on another club page. Here's the link... http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=48886

I found the replacement stepper motors online but a guy online still had the best price. I'll replace all 6 stepper motors for under $8 each including the shipping.

I've also found some threads here about mirror glass removal. When I get home, I'm going to try it. The truck had power folding mirrors with the arrows. I just don't know if they have heat and dimming. Once I have the mirror out, I should be able to tell what I need to price.

 

[badtothe bone]

I'm going to try to say something here without being called Mr. Negativity.

The person that sold this vehicle, sold it for a reason. The custom installs that were done on this vehicle were not done by a real professional - it was done by a butcher who had these great idea's and very little skill level and was not willing to pay anyone to set things straight.

When you mess things up as bad as what they are in your vehicle, after a few things are done wrong and some error codes goes off, the vehicle tends to get defensive and tries to fight off the so called improvements that the previous owner did - kind of like your body trying to fight off the flu.

The noise you hear in the door is the Body Control Module

The gauges might or might not even be at fault. There is no automatic repair that says 100% of the time when you have a problem with the gauge - that it is the stepper motor.

Now I didn't research this far enough to know if this vehicle's all wheel drive unit sends the speed information from a sensor in the transfer case or not.
But there are times when there is problems that is in the transfer case that appears to be speedometer related.

I would suggest either finding someone who does power tuning and have that person look at this vehicle and diagnose all the problems before you start to throw good money after bad at it.

The other thing is - why did you buy it? Didn't you even look at it before you bought it? Did you think that all those things that were wrong were easy fixes and that the previous owner was a dumb ass and didn't know what he had or didn't know what he was doing and that you knew more then he did and figured that you could just take it home and wrap some duct tape over the wires and everything would work? I mean - come on now. Nobody could be that dumb to believe that you could just hack a vehicle up that bad and not have problems.

Custom installs costs thousands of dollars. Even when they are done wrong.

Most times when something is done wrong, other things stops working.
Things like the self dim in the mirrors. So the person that owned the vehicle probably thought that alll he needed to do was change the glass and everything would be a ok. Only when he found out how much stuff costs to replace and even when he tried to replace it - it didn't work, then he just decided to dump it off on some sucker and move on with his / her life.

The most emotional thing about all this is that you never know when the theft lock / Security is going to go off and then the vehicle is going to stop running and you are going to be left someplace. I don't think that it is a question of IF, it is a question of WHEN!

I would take it to a Chevrolet Garage and see how much of the damage they can fix with the TECH II. maybe it is beyond repair - if it does not have the stock radio and stuff. Either way, maybe they can turn some things on and shut some things off and diagnose some of the problems and replace one or two of the modules that I think are probably faulty.

Good Luck with your new truck. I will be praying for you - that your wife makes it home ok while she is driving it.

 

[yargnits]

wow

That was super negative. It's kinda surprising to hear the opinion that one shouldn't modify or "hack" on this site. I see trucks on this site (and others) with far more mods done to them than this truck. The list of added items is actually kinda short. sat dish, dvd, and a radar detector built into the mirror. And as far as the install of these items, I'd rate the work as pretty good, as I'm here and can see how things were done.

If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have took the truck. Hind-site 20-20 stuff. Most of the problems are intermittent and unfortunately for me only one had reared its head when I when to look it over and I hoped it'd be an easy fix. (the alt whine)

I agree with you that someone decided not to deal with the troubles of this truck and unloaded it, but at one point they paid plenty to get these options installed for one reason or the other.

I'd like to hear more on your theory that the BCM is the source of the speaker noise. Is it based on anything? I'm betting on a loose ground and will start tracking that down when I get my hands on a FSM.

I'll be sure to post the results of the stepper motor replacement and other items as I work though them as an update. After all I think that's what forums like this are for, not just to tell stories how I took it to a dealer for work.

 

[ecordell]

Well said!

Bad seems to think the negative about everything and seems to think that none of us know what we're talking about.........apparently the stealerships are the mod gods and we know nothing.....I say dig in and hope all your fixes are smooth and easy and as a last resort take it to the stealer as they think their work is worth your weight in gold...

 

[blueflamed03]

please keep us informed yar.

 

[TheFuzz]

I'm going to try to say something here without being called Mr. Negativity.

The person that sold this vehicle, sold it for a reason. The custom installs that were done on this vehicle were not done by a real professional - it was done by a butcher who had these great idea's and very little skill level and was not willing to pay anyone to set things straight.

When you mess things up as bad as what they are in your vehicle, after a few things are done wrong and some error codes goes off, the vehicle tends to get defensive and tries to fight off the so called improvements that the previous owner did - kind of like your body trying to fight off the flu.

The noise you hear in the door is the Body Control Module

The gauges might or might not even be at fault. There is no automatic repair that says 100% of the time when you have a problem with the gauge - that it is the stepper motor.

Now I didn't research this far enough to know if this vehicle's all wheel drive unit sends the speed information from a sensor in the transfer case or not.
But there are times when there is problems that is in the transfer case that appears to be speedometer related.

I would suggest either finding someone who does power tuning and have that person look at this vehicle and diagnose all the problems before you start to throw good money after bad at it.

The other thing is - why did you buy it? Didn't you even look at it before you bought it? Did you think that all those things that were wrong were easy fixes and that the previous owner was a dumb ass and didn't know what he had or didn't know what he was doing and that you knew more then he did and figured that you could just take it home and wrap some duct tape over the wires and everything would work? I mean - come on now. Nobody could be that dumb to believe that you could just hack a vehicle up that bad and not have problems.

Custom installs costs thousands of dollars. Even when they are done wrong.

Most times when something is done wrong, other things stops working.
Things like the self dim in the mirrors. So the person that owned the vehicle probably thought that alll he needed to do was change the glass and everything would be a ok. Only when he found out how much stuff costs to replace and even when he tried to replace it - it didn't work, then he just decided to dump it off on some sucker and move on with his / her life.

The most emotional thing about all this is that you never know when the theft lock / Security is going to go off and then the vehicle is going to stop running and you are going to be left someplace. I don't think that it is a question of IF, it is a question of WHEN!

I would take it to a Chevrolet Garage and see how much of the damage they can fix with the TECH II. maybe it is beyond repair - if it does not have the stock radio and stuff. Either way, maybe they can turn some things on and shut some things off and diagnose some of the problems and replace one or two of the modules that I think are probably faulty.

Good Luck with your new truck. I will be praying for you - that your wife makes it home ok while she is driving it.

No offense, but it seems like the majority of your posts on here are an exceedingly long know-it-all diatribe about how much experience you have, followed by a dissertation about "this is how things are done correctly...." etc.

I'm not trying to be an ass, but why rub it in the guy's face? He didn't ask about audio installs, or how much they are supposed to cost. And he certainly didn't ask to be criticized about buying a vehicle that, according to his first post, was misrepresented by the seller. How was he supposed to know, especially given the fact that he's made three other sucessful purchases off of e-bay?

He bought it, let's help him get it fixed. Now, you did give some good suggestions - but you don't need to write a book about it every time.

Yargnits, welcome to the community. Hopefully we will be able to get you at least partially sqaured away with some of your issues. Best of luck!

 

[str8wkd]

yuk well said my 03 kon has that low whine to (must be the aftermarket thing I have) but go's away soon as turn up vol just a little.

yal welcome to the board this is pro, the best to get the info you need to help you if noone here can help the can piont you to someone who can..

 

[BlackDenali]

and hang in there. These trucks are worth the minor headaches and look on the bright side, you'll be learning alot about your new vehicle especially if you do most of the repairs yourself

 

[badtothe bone]

How to explain things without getting too deep into the subject.

I'm sorry if I made you feel bad about buying something that doesn't work.
I mean come on now, if it doesn't work, we need to help you to get it all working again.

But the problem is - that with everything hacked up and you don't know all of what they hacked, the chances of just doing a couple of little things and getting everything back to normal is not real optimistic.

I bought and sold automobiles for 20 years and I participated in automotive stereo competition for many years and I have some experience installing some of these options and I can tell you that I am afraid of doing some of these so call modifications wihtout doing lot's of research and asking lot's of questions and having someone to lean on when things do not go right.

As I sit here right now, dejected that I failed a hearing test for my CDL drivers license, I almost wish that I never heard of a company called ORION or owned car stereo's that played in a 1980's Monte Carlo SS at 155 Db.
Or that I would have used hearing protection when I abused my hearing for years, working in a machine shop, fabrication shop, carperntry, shooting guns etc.

Here is my advice, if you know of someplace that does car installs, go to that place and ask lot's of questions. If you cannot find someplace locally that does that type of installs - you can feel free to call my tech guy at Audiophonic's In Indiana PA. Bruce has been installing car stereo's and upgrades now for about the last 20 years and he has lot's of experience both in diagnostics and repair of good installs gone bad.

As I said before, there is a module, probably connected to the drivers seat that controls the heated seats that also auto dims the mirrors that I suspect either has fault codes due to something not being connected right or somethign shorted out or something not connected that should - that either has knocked out the module or is causing problems that got into the mirror circuit that made the previous owner dump the self dim mirror with the turn signal arrow in the mirror.

I would check to see if the heated seats actually work and then diagnose it from there. The hum in the radio - well there is probably 3 speakers in that door and maybe the tweeter is knocked out. You can disconnect them after taking the door panel off and hook them up to a small radio and diagnose to see if they actually work and you can check to see if their is a floating ground issue or other problems with the head unit that needs to be repaired.

You can drive without the gauges for now, but you can do one thing at a time until you get them all done. If the 04 used the same gauges as a 02 Chevy truck, I could sell you a used gauge cluster - that everything works - but has high miles on it for about $75 + shipping.

Other then someone going to your house and helping you out, about the only other thing I can think of is to get a wiring schematic and diagnose as many of the problems as you can and pay someone to do the rest as your budget allows.

---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

http://www.the12volt.com/
Wiring diagrams and technical information.

Installer Information - Bruce Damico
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/installer-detail/2084.htmlhttp://www.the12volt.com/

Email [email protected]

1885 Oakland Ave.
Indiana, Pennsylvania 15701
United States
Phone 724-465-9996

 

[yargnits]

New Discovery and Possible Solution

My spirits have been lifted with the anticipation that the new servo motors for the gage cluster will likely solve my speedo problem. Today it indicated that I was doing 20 on the freeway.

I dug into the alternator whine problem tonight and learned quite a bit. The first thing I learned was that it wasn't the left side speakers that had the whine. It was just the driver door and the tweeter in the a-pillar.

I took auxiliary fuse block out tonight to get a good look at the wiring and see if anything had been worn through due to vibration and what have not. The block that was installed was secured with screws and all the wires wrapped in electrical tape and tie-wrapped in place. I know... a real hack-job.

The fuse block has a cover with custom printed labels for the aftermarket stuff. AC converters, Sat System, Valintine 1, and Defuser. Defuser??? Turns out this truck also has a K40 Laser detector and jammer. I guess the guy that had this truck liked speed.

Well, started removing power from various systems to try and pinpoint the source of the bleed-through. I then noticed that if I put the ign on without starting the truck, the speaker still made a disturbing buzzing sound. I then verified again that it was only the driver door and tweeter. Under the hood I noticed that pulling a fuse stopped the noise... the radio fuse. duh. Then there was another fuse that caused the sound to cease when pulled... amp.

I didn't realize that the truck had a factory (assumption) amp in it. I had picked up a FSM at the library (to research ground points) so I flipped through it and found that the Bose amp is in the center console and that the left front tweeter is simply fed of the left front speaker with a low-pass filter.

At this point I think it's a good assumption that the amp may have a bad FL channel. I just did a quick search on ebay and see some stupid expensive and one decently priced. I'm not going to but anything though until I do a bit more research and get part numbers.

I'm thinking about swapping the pinout at the amp and see if I can move the problem to the RF speakers. If I can move the problem by swapping the outputs but not the inputs, that should secure the amp as the culprit.

@Mad, The problem with the mirror is that the glass was replaced with a part that doesn't have the arrows. The heat is hooked up but there is a 4 pin connector that's just dangling in there because it doesn't match up to the 2 pin conn that's on the mirror, which I suspect is for the auto dim feature.

My wife asked if I still regretted getting the Yukon and I told her that I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel but it's starting to glow a bit.

Thanks for all the positive comments from you guys. I just hope that my overly long drivel helps someone when they search the archives.

---------- Post added at 10:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 PM ----------

Goggling "speaker buzz bad amp bose" tuned up this thread http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=38553. It points to the rear seat audio controls. This is interesting because I thought the plastic above the panel seems warmer than it should be. Short? I'll unplug the panel tomorrow if it's easy to get to and see what happens.

 

[yukonjacks]

Is it to late to get the auto protection through ebay?

 

[klownin04]

How to explain things without getting too deep into the subject.

I'm sorry if I made you feel bad about buying something that doesn't work.
I mean come on now, if it doesn't work, we need to help you to get it all working again.

But the problem is - that with everything hacked up and you don't know all of what they hacked, the chances of just doing a couple of little things and getting everything back to normal is not real optimistic.

I bought and sold automobiles for 20 years and I participated in automotive stereo competition for many years and I have some experience installing some of these options and I can tell you that I am afraid of doing some of these so call modifications wihtout doing lot's of research and asking lot's of questions and having someone to lean on when things do not go right.

As I sit here right now, dejected that I failed a hearing test for my CDL drivers license, I almost wish that I never heard of a company called ORION or owned car stereo's that played in a 1980's Monte Carlo SS at 155 Db.
Or that I would have used hearing protection when I abused my hearing for years, working in a machine shop, fabrication shop, carperntry, shooting guns etc.

Here is my advice, if you know of someplace that does car installs, go to that place and ask lot's of questions. If you cannot find someplace locally that does that type of installs - you can feel free to call my tech guy at Audiophonic's In Indiana PA. Bruce has been installing car stereo's and upgrades now for about the last 20 years and he has lot's of experience both in diagnostics and repair of good installs gone bad.

As I said before, there is a module, probably connected to the drivers seat that controls the heated seats that also auto dims the mirrors that I suspect either has fault codes due to something not being connected right or somethign shorted out or something not connected that should - that either has knocked out the module or is causing problems that got into the mirror circuit that made the previous owner dump the self dim mirror with the turn signal arrow in the mirror.

I would check to see if the heated seats actually work and then diagnose it from there. The hum in the radio - well there is probably 3 speakers in that door and maybe the tweeter is knocked out. You can disconnect them after taking the door panel off and hook them up to a small radio and diagnose to see if they actually work and you can check to see if their is a floating ground issue or other problems with the head unit that needs to be repaired.

You can drive without the gauges for now, but you can do one thing at a time until you get them all done. If the 04 used the same gauges as a 02 Chevy truck, I could sell you a used gauge cluster - that everything works - but has high miles on it for about $75 + shipping.

Other then someone going to your house and helping you out, about the only other thing I can think of is to get a wiring schematic and diagnose as many of the problems as you can and pay someone to do the rest as your budget allows.

---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

http://www.the12volt.com/
Wiring diagrams and technical information.

Installer Information - Bruce Damico
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/installer-detail/2084.htmlhttp://www.the12volt.com/

Email [email protected]

1885 Oakland Ave.
Indiana, Pennsylvania 15701
United States
Phone 724-465-9996

i must say in your first post u made ur self sound like a real ass. But in that post you sounded like you really wanted to help. I belong to alot of forums due to the fact that i collect alot of cars 'my wife hates that by the way" and i know that sometimes you get sick of answering the same crap all the time. But you also have to step back and think, Why the hell am i on this forum responding to someone if i dont want to help them?? If you just want to rip on people all day I have a perfect site for you to go to they love to rip on one another and i think you would change your mind about the way you think about helping people. The site is layitlow.com Its a lowrider forum and them guys are ruthless. Sorry i know that its probably isnt your kind of site but like i said i have all kinds of cars and I love all kinds of cars and trucks as long as there GM

and to the guy that started this thread. does the truck have an aftermarket radio or aftermarket subs and amp? if so then it sounds like u may have a ground issue there or you may even just be geting interferince throughthe rca's. but it sounds like u are tracking someting down with the factory amp as well. good luck to you

 

[Tahoe03mm]

Welcome to the board.. Search the forums and you will find many answers here. Sounds like the Yukon needs some TLC and you'll be good as new.

as far as the cluster you can try to get it warrantied or see http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9347

 

[177mph]

Wow - you guys are tough. I think bad to the bone was just trying to pint out that some mods dont always make the vehicle better. In fact - alot make them worse. Good luck to the original poster. It sounds like you know what youre doing and you'll get it all solved. The tahoes and yukons are great trucks.

 

[yargnits]

One problem down, several to go...

Here's an update:

I got my servo motors for the instrument panel in the mail today. Even though only the speedo and oil press gage were goofy, I ordered all six and considered it preventative maintenance. The total was $47.50 with shipping.

I had the mailed to my work address so I could use my lunch hour to swap them out. Using the instructions that I pointed out earlier made the work simple. The hardest part was figuring how to take the top bezel off. (the tabs on the bottom weren't obvious how to release) Two test runs and all appears to be fixed. Speedo works and the oil needle isn't pointing to the oil can.

Here's the latest discovery. I've discovered a major clue to the buzzing in the front left speakers. The whine is still there but the main irritation is the intermittent buzzing. When I could hear it, it was at various loudness.

Well, I was dropping my daughter off from school today and there wasn't any buzzing. When I pulled into my garage the buzzing started after a few seconds. I noticed it comes and goes with the auto-lights, but the buzzing remained when I shut them off. Even though the lights can be manually shut off the dash lights stay on. After playing around I found out the buzzing volume is proportional to the dash light brightness. The buzzing would completely go away if I had the dash lights adjusted all the way off OR all the way bright. I disassembled the light switch module and visually inspected it. I can't see anything obviously wrong. I'm going to search around using google and poke around tonight.

 

[badtothe bone]

GM has had a lot of problems with the BOSE amplifier, if you go to the Chevy Avalanche Fan Club - you will read multiple posts about people looking for good used amplifiers and questions on how to fix the problems associated with them.

Now stop and think about it. The light switch feeds the display for the radio controls. Both in the steering wheel if it has redundant controls and in the dash. Anything that is wired wrong or is fed wrong is going to back feed and cause a hum in your speakers. Or if the amp doesn't work at all - you have no sound.

The reason why I see many mirrors disconnected or broke is due to a problem with the heater circuit which causes the mirrror to look smoked - where you cannot see out of it when the engine is turned on. So if you were going to sell a used vehicle and it was apparrent that if someone tried to look out the mirror and couldn't - that they would know that the truck has issues and it would make it harder to sell. So you have two options - you can spend more money - which if you are trying to get rid of the truck you wouldn't want to do, or you can take the auto dim mirror out and replace it with a cheaper version that does not dim and hope that the person buying the truck doesn't notice that the mirror doesn't work until they get home. Most people don't buy a vehicle in the dark.

As I said before, one piece at a time. Take small steps, Don't get in over your head. Ask for help - if it gets too tough and sooner or later your big problems will become small problems - if you fix them one at a time.
When you get to a problem that you cannot solve on your own, take it to a garage and pay someone to fix it for you. That is how our economy works.

The link I provided gives you a description of all the wires in the harness and what they do and what is inside of the wire. Volt's, watts, amps, resistance , sound, lights, ground etc.

 

[jdpromo33]

LOL to Bad to the Bone.

I see your not one for short answers huh?

You obviously know your stuff but I can see how your posts can rub people up the wrong way. I think you've corrected most of us at some point.

I think everyone on here is used to modifying their trucks, some better than others and we all seem to help each other out in one way or another.

JD