New Member Intro: Southeast Michigan - Just bought an 02 Z71 Tahoe

[unt0uchable]

Just wanted to post up an intro thread before I start posting on all of the other helpful threads around here.

My name's David. I come from a car majority background. Drove older 80's VW's and BMW's for the last 8 or so years but we recently had our first baby and I wanted more of a family hauler for myself (Wife has an 08 Saab 9-7x AERO with the LS2 in it, THAT'S a blast) and we are looking at travel trailers for next Spring/Summer/Fall and beyond so I also wanted something that I could tow with, or essentially split towing duties with the Saab.

Picked up an 02 Tahoe Z71 from the original owner who was a lady. She put 196,000 miles on it and it's really in great shape for living 14 years in Michigan. I'll post some pics below. 95% rust free. Zero dings or dents. Very minor rock chip touch up. Really, I think she drove it to the grocery store and back for the length of her ownership, it hardly has any wear on the interior aside from the drivers seat and arm rest.

I've worked on all my own cars in the passed and don't plan to change that with the Tahoe. First on the list (and already ordered) is the blower motor resistor and possibly the blower motor (currently only works on 5, and the blower sounds a little rough so I might see if I can clean it up and grease it before I pop another resistor). Also, I'm going to crawl under it tonight and adjust the steering to see if I can get rid of the little bit of slack it has (compared to ANY other GM/Chevy I've driven, this one is not bad at all, but if I can get it down to a 1/4 of what it by a simple adjustment, awesome). I believe the trans mount is original because I get a nice clunk when I shift to reverse and the torque angle changes so I'll check that out as well.

Other than than, some regular maintenance like changing the oil, trans fluid and a new filter (and probably a 'vette servo), and doing the diff. fluids, it doesn't have any real immediate needs. There is a bit of paint peel on the roof, maybe 6 inches long by an inch and a half wide, but I'm going to go show that to my body guy that just fixed up the Saab (after some idiot side swiped us, Think: teenager watching a dash mounted GPS unit instead of his mirrors) and see what he thinks can be done to fix that up.

The rims are a little flaky from Michigan's salty roads and steel wheel weights being used over the years so I might plastidip those a nice gunmetal with some glossifier for the winter and look into some newer Z71 wheels next summer when I decide on newer tires too. I also like the idea (seen it on the forums here) of the ScanGauge II in the Tape Deck slot so I think that's going on my x-mas list, ha. I'm spoiled by the DIC on the Saab with MPG's averages and all that good stuff so it'll be nice to have something like that in the Tahoe as well. Plus I'll need to monitor the trans temp when I'm towing so either way I'll have a dash mounted iPod with my Torque app or the ScanGauge II installed by spring.

Annyyywwaayy, I'll shut up. for now. Here are some photos of it!

(Not my State plate, I took these in the PO's driveway)

Freshly detailed engine bay:

The only interior "wear":

Here is a quick shot of the paint peel on the roof:

 

[Fosscore]

Welcome. Looks really clean for the location, age and mileage. Nice score!

 

[4WDTRK]

Awesome and welcome! Great color (I'm partial to white ) What did you pay if you don't mind sharing?

 

[unt0uchable]

Welcome. Looks really clean for the location, age and mileage. Nice score!

Thanks! I do feel like it was a decent score. I only drove 3 vehicle before deciding on this one but I just couldn't pass up the 1 owner AND with how clean it was. The other two were rust BUCKETS and the Denali I drove needed at least $1500 in repairs/tires and the 6.0L had an oil leak.

Awesome and welcome! Great color (I'm partial to white ) What did you pay if you don't mind sharing?

Well, hopefully I got the deal that I thought I got. The seller was asking $5300, I offered $4800 and he agreed to that. All the others in my area were right around the $5k mark, but most had at the least, rocker rot, and did not look as clean inside as this one.

Soooo how did I do?

 

[4WDTRK]

Seems like a great deal to me!

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

 

[SlowD]

Great deal and very clean especially for that mileage!

 

[unt0uchable]

That's good to hear from you guys! SlowD, your truck looks awesome. I don't think I could pull it off, but I dig the look. What running boards do you have? I like the solid look as opposed to the "nerf bars" that came on mine.

I'm going to use this thread as a master list of my repairs/mods/upgrades that I decide to do as well. I'll make a list here and hopefully I can slowly pluck away at things. They are not prioritized. Just listing them as they come to me...


Blower motor resistor+Blower Clean up and grease
Steering box adjustment (The least play that I've felt in a GM wheel, but there is a bit there that could be adjusted out, I'm sure)
Roof rack delete (found an awesome thread on here that had the door molding to cover the holes!)
New Z71 badges for C pillars and tailgate (Metal, not plastic stickers like stock) - Hope to get ones with zero chrome, or I can black out the chrome on whatever I end up with.
New black bowties
Paint/Dip the wheels gunmetal-ish
White LED bulbs in the cluster, HVAC switches, and window switches
LED Tails (I really like the look of these - which I just realized 4WDTRK has very similar name brand ones, lol)
ScanGuageII in the tape deck slot
Double Din eventually, unless I can find a nice 1.5 din screen to put in there
HD Hood
New shocks all around w/ rear helper bags for towing
Treat/Seal any bit of rust present


Although this could be added to my list, I need to figure out why my stock radio sounds like there is absolutely NO bass in it whatsoever. I mean, I'm used to ting tangy 19080's radio/speaker setups from pretty much all of my previous cars, but this thing is easily 15 years NEWER than any of those. I tried all the preset equalizers and I tried messing with my knobs to adjust a little more bass into it (not looking to thump in tha hood yo, but maybe I'm just so used to the BOSE in my wife's Saab that I got spoiled?). Anyone have some insight on why the speakers might sound so tone deaf?

 

[about20ninj45]

Welcome fellow michigander.... Man that truck was a steal, looks awesome in my opinion, makes me embarrassed to even post pics of my interior lol adn just an fyi, the base radio package sucks if your use to bose..but then again, bose sucks if your full custom audio lol

 

[SlowD]

The running boards on mine are just part of the stock Denali package. Honestly if I would have gotten anything but a Denali I would go the opposite way and lift it especially being in Colorado and going up to the mountains a lot but this thing still handles most terrain pretty good.

 

[unt0uchable]

The running boards on mine are just part of the stock Denali package. Honestly if I would have gotten anything but a Denali I would go the opposite way and lift it especially being in Colorado and going up to the mountains a lot but this thing still handles most terrain pretty good.

Thanks for the info on the running boards. After looking under there, I'd almost be afraid to remove mine. The pink welds there aren't rotted, but there is enough rust to tell me that it's probably a bad idea to go messing with something that feels pretty solid right now. I'll probably just seal them up and leave them the way they are.

Welcome fellow michigander.... Man that truck was a steal, looks awesome in my opinion, makes me embarrassed to even post pics of my interior lol adn just an fyi, the base radio package sucks if your use to bose..but then again, bose sucks if your full custom audio lol

Damn I was hoping that wasn't the case. Is it the stock head unit that makes it so terrible? I do have a spare single din I could throw in that might put out a little more than the stock unit. Like I said, I don't wanna bump and thump, I just want it to not sound like my 1980's BMW audio...lol!

EDIT: I just found an awesome article/write up on how to bypass the stock amp for the door speakers. I'm thinking I might throw in my single din radio that I have laying around and doing the bypass. The article also said that their is a factory woofer in the Tahoes. I've got a feeling that it's either A)Not hooked up or B)Just plain not because there is absolute no depth to the audio coming from the speakers. Might look into this later. Can anyone point me to here the stock woofer is located?

EDIT AGAIN: I'm an idiot. I found it by retracing my images above....

 

[4WDTRK]

Actually that spot in the rear is just where a sub could go, it's most likely empty. The factory sub in under the console. I've never taken things apart to get to mine, but that's what I'm told.

 

[unt0uchable]

Actually that spot in the rear is just where a sub could go, it's most likely empty. The factory sub in under the console. I've never taken things apart to get to mine, but that's what I'm told.

Based on my quick observation, there is most definitely a sub there on mine. I don't know of it's Z71 specific or not but I put my ear up to the grill back there and I can hear the radio coming through it. Either it's under performing or my standards are higher than I thought, lol.

PS: Here is the article I found to bypass the factory amp. http://www.savagehomeautomation.com/projects/bypass-factory-ampcrossover-in-2002-chevy-tahoe.html

Sent from my GTP 8.4 using Tapatalk

 

[#1taho]

beautiful truck. I like the Z71 style. Good picks on the future up grades. I have fairly good bass on my Bose system, Good for a factory system. keep us all up dated on you progress.

 

[unt0uchable]

Thanks for the comments.

A little update on the trans mount noise. I noticed AFTER I drove it home of course that there was a decent clunk when I shifted from park to reverse or drive to reverse. Mainly when going into reverse from any gear. I believe I've narrowed it down to the front driveshaft u-joints. The sound is coming from under the driver. I had my co-worker shift the trans while I crawled under it and checked things out. So it looks like I'll be doing some front u-joints in the near future. Anyone recommend any certain brand? I know parts are super cheap for these and I'd like to just do these once.

 

[unt0uchable]

Thanks for the comments.

A little update on the trans mount noise. I noticed AFTER I drove it home of course that there was a decent clunk when I shifted from park to reverse or drive to reverse. Mainly when going into reverse from any gear. I believe I've narrowed it down to the front driveshaft u-joints. The sound is coming from under the driver. I had my co-worker shift the trans while I crawled under it and checked things out. So it looks like I'll be doing some front u-joints in the near future. Anyone recommend any certain brand? I know parts are super cheap for these and I'd like to just do these once.

Another update on this. I'm pretty sure my front diff bearings must be toast. I get a slight growl when it 4wd going down the road at normal speeds (40-50mph) and it seems the u-joints are tight from my inspection. I had my co-worker shifting it again for me today while I was holding onto the front drive shaft. It seems the noise is most pronounced at the input of the front diff.

Any advice on making sure that this is my problem area? I feel confident that I can swap the bearings myself, but I want to make sure I'm diving into the right part if I'm going to drop the diff and all that.

 

[unt0uchable]

Alright, so I have a chance to trade straight up for a set of NNBS LTZ 20's. My BIL is trading his 07 LTZ Suburban in on a brand new Tundra and told me if I wanted anything off the truck that would swap, I could do it. I'm very tempted to swap rims/tires with him. The only thing stopping me is the fact that there aren't many LT tires available in 275/55-20. There are some XL load range (Index of 117) which is a 4 ply tire, but I was hoping to get at least a 6 or 8 ply before we start towing in the spring.

Should I go for it and swap them out? I think they have a little more tread but regardless, the tires will end up being replaced within 6 months anyway...


EDIT: Also, I peeked under the truck because I'm getting ready to order the fluid, filter, and corvette servo. Looks like I have the deep pan (not sure if they all do?) but I started googling on the trans fluid changes. Does the exhaust y pipe need to be removed on these or is that only on the NNBS? I don't want to get into trying to remove a 200k mile old exhaust because shit's gonna start breaking at that point...

Lemme know so I can order this stuff and get things going. Thanks!!

 

[FamilyTruckster]

welcome along dude! nice truck! i'm south east mi as well.

 

[unt0uchable]

Thanks! What area?

Anyone have any tips about my reverse noise? I'll upload a video I took today while shifting the trans around.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[rebl68]

welcome from another SE michigander

 

[unt0uchable]

So I had a few interesting things happen over the last week or so.

First thing is this: When it dropped down to near freezing temps overnight, the truck struggled to start the following day. Cold start only, it would crank fine and get up to 1000rpms and then drop off and stall. Try again...same thing. Finally on the 3rd or so attempt it would get up and stay up idling. No CEL and no otherwise ill effects. I assume the TB needs to be cleaned and maybe the MAF sensor. Coolant temp sensor was reading fine (as measured in my Torque Pro app) so I ruled out that being bad. I'll probably pull off the TB this weekend and clean it all up and throw in a new air filter while I'm in there.

Then today, I get in this morning to come to work and my radio was LOC'd. Bastards. So I found some videos and figured out my code and now it's all better, but I still wonder why it LOC'd up.

In reference to the radio, I did find that there is an automatic start setup installed alright. I found the bypass module and the control box and all the great wiring under the dash on Monday. I'm going to buy a key fob and see what it does and try to program it all up. The system installed is this one. Its a Valet 552T and seems like a really nice system for the time period. I'm hoping I can get it working and utilize some of the neat features.

Other than that, I've just been driving it to work and on our errands and what not. I still need to get to adjusting the steering box. I bought everything I needed to do the trans fluid/filter/vette servo. I'm going to practice on my Tahoe and then do it again on my wifes Saab 9-7x Aero (4L70 trans, but identical process at the 4L60). I might try that out this weekend but who knows if I'll find the time.

I've been debating just throwing in my single din radio I have laying around because the radio just sounds so flat. No matter how I mess with the little knobs, it's flat and dull sounding. I'd like to fiddle with that this weekend too but, again, time might not show up.

Thanks for all of the welcomes guys! Good to see a few local active people.