2007 Tahoe/New member from sunny California/Looking for some advice

Edit: Looks like this was moved to a different forum, so I will delete the cosmetic stuff I was looking for help with and put it in the correct area later. Sorry about that! Not sure how these forums are broken up subject wise...

Been learning much from this site. Husband has wanted me to get back into something a bit beefier for some time (living in Sierra foothills- storms, snow, flooding, ice, mud yada yada) and out of my very reliable, competent Camry. Done with commuting long distances so don't need a commuter. I have not been the one taking care of vehicles, but I have driven 4 different Subs whilst raising and hauling kids around in other muddy, rainy climates and I DO miss the ride...LONG first post with flood of info and questions. Need patient and helpful readers

We found a sweet deal on a 2007 Tahoe LT 4x4, correct color (white), one owner, garaged with 87,000 miles for 10k. Estate item, so no real info besides what daughter told us about how it was treated. Garaged by retired farmer with dogs (more on that later...) No service records, but hubs said very clean and well-kept and doesn't look 14 years old, no visible rust, etc. They had the 90k servicing done end of 2020 at a dealership for $1800 (wow!) including new spark plugs, wires, elements, fluid, flush etc. No repairs recommended but new wipers all around. Besides a few cosmetic concerns, very clean. We jumped on it, figuring we couldn't lose if we decided to turn it if it is not what I want.

Looking for some advice and info before we decide if this is the one I want, or turn it and keep looking. Keep or sell, we need to do a little bit of minor stuff on it (and possibly more than minor if I keep it) I will not sell the Camry until I have another vehicle I'm keeping. Although I am not the one doing the maintenance and such, I am the research and shopping queen, so finding out the pros and cons of the various Tahoes and if there are enough questions with this one, may look for a 2009-2012 that has the 6 speed (I think that is the year it starts being 6 speed) and maybe built in blue tooth etc and supposedly some of the mechanical issues improved upon.

Stuff I gleaned from here and elsewhere.

First of all, the VIN says I have a LMG engine, but there is NOTHING on the gas cap or on the vehicle that indicates flex fuel. I understand that some parts for FF are more expensive (even though I won't be using it, the maintenance cost will be part of my decision making) The part number for the spark plugs at the last service is 19417955. Can anyone tell from that if it is a FF? And if not, is there a way to look at the engine to tell????

Second, I have read ad nauseum about the AFM issue. I won't belabor upon that and how often it happens blah blah blah. But I DO want to know clearly if putting on a disabler involves any other steps. Again, in my research, if you plug one in under the dash, some say you have to do other things under the hood to compensate for that change because of other things I don't understand (okay, I'm gonna show my ignorance on such things now!). Is it as simple as plug and play? Or will other things need to be done. Please point me to specific links on here that will help

Third, I think the door latch is bad (or clogged with dang dog hair!), as the dome light never goes on with driver door opened, and the radio does not go off when I have the key out of the ignition and open and close the driver door (tried the passenger door, too, radio stays on, but light works). Is that something my maintenance-minded and inclined husband can easily do? Again, links appreciated!

Fourth, had the battery die on me a week or so after purchasing. Was sitting for maybe a day or two. Zilch, nada, nothing. Couldn't open with fob even. Husband charged for a few hours, started right up. Tested after sitting for over 24 hours with a fancy electronic tester thing from his work, and it said "bad" but I haven't had issues since with driving it daily, and sitting on weekends. Any idea if this relates to issue number 3? We also realize my husband may have accidentally turned the 4wd knob instead of the light knob and we had it in "auto" instead of 2wd. Could that do anything weird? Not using Onstar. No after market alarms. Really not many extras. Looks to be Bose (original probably) radio. Could really be just going bad, or some phantom draw is making it "bad." Oh the joys of learning "new to me" vehicles.

Fifth, all my Subs were 2wd, so no idea about 4wd, but there is a definite slight hum when going over 30 or 40 mph (in 2wd). When sitting in driver's seat, can hear pretty well, but not when in passenger. Not real loud and if radio on, can't hear at all. I also read that rear end stuff and other terms I don't remember are a thing on Tahoes in general that will require replacing, but given the mileage and everything else, is that something that should affect our decision making process, money wise?

I'm sure there are other things we will find as we drive it the next few weeks, but those are some of the things I'm trying to ponder if enough trouble (for my husband HA!) to sell this Tahoe and wait for another deal.

Thoughts or other links that may be helpful for non-mechanic minded person?

Thanks!!!

 

im not reading all that, but welcome!

 

Thank you! Haha, I know, I get that a lot lol. I figured someone who is bored may be up for giving me a lesson and may bite

 

Welcome to the forum from Iowa.

I will make an attempt to address the highlights of your post.

For your first question about what motor your vehicle has, it would be beneficial to find out on Chevy’s website, click on the “Chat” button and if you give them your VIN, they will give you the full build sheet for your vehicle. Also, in your glovebox is an RPO sticker with a bunch of 3 Character codes on it. Post a photo of that abs folks her can interpret it for you.

Point #2-AFM. You can go with a simple Range AFM disable device that plugs into the OBD port abs shuts of the AFM activation. No other work needs to be done. That is the least invasive. The next option is to do a full delete where you remove the AFM VLOM, Lifters, Cam, etc and get your vehicle tuned to run without it. Even though AFM is not the best, it is. It the death bell if you keep your oil changed regularly with quality oil and a good filter.

Point #3-Door switch. I would think there are YouTube videos showing how to trouble shoot it and swap it out if necessary.

Point #4-Battery. Take it to an Autozone and have them test it. You very well could have a bad cell. It may cause other issues as these trucks hate poor/low voltage. You shouldn’t have any issues with it being in AutoFWD and that shouldn’t cause any of your door issues.

Point #5- The humming coming from your vehicle, could be a couple things. If you swerve to the right does it get louder? If you swerve to the left does it get louder? If it only gets louder when you swerve one way or the other, if could be a wheel bearing. If so, recommend both get replaced. It could also be a bad CV shaft. There are a few videos on that. 1A Auto is a good source for videos as well.

Well, not sure if I hit your points, but I gave it my best.

 

Thanks for the pointers! How much of a swerve and at what speed to test the hum? Just mountain roads up here with not much room to swerve. Of course, these will be passed on to my awesome spouse who can do something with it, or not. He SAYS he is fine with fixing up what he can so I can have a Tahoe, or paying it to be done, but him working 40-50 hours a week plus commute then vehicle projects??? I do not want to be adding to his workload. But from what I have been reading, even newer 1/2 ton Tahoes with less mileage than I have require more maintenance than my little Camry, so it may just go with the territory. However, I remember with our older Subs we did VERY little major anything on them. But less electronic stuff to fail, I guess.

 

Welcome from Idaho. I can maybe take a bite, with AFM, etc.

AFM can be easily turned off in a number of ways, I believe none of which is legal in CA. So if you turn it off and somebody finds out, you may have Gavin knocking on your door with his tag along camera crew.

Regardless of how(if) you decide to turn AFM off, it would be good to know that the oil was changed regularly (like every 5K). Sketchy service history could mean an expensive lifter replacement job.

In addition to the above, being a 2007, you should find out if your truck has had the updated drivers side valve cover installed. The original has a design defect that directs oil through the PCV into the intake. At a minimum, it can mean using a lot of oil, which is ironic as the AFM lifters need plenty of fresh oil to live a happy life. In extreme cases, you might need new pistons and rings (mine were done at about 95K).

On the positive side, I have never driven a better vehicle over countless Donner Pass crossings. You aren’t bullet proof inside a Tahoe/Sub, but compared to a Camry, you are driving an Abraham’s tank.

Hopefully someone will add some to the AFM stuff and all the other questions.

Keep asking, maybe in smaller bites.

 

Gavin won't come knocking in our neck of the woods haha. But can the disablers be removed easily before serviced/sold etc without messing anything up? It was smogged recently after we bought it and unless we sell, in our county (thus far) smog is not required to register each year while we own.

The issue with having the updated drivers side valve cover installed because of design defect of the PCV was one of those issues that I thought was related to AFM??? and without being mechanically inclined at all, wasn't sure what that all meant for us. Is that something that can be determined by looking at since I can't get ahold of records?

Unfortunately, the daughter did not have any records. I have to assume that they weren't with the vehicle and that is probably why they did the service to see the health of the vehicle. I actually called 3 or 4 of the local dealers around where he lived to see if they had the records and the one that did the service looked in his database and said he could not tell where done, but it looked like it had regular oil changes at some dealership(s) and no reported engine issues. So I'm flying blind here.

Yes, the tank (or subs back in the day) is what I feel safest in and I live in an area where the big aggressive lifted mud trucks sometimes ride ur butt and tower over you haha, so would like to be able to not feel like a 98 pound weakling.

 

And ya, I know, smaller bites...story of my life The college professors LOVED the long essays. The only ones in my life that liked my long-windedness.

 

I'd probably save your money on the AFM delete. With mountain driving it's not going to activate very much. BTW you can see when it's activated in the driver information center. In the buttons to the right, hit the 2nd from the top until you see either "V8" or "V4". The vast majority of the time it will just say V8.

 

I saw that yesterday and watched it go back and forth on straighter downhill portions vs uphill. Kinda funny to watch it go from 99 mpg down to 6 mpg. Ya that's gotta be real accurate. We will occasionally take road trips a few times a year that will put hwy miles on it, so not sure that affects need to disable. But delete is a bigger ticket permanent fix, correct?