2012 Tahoe SSV

[Nighthawkpearl]

Hello everyone, I hope you guys doing well. My name is Mian and am Deaf. My English is not that great since English is my second language and American Sign Language (ASL) is my first language.

Anyway, well, I think I made a mistake that I bought 2012 Tahoe SSV with 77k miles for $11,000. I didn’t check engine hours till I found out how to check after bought it. So it has almost 20k engine hours, I was like fu*k, but before I bought it, I looked at Tahoe everything, like exterior is in excellent condition, no scratch at all and no holes and engine looks great, no leak at all, head crank has no oil leak at all, I looked under the engine to see if oil leak but no leak at all, looks clean. So I looked interior is in excellent condition, looks basic, have center console, like normal. I drove Tahoe as test, was very smooth, transmission is great, no feeling when change gears and drove on the freeway with full AC on full fan, pretty cold and did drive on high hill, very power. Anyway all I concern about 20k engine hours, I know high idle hours is not good but how do I know if engine is good or would explode? I can’t see what inside of the engine looks like. I changed engine oil and oil filter and from now on I will change engine oil every 3k miles. So what do you guys think? Thank you.

I attached some pictures but I will add more pictures of inside the Tahoe.

 

[Nighthawkpearl]

I attached pdf for RPO CODE. Tell me if Tahoe has any good features?

 

[Fubar0715]

Good lord, that is a lot of hours, sitting idle! I think you win the award for the most engine hours in the forum - I thought I had a lot of them....Jeebus. I would recommend getting a tune to get rid of DoD (cylinder de-activation) if a top end rebuild is not in the cards at the moment. Keep an eye on your oil pressure and changed regularly. I have an SSV as well that had 9.5k engine hours with about 115k on the clock - I have the tune and replaced my oil sensor as well as replaced the O-ring in the oil pan that cause low pressures. Add details about your location, vehicle details, etc as part of your profile and Welcome to the tribe from New Hampshire.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Like Fubar0715 said,
in the short-term, get an ecm & tcm tune, be sure to include disabling V4 mode.
In the long-term, delete & discard V4 mode hardware, replace with V8 lifters.

 

[Nighthawkpearl]

Good lord, that is a lot of hours, sitting idle! I think you win the award for the most engine hours in the forum - I thought I had a lot of them....Jeebus. I would recommend getting a tune to get rid of DoD (cylinder de-activation) if a top end rebuild is not in the cards at the moment. Keep an eye on your oil pressure and changed regularly. I have an SSV as well that had 9.5k engine hours with about 115k on the clock - I have the tune and replaced my oil sensor as well as replaced the O-ring in the oil pan that cause low pressures. Add details about your location, vehicle details, etc as part of your profile and Welcome to the tribe from New Hampshire.

Lmao, glad it made you feel better about engine hours, lol.

Yeah, I guess I am gonna save up for DoD delete, is that lots of money for dod delete?

Sure will add location and profile, thanks for let me know.

 

[Nighthawkpearl]

Like Fubar0715 said,
in the short-term, get an ecm & tcm tune, be sure to include disabling V4 mode.
In the long-term, delete & discard V4 mode hardware, replace with V8 lifters.

Oh ok, thanks for info. I will try to save up some money. Will keep my eyes on engine.

 

[Fubar0715]

The tune from BlackBear Performance is less than $600 and it tunes out DoD via ECM - for a stock truck, the biggest thing I noticed with my tunes was the tranny stopped hunting for the right gear when going up and down hills. Its going to get a test next month as I need to pull a Karmann Ghia home from Florida. Anywho, the tune is a start and should add some much needed life into your truck.

 

[Nighthawkpearl]

The tune from BlackBear Performance is less than $600 and it tunes out DoD via ECM - for a stock truck, the biggest thing I noticed with my tunes was the tranny stopped hunting for the right gear when going up and down hills. It’s going to get a test next month as I need to pull a Karmann Ghia home from Florida. Anywho, the tune is a start and should add some much needed life into your truck.

Oh I see, I am not good at mechanical things if I go to auto shop to do tune, would be lots of money?

How do I check oil pressure to see how much oil pressure? Thanks

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Oh I see, I am not good at mechanical things if I go to auto shop to do tune, would be lots of money?

How do I check oil pressure to see how much oil pressure? Thanks

How good are you on the computer? If you are reasonably literate on a computer, doing a Black Bear Performance tune, as @Fubar0715 recommended, will actually be less complicated, and no mechanical wrenching is involved in the tune process.

 

[Nighthawkpearl]

How good are you on the computer? If you are reasonably literate on a computer, doing a Black Bear Performance tune, as @Fubar0715 recommended, will actually be less complicated, and no mechanical wrenching is involved in the tune process.

Very good on the computer since I am IT computer though. Will check it out, thanks.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Very good on the computer since I am IT computer though. Will check it out, thanks.

Give @BlackBearPerf a call and discuss this topic with them. You won't be disappointed.

 

[BlackBearPerf]

Feel free to contact us, we are more than happy to go over everything with you!

Contact

Please be sure to check out our frequently asked questions for answers to many common questions. Business hours are Monday to Friday: 8:00 AM- 4:00 PM. Vehicle Build/Engine Swap Questions by Email Only, Please. Coeur D'Alene, ID 877-809-4070 [email protected]

www.blackbearperformance.com

 

[Fubar0715]

Oh I see, I am not good at mechanical things if I go to auto shop to do tune, would be lots of money?

How do I check oil pressure to see how much oil pressure? Thanks

Keep an eye on your dash - there is a oil pressure gauge in left up corner. Feel free to reach out with the computer stuff too - I am in IT as well and have done the BBP tune as well as setup a nano interface for the OBD port. Where are you located?

 

[Nighthawkpearl]

Keep an eye on your dash - there is an oil pressure gauge in left up corner. Feel free to reach out with the computer stuff too - I am in IT as well and have done the BBP tune as well as setup a nano interface for the OBD port. Where are you located?

Yes, i keep my eyes on the dash, oil pressure. Is it normal for oil pressure at between 25-30 when idling and 30-40 when driving? I don’t beat up my Tahoe. I drive like grandma. I live in San Diego. Should I flush transmission fluid and new fluid since Tahoe has 20k engine hours? What about flush coolant fluid?

Also, should I shift to M at 6 gears to keep v8 mode all time or not good?

 

[Marky Dissod]

I wish someone would reveal the OE program conditions that need be met before V4 mode is allowed, and then activated.
That said, learn to drive with more carefully timed threats of enthusiasm, and you can prevent V4 mode pretty well without the shifter.
Also, V4 mode may still be possible but much less likely by using the shifter to avoid 6th.
All of those are stopgap contrivances til you get V4 mode tuned out.

Change ATF & ATF filter every 30k (yes, more often than GM suggests).
Change antifreeze every 3 years max (yes, more often than GM suggests).

Don't forget to change the power steering fluid, as well as the rear axle & front differential fluids at your earliest convenience.
That's another way of saying, when you've found replacement fluid that meets or exceeds updated specs.

 

[Incognito]

Change ATF & ATF filter every 30k (yes, more often than GM suggests).

This seems rather excessive to me. 30k miles? Is this towing or just daily driving?

 

[Marky Dissod]

This seems rather excessive to me. 30k miles? Is this towing or just daily driving?

Daily driving per NYC (mostly Manhattan / Brooklyn Queens) livery / cab drivers experiences.
Getting a Suburban / Yukon XL / Stretch Vehicle to reach 250,000 highway miles is one thing.
It's quite another when nearly all of the miles are metro / urban stop'n'go.
(The silver lining would be, avoiding 5th and 6th gear makes V4 mode almost impossible, thus the TCC lasts longer. Still, the 6L80E & 8L80E have other failure modes.)

I've always preferred using severe service recommendations, having been an NYC livery driver.
'Rather excessive' is always preferable to 'ok, it's dark enough to change it now'.

 

[mikez71]

I wish someone would reveal the OE program conditions that need be met before V4 mode is allowed, and then activated.

Here's what I could find...

missing oil aeration at the bottom left..
aeration time = 10 seconds
reset rpm = 3,000 rpm
reset time = 50 seconds

 

[Doubeleive]

Give @BlackBearPerf a call and discuss this topic with them. You won't be disappointed.

hopefully he has a service for making calls, presuming so since it has been a thing for a while now

OP: you can always just email them if that is easier

This seems rather excessive to me. 30k miles? Is this towing or just daily driving?

it can depend on how you drive I change mine every 20k

 

[RichardCranium]

Welcome to the board! Nice looking Tahoe, share some interior pics when you get a chance.

I too have really high hours, I don't recall what mine says but can check later. Since my Tahoe was NC Highway Patrol, I already know it is going to have a massive amount of idle hours. Have no fear though, at least if you know it has been maintained properly. With all my idle hours and having nearly 200k miles when I bought mine from surplus, it still runs like a champ and only has given me a few pretty minor issues.

Not "must" items, but definitely strongly suggested:

- Do the DoD for sure, if it bothers you going into DoD. I actually deleted it in the ECM, but haven't done the mechanical side (yet). If/when I do get a sticky/noisy lifter, I'll do it.

- Cleanup the transmission tune. At least get the torque convertor lockup at low speeds removed. Made a HELLUVA difference driving for me, obviously at lower speeds. But the lockup caused a severe "clunk", and with a higher mileage truck, that isn't good

- Grab some new headlights, don't waste your time trying to restore those. Don't be shy of Amazon knockoffs either, I've had a few pairs of Amazon knockoffs for some projects before I retrofitted by HID's, they are great for what they are. If you aren't looking at spending a lot of money on the truck, at least a $100 pair of Amazon lights will make the truck look really good

Just my $.02! Lots of knowledge on the forum here though, definitely post up if you need any advice/help!