Bought my first Suburban 1500. Few questions

[Stimpy911]

I am happy to say that I bought my first Suburban. I love it so far. I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I have been looking for a replacement for my 04 Explorer.

2000 Chevy Suburban 1500 LT. About 180,000 miles. New tires, alternator, battery and front wheel bearings.

Nice thing is that most of its life until 2014 it has been in Nebraska. There is literally no rust except a little on the rear doors.


Couple questions.

What type of oil should I use? Should I use synthetic?

How do I remove cigarette smoke smell from inside the cab?

Any good places online to repair my instrument cluster. Odometer reading went out.

Thanks

 

[Fosscore]

Welcome. Looks pretty clean.

Try these for the smell.
https://www.amazon.com/Moso-Natural-Purifying-Charcoal-Color/dp/B004BOH6BM

Give that interior a good, serious cleaning. Shampoo or scrub the hell out of the carpet, wipe everything down. If you really want to take care of business, you can always change out the carpet and headliner. Did that to mine and made a big difference. At 180k, I'm sure she has seen her fair share of smells.

This link was recently posted by a member that might be worth checking out. There are other guys out there who do the cluster work, repairs and upgrades. Just do a little searching online and here on the forum.
https://www.gmgaugerepair.com/chevr...-repair/add-a-transmission-temperature-gauge/

 

[Michigan]

I wanna say yes to use Mobil 1 synthetic but my question is should we use Mobil 1 or the high mileage version?

 

[05Single]

Yea just use Mobil 1 synthetic..high mileage is like for 200k+
Fosscore like always has the answers to the rest lol.

Clean truck, looks pretty straight. Any plans for aftermarket parts or modifications ?

 

[Fosscore]

@05Single

Just paying it back for the advice I got, in the areas I know about. Cheers! lol

 

[05Single]

I'm learning and always try to do the same when I can.
But that's why I like this place. Tons of veteran tahoe owners with good and accurate info that help out instead of the rude "search bar" comment like other forums.

 

[Fosscore]

Learn something new every day.

 

[#1taho]

Welcome
Clean truck for upper Michigan.

 

[Stimpy911]

Thanks, I'll post some better pics. I did do one bad thing. I hit the emergency brake trying to remove a trailer brake from previous owner and locked up the left rear brake. Brake was super hot to touch. Had to throw snow on it to cool it down. I am going to get back home and get it up on the jack stand.

 

[Stimpy911]

Yea just use Mobil 1 synthetic..high mileage is like for 200k+
Fosscore like always has the answers to the rest lol.

Clean truck, looks pretty straight. Any plans for aftermarket parts or modifications ?

I would like to update my CD player to a navigation/Bluetooth type system.

Also, I am an EMT and I will be installing emergency lights and siren. I would like to remove the tape deck and put a ham radio or some type of switch box for my equipment.

I also like Plasti Dip so I might do up my rockers and bumper along with my hubs.

Also, I would like to install a backup camera. The screen for that might fit in good where the tape deck is as well.

Have any of you done any of these updates?

 

[05Single]

I personally haven't done any of those particular mods but many have on here.

I know the guy you wanna talk to about lights and sirens is @Z-56 Hoe. He's an ex cop and has his own business installing emergency sirens and lights for police/emt/fire rescue...exc.

 

[Stimpy911]

05Single what are some of the mods you have done?

 

[05Single]

Heres 31 pages of what I've done so far. Nothing big. Just little details.

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/05singles-virgin-build-thread-03-tahoe.79987/

 

[Stimpy911]

Love your work. Gives me some ideas for sure...

 

[RaiderRodney]

Congrats on the Suburban, looks great!

That was the biggest problem I had when I picked up my 01 Tahoe a few months ago was the lingering cigarette odors. But as was mentioned after a thorough cleaning and changing out the cabin air filter it is almost gone. I may pick up some of those charcoal bags, that's a good tip!

I switched mine to the new Pennzoil Ultra Platinum fully synthetic 5w30. It has great reviews and the oil tests I've seen from it are pretty close to some of Amsoil's offerings at a much more reasonable price.

 

[05Single]

@Z-56_Hoe business is called priority pursuit. It's on facebook.

 

[Stimpy911]

Thanks

 

[Martinjmpr]

Congrats on the 'Burb. It's a 4x4 I presume? I got mine just over a year ago and love it. Mine made the opposite journey from yours, though - mine came from WI and now resides in CO so I have some surface rust on the frame and door bottoms.

As far as music and nav goes, I love Crutchfield for car stereo stuff. They have a wide variety and their customer service is second to none. I've installed 3 Crutchfield stereos in the last 4 years and every one of them worked great, plus I saved a bunch of money by installing it myself. Installation of stereos on these trucks is stupid easy - you just pull the trim ring from around the instrument panel and then unscrew the radio and remove it.

I did not install either Nav or backup camera on mine but I know Crutchfield has both of those options.

As far as the instrument cluster goes, I know the 03-06 models had some well known issues with LEDs and stepper motors but I'm not sure about the earlier GMT-800 models. I had my cluster rebuilt by Circuit Board Medics and it looks great. I had them add green LEDs and a transmission temp gauge (since my Suburban typically pulls a travel trailer.)

 

[Stimpy911]

I got my cluster repaired. Instead of 180K like the seller said it was it ends up being 214K miles.

 

[S1nemesis1s]

I am happy to say that I bought my first Suburban. I love it so far. I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I have been looking for a replacement for my 04 Explorer.

2000 Chevy Suburban 1500 LT. About 180,000 miles. New tires, alternator, battery and front wheel bearings.

Nice thing is that most of its life until 2014 it has been in Nebraska. There is literally no rust except a little on the rear doors.


Couple questions.

What type of oil should I use? Should I use synthetic?

How do I remove cigarette smoke smell from inside the cab?

Any good places online to repair my instrument cluster. Odometer reading went out.

Thanks

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http://www.chevyspeedo.com/

Best work I have seen myself. Total pro, cleans it all up, will actually talk with you, and is very affordable, ALSO SUPER FAST SHIPPING. He also does the climate control as well.