Maintenance pricing as our Tahoe ages - what’s appropriate now versus waiting

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DrNick

DrNick

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Codes for vehicle and picture! Will work on getting updated in profile.

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DrNick

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I will bypass the dealer and have a local shop lined up for some items above my pay grade.

I am tackling the spark plug/ wire replacement. Front, rear, and transfer case fluid change. Both belts. And power steering fluid.

today I did the plugs and wires, and front diff fluid. For the plugs, once I figured out the scheme of things it went fast. Started with #8, came off easy Thanks to online tips for extensions, but getting the new plug in blindly was a challenge. The wire and heat shield were difficult too on #8. The rest were easy. The factory had plenty of lube on the plugs/ wires. So I have a spare set! The biggest problem was hearing/feeling the plug engage with the metal clip in the wire on the new ones. Front diff fluid was changed. Metallic Slug was on the magnetic plug but no shavings. Oil wasn’t black more dark cloudy olive oil. Replaced with amsoil severe gear 80w-90. It took a little less than 2 qts, had 3 on hand.

over the next few days I will update on the rest. All items (sans amsoil) were ordered on RockAuto, they exceeded expectations!

the scariest part of today was when I was on the driver side changing a plug and my wife came out to ask if I needed anything. I just naturally grabbed the wire and heat shield and put it on, forgetting I hadn’t tightened or torqued down the plug. Luckily I noticed the socket wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

picture of oil and plugs are attached. What’s the thoughts on the look of the plugs? The First plug picture is passenger side in order and second pic is driver side in order. The other two pics are replicated except close up of the spark area.

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BG1988

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Hello.

My old account has been lost since we purchased our 2013 Tahoe new back in 2013. The vehicle has been a real maintenance free machine. Has 110k miles approximately. Z71 LT 4WD. Gone through one battery and set of tires.

Our local dealer has always provided the “recommended” actions during our oil changes. Recently I noticed our passenger motor mount was broken (leaking the fluid) and will have it fixed and figured I would tackle some of these items they “recommend” while it’s there. Also believe our brakes/rotors are due too.

So here is the list, please debate the pricing and if any are truly needed. None have been done to date, we purchased vehicle new.

• air intake $139
• throttle body $89 - well i have done this and they didn’t notice how shiny it was :)
• drive line $375
• transmission flush/clean $199
• cooling system flush/clean $149
• power steering $119

So what’s your thoughts? We have not had any issues with coolant, tranny, steering, or engine performance. Besides the rough idle thingy, I’m just wondering if the fluid components of the vehicle need to be addressed. Should Serp belt be replaced? I can do that myself. But the other Technical maintenance like brakes, etc...I will leave to experts to save time and headache. And I know they are upcharging because they said the mounts were 138$ and rockauto has the same at 98$.
the MAF sensor is most likely to fail around 100k or so
 
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DrNick

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Update-

Had local shop do a cooling system flush and fluid replace, plus transmission pan drop and fluid change.

Have R1 geomet drilled and slotted with Akebono proact ceramic pads to be installed next week with fluid flush.

replaced serp belt and AC belt. Glad I got the tool for the AC. Hate that you have to cut it to remove. Tension indicator was about 1/2 way but it is piece of mind.

i changed the transfer case and it was nasty black with fine metal filings attached to the magnet. Change went great. The next day I moved to the rear diff. Much tougher, had to kick out the spare tire and the bolts were on hard and a few parts to work around. PB blaster helped a bit. Fluid came out like a brown ale and just minor metallic sludge. All the internal parts looked good. Cleaned up things and replaced a new gasket. They are reusable but I could see the rubber deteriorating. The more I looked the less convinced I was to even keep it for a spare. Replaced with amsoil. Greased up the two zerks up front too.

last point, brake cleaner is so cool! Never used it before. All things (sans rotors) came via rockauto.
 

Bigkevschopshop

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Keep the fluids clean, stay pretty close to factory recommended stuff, and it will last. The major issue most get into with failure is in the engine oil, DOD likes and needs clean oil, it fails when not taken care of well through its life span.

brake cleaner is also good to kill wasps and hornets if you ever need to kill em fast.

I am about to do a flush and refil on coolant myself, the MAF sensor keep em clean I had a 03 tahoe with 245 k on it and still ran fine with orig MAF.

o2 sensors I do suggest replacing though, those things get tons of abuse from the heat, but have seen some go 300k without replacement so its a gamble, I always do AC delco on replacement parts or Delphi, Delphi made alot of sensors etc for AC and its the same stuff normally, few bucks saved most of the time also.

Sounds like your making a good step to keep the gal around for many years to come. Glad to see the headway working out good. Keep up the good work
 

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