New to the group with loads of problems - kinda long

[yargnits]

Hello all. I'm new to the forum as I just bought myself a '04 Yukon SLT. With the addition of a third child, I needed something bigger than my Grand Prix.

For those of you keeping an eye for them on ebay, it's the charcoal grey one that sold about a month ago. Seen here... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0400078005&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT

It had a clean Carfax and Auto History so I took the plunge. This was my 4th vehicle purchase from ebay and the 1st one I've regretted. The truck was misrepresented by the seller. Well, it is what it is and I'm going to do the best with it I can and I'm hoping to get some advice here.

Let me tell you about the Yukon and it's plus' and minus'

2004 Yukon SLT 5.3 AWD w/86k on the clock.

Add-ons...

Alpine roof DVD/monitor - works so far
KVH A7 Sat System
- great for kids and tailgating but temperamental operation
- seems that the belt that rotates the dish is slipping.
Valentine 1 radar detector integrated into rear-view mirror
- switches concealed in cubby holes.
- cool but display shifted behind glass. need to open mirror to re-position
Audio Adaptor
- forgot the model # but allows sat and DVD systems audio to
play through truck stereo along with a mini-jack for ipod.
Second Battery
- looks like what I've seen done around the web.


Factory component problems...

Alternator whine, only heard through passenger side doors. The whine does not increase in volume with the radio, so if I crank up the tunes I don't hear it. If I turn the radio all the way down while leaving it on the whine goes away. I also hear the whine for a few seconds upon start-up even if the radio is off.

The display tells me that I need to check the tire pressure 80% of the time but it's okay.

The compass won't calibrate. This one is weird. It thinks West is North and it works in reverse. i.e. I'm driving North (in reality it's West) and turn 90 degrees to the left. It should then read I'm headed West (actually South) but the mirror says it's East!


The oil pressure gage sometimes goes past it's upper limit.

The speedometer works only half the time. I saw the class action info here but mileage puts me out of a free fix. Is it expensive or is there a DIY solution?

The driver side mirror has replacement glass in it but the mirror is suppose to have the LED arrow like the pass side. It looks like the new mirror is just stuck on but I don't want to pry it off until I have a new piece of glass. Did the '04 Yukons with arrows in the mirrors also have auto-dim and heat? The mirrors are also power folding.
- this is another thing I noticed. I've had vehicles before with curb assist
and I've always thought they could point lower... not this one. The
mirrors show me what's under my rear doors!


I'd like to add a monitor for the sat/dvd systems in the dash. If I replace the HU will the wheel controls still work?

I also want to add rear (and possible front) parking sensors and a rear camera to work with the dash monitor. My wife is going to drive this and she's been known to back over mailboxes.

I apologize if any of these questions can be answered by searching the threads. I just wanted to ask all at once... and vent a little. I hope this thing will work out in the long run.

Cheers

 

[blueflamed03]

first off, welcome to the site.

The class action suit is good to 80K now, i always assuemd 70k. But either way, your out of warranty time anyway.
You can either have a dealer fix it, or you can have it fixed at places like this:
http://www.instrumentclusters.com/

that may fix a majority of your mis-readings.

I belive the 04's didn't have the mirrors with the arrows, i could be wrong. but sounds like someone ripped, or broke the drievr side. You can find repalcements off www.stylintrucks.com
The audio mishaps could be grounding, or RCA. I suggest having a local dealer check all your issues, may cost a few hundred but may fix all the sorted wiring and whining.
Tire pressure could be changes in weather, or TPMS.

The compass is odd, maybe ask the company I posted above that does instrument repair, possibly they may have a fix or know where to go.

I know the newer trucks have to have the radio, if you go back to one semi OEM, flashed to teh VIN of your truck.

Sorry you have issues, but sounds like semi small fixes, but agree, annoying at best.

Good luck, and look forward to your feedback after you get some of these issues repaired.

 

[ecordell]

My 04' Z71 has the mirrors with the arrows in it and the curb assist only shows the rear tires, that's all you need

 

[yargnits]

Speedometer problem will be fixed soon

I did some research online and found a great tutorial for repairing the gages on another club page. Here's the link... http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=48886

I found the replacement stepper motors online but a guy online still had the best price. I'll replace all 6 stepper motors for under $8 each including the shipping.

I've also found some threads here about mirror glass removal. When I get home, I'm going to try it. The truck had power folding mirrors with the arrows. I just don't know if they have heat and dimming. Once I have the mirror out, I should be able to tell what I need to price.

 

[badtothe bone]

I'm going to try to say something here without being called Mr. Negativity.

The person that sold this vehicle, sold it for a reason. The custom installs that were done on this vehicle were not done by a real professional - it was done by a butcher who had these great idea's and very little skill level and was not willing to pay anyone to set things straight.

When you mess things up as bad as what they are in your vehicle, after a few things are done wrong and some error codes goes off, the vehicle tends to get defensive and tries to fight off the so called improvements that the previous owner did - kind of like your body trying to fight off the flu.

The noise you hear in the door is the Body Control Module

The gauges might or might not even be at fault. There is no automatic repair that says 100% of the time when you have a problem with the gauge - that it is the stepper motor.

Now I didn't research this far enough to know if this vehicle's all wheel drive unit sends the speed information from a sensor in the transfer case or not.
But there are times when there is problems that is in the transfer case that appears to be speedometer related.

I would suggest either finding someone who does power tuning and have that person look at this vehicle and diagnose all the problems before you start to throw good money after bad at it.

The other thing is - why did you buy it? Didn't you even look at it before you bought it? Did you think that all those things that were wrong were easy fixes and that the previous owner was a dumb ass and didn't know what he had or didn't know what he was doing and that you knew more then he did and figured that you could just take it home and wrap some duct tape over the wires and everything would work? I mean - come on now. Nobody could be that dumb to believe that you could just hack a vehicle up that bad and not have problems.

Custom installs costs thousands of dollars. Even when they are done wrong.

Most times when something is done wrong, other things stops working.
Things like the self dim in the mirrors. So the person that owned the vehicle probably thought that alll he needed to do was change the glass and everything would be a ok. Only when he found out how much stuff costs to replace and even when he tried to replace it - it didn't work, then he just decided to dump it off on some sucker and move on with his / her life.

The most emotional thing about all this is that you never know when the theft lock / Security is going to go off and then the vehicle is going to stop running and you are going to be left someplace. I don't think that it is a question of IF, it is a question of WHEN!

I would take it to a Chevrolet Garage and see how much of the damage they can fix with the TECH II. maybe it is beyond repair - if it does not have the stock radio and stuff. Either way, maybe they can turn some things on and shut some things off and diagnose some of the problems and replace one or two of the modules that I think are probably faulty.

Good Luck with your new truck. I will be praying for you - that your wife makes it home ok while she is driving it.

 

[yargnits]

wow

That was super negative. It's kinda surprising to hear the opinion that one shouldn't modify or "hack" on this site. I see trucks on this site (and others) with far more mods done to them than this truck. The list of added items is actually kinda short. sat dish, dvd, and a radar detector built into the mirror. And as far as the install of these items, I'd rate the work as pretty good, as I'm here and can see how things were done.

If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have took the truck. Hind-site 20-20 stuff. Most of the problems are intermittent and unfortunately for me only one had reared its head when I when to look it over and I hoped it'd be an easy fix. (the alt whine)

I agree with you that someone decided not to deal with the troubles of this truck and unloaded it, but at one point they paid plenty to get these options installed for one reason or the other.

I'd like to hear more on your theory that the BCM is the source of the speaker noise. Is it based on anything? I'm betting on a loose ground and will start tracking that down when I get my hands on a FSM.

I'll be sure to post the results of the stepper motor replacement and other items as I work though them as an update. After all I think that's what forums like this are for, not just to tell stories how I took it to a dealer for work.

 

[ecordell]

Well said!

Bad seems to think the negative about everything and seems to think that none of us know what we're talking about.........apparently the stealerships are the mod gods and we know nothing.....I say dig in and hope all your fixes are smooth and easy and as a last resort take it to the stealer as they think their work is worth your weight in gold...

 

[blueflamed03]

please keep us informed yar.

 

[TheFuzz]

I'm going to try to say something here without being called Mr. Negativity.

The person that sold this vehicle, sold it for a reason. The custom installs that were done on this vehicle were not done by a real professional - it was done by a butcher who had these great idea's and very little skill level and was not willing to pay anyone to set things straight.

When you mess things up as bad as what they are in your vehicle, after a few things are done wrong and some error codes goes off, the vehicle tends to get defensive and tries to fight off the so called improvements that the previous owner did - kind of like your body trying to fight off the flu.

The noise you hear in the door is the Body Control Module

The gauges might or might not even be at fault. There is no automatic repair that says 100% of the time when you have a problem with the gauge - that it is the stepper motor.

Now I didn't research this far enough to know if this vehicle's all wheel drive unit sends the speed information from a sensor in the transfer case or not.
But there are times when there is problems that is in the transfer case that appears to be speedometer related.

I would suggest either finding someone who does power tuning and have that person look at this vehicle and diagnose all the problems before you start to throw good money after bad at it.

The other thing is - why did you buy it? Didn't you even look at it before you bought it? Did you think that all those things that were wrong were easy fixes and that the previous owner was a dumb ass and didn't know what he had or didn't know what he was doing and that you knew more then he did and figured that you could just take it home and wrap some duct tape over the wires and everything would work? I mean - come on now. Nobody could be that dumb to believe that you could just hack a vehicle up that bad and not have problems.

Custom installs costs thousands of dollars. Even when they are done wrong.

Most times when something is done wrong, other things stops working.
Things like the self dim in the mirrors. So the person that owned the vehicle probably thought that alll he needed to do was change the glass and everything would be a ok. Only when he found out how much stuff costs to replace and even when he tried to replace it - it didn't work, then he just decided to dump it off on some sucker and move on with his / her life.

The most emotional thing about all this is that you never know when the theft lock / Security is going to go off and then the vehicle is going to stop running and you are going to be left someplace. I don't think that it is a question of IF, it is a question of WHEN!

I would take it to a Chevrolet Garage and see how much of the damage they can fix with the TECH II. maybe it is beyond repair - if it does not have the stock radio and stuff. Either way, maybe they can turn some things on and shut some things off and diagnose some of the problems and replace one or two of the modules that I think are probably faulty.

Good Luck with your new truck. I will be praying for you - that your wife makes it home ok while she is driving it.

No offense, but it seems like the majority of your posts on here are an exceedingly long know-it-all diatribe about how much experience you have, followed by a dissertation about "this is how things are done correctly...." etc.

I'm not trying to be an ass, but why rub it in the guy's face? He didn't ask about audio installs, or how much they are supposed to cost. And he certainly didn't ask to be criticized about buying a vehicle that, according to his first post, was misrepresented by the seller. How was he supposed to know, especially given the fact that he's made three other sucessful purchases off of e-bay?

He bought it, let's help him get it fixed. Now, you did give some good suggestions - but you don't need to write a book about it every time.

Yargnits, welcome to the community. Hopefully we will be able to get you at least partially sqaured away with some of your issues. Best of luck!

 

[str8wkd]

yuk well said my 03 kon has that low whine to (must be the aftermarket thing I have) but go's away soon as turn up vol just a little.

yal welcome to the board this is pro, the best to get the info you need to help you if noone here can help the can piont you to someone who can..