Good looking rig and one of the most reliable, easy to drive and comfortable GM trucks ever made. Rust is the only thing that could kill them.
Common problems I recall:
- Exhaust manifold bolts: No matter what, they snap.
-The steering shaft "clunk": I greased mine occasionally and even added a grease fitting. It would help for a while and I'd grease every time it came back. I never had the bushing issue.
- The cabin fan resistor: Mine burnt to a crisp. It didn't damage anything else, but when I got to it, it was charred.
- Transfer case pump rub: N/A
- Trans/Transfer Case Slip Yoke: Needs periodic greasing of the output shaft. Mine would get a minor clunk occasionally and greasing it soled the problem.
- Dash: tons of info on the wonky gauges. the stepper motors are replaceable now and there are company's that will repair or replace the whole cluster. I think even Dorman sells one.
- Wheel Bearings: The hub unit bearings are a little undersized, but more so on the 1/2 tons.
- Ground straps: the cab ground on the driver side cab mount is notorious to cause electrical gremlins and BCM
- E-brakes: Like all trucks with drum-in-rotor e-brakes, they are marginal when brand new and useless as they age.
But I feel like the good far out-weighs the nit picky issues with these trucks:
- Grease fittings on the front-end
- Comfortable seats and suspension
- Reliable power train - like legendary
- Strong C-channel frame
- Not as tall as a monster truck
- Decent visibility
That's a pretty good list LOL.. covers a couple of it's issues.. We've had the RV/Express 3500 for 13 years it's almost a repeat.
So far the list but it's really not bad. Something new every drive LOL
CEL for knock sensors.. so new sensors, harness and seal it up. Valve cover gaskets are gone.
Gas cap warning today
Oil pressure is pegged at 80 all the time, guessing new sensor. Need to test
Power steering guessing the pump but not sure. Not seeing a leak but sure can smell it in the cabin, maybe hyrdroboost
I can feel it missing, probably long over due on a tune up.
Steering column needs attention as mentioned.
Brakes needs some love, whole front end needs love but don't know to what extent yet.
New tires.. all of them were at 30psi so pumped them up to 50psi but they need replaced.
Too afraid to touch the emergency brake! Dash is missing a few lights but looks ok. Thinking the shift I'm feeling is the gas tank, maybe the foam came loose? Coming to a stop this morning sure felt like gas sloshing. New vehicles and it's secrets are fun.
Should be rolling over 300k this weekend.