What maintenance on a used truck 145k miles?

[maroonandwhite]

What maintenance would you guys do on a used truck with 145k miles? I am thinking of doing new plugs and wires, brakes, alignment and balance with new tires, etc. The transmission is what worries me. I have read not to do a flush over 100k.

[gregintenn]

I never change transmission fluid and filter. Never had a problem due to it.

[maroonandwhite]

I never change transmission fluid and filter. Never had a problem due to it.

This is what I have always been told. No issues currently.I am just wanting to do all the preventative maintenance I can.

[f3joel]

Belt or belts depending on model. Air filter.

If it's an older one you may need to grease the wheel bearings up front every other oil change.

Also if older lube the chassis/steering with a grease gun on all the zerk fittings.

I have never had a problem from dropping the tranny pan, dumping fluid and changing filter.

Don't backflush it, just put the pan back on and fill it up.

[Lowpower]

What manufacturer? If it's Japanese it may need a replacement timing belt and water pump. 

[maroonandwhite]

2004 Silverado. 5.3 4x4

[gregintenn]

I have an 01 Silverado. Other than obvious maintenance, (oil changes, tires, brakes, etc.), I just drive it.

[NextExit]

Don't backflush it, just put the pan back on and fill it up.

 

Definitely do not do a backflush.  Contaminants will be pushed into the valve body and your tranny will start acting up.  When I bought my LR with 182kmi, I asked the dealer to do a flush and fill.  He said no because I'll come back within a week complain about the tranny not shifting right.  He said at that mileage, just do a drain & fill and change the filter.  I'm at 208kmi now and no problems at all.  :pleased:

If your drive shafts have grease fittings, make sure you grease them at least once a year especially if it's 4x4.  On mine, failure to grease the front drive axle can result in it breaking and punching a hole in the side of the tranny.  While your under there, check tie rods, control arms, and ball joints.  I'd say change the fuel filter but GM makes them "all in one" with the fuel pump inside the tank.  :ugh: 

[maroonandwhite]

I was gonna do the file filter too. I didn't realize they were all in one. Bummer.


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[enfield]

Ask a dealer - they'll have the recommended maint schedule.

[hlb14]

Clean the throttle body, flush the power steering, brake and cooling systems and diff fluid changed on both ends.

[dats82]

I think GM recommends plugs every 100k.  I changed trans fluid about every 75k, differentials once at about 150k, grease everything when I change the oil.  I had to put a new water pump on mine recently, at about 220k, went with new belts at the same time.  It also had a fuel pump at about 200k. I have an '02 Chevy Z71 5.3.  It has about 225k on it, and it's still rocking along.  As for the fuel filter, not sure about your 04, but my 02 has an inline filter just ahead of the tank on the frame rail.

[Shug]

I always checked and changed the differential fluid in the front and rear and the fluid in the transfer case, and fluid and filters in transmission, all hoses and belts. Check everything you can think of and change anything you might wonder about. That way you'll know it good to go.........Nothing worse than to be 20 miles back into the mountains and break down due to poor maintenance

[tennesseetiger]

I've owned a ton of those engines from GM...pretty much every camaro or trans am I've owned since 1999 "including my current Trans Am" is the 5.7 version of your motor so I know them inside and out. If you take care of them they'll last well into the 300,000 mile range before a rebuild needs to be done or considered.

I would highly recommend adding 1 ounce of TWC-3 marine oil for every 5 gallons of gas you have in the tank. It helps lube everything up and it will help break down carbon build up in the engine "and with 150,000 miles it's going to have some carbon build up lol". You should notice an idle difference after about 2 tanks "usually helps MPG by about 5% as well". Its an old hot rodders trick and it works very well. I've been doing it for years...if you want to see how dirty the inside of the engine is you can run some Sea-Foam through a vacuum line and it'll blow all of the junk out of the exhaust but I'm not a fan of this one because Sea Foam is a solvent and it can clog your cats when it blows everything out the exhaust.

At this point I wouldnt mess with the transmission if its shifting solid and smooth...transmissions are like happy baby's, dont mess with them if they arent whining...

I would check a few places for leaks if you havent already. The rear main seal on the 5.3's and 5.7's are usually a weak point and they'll leak at the back of the motor and where the bell housing meet "pray to god this isnt leaking because its a PITA to replace even though the seal is only like $20". Point number 2 is going to be the rear differential...they develop a really slow leak right at the bottom of the rear diff after they get up in mileage where the cover bolts on and where the drive shaft enters the diff.

Plugs and wires are a must if they havent been done recently. Standard AC Delco wires will work, no need for MSD or anything like that. You could replace the coil packs, but its not really necessary...the truck coils from GM are actually the best ones they make and a lot of the corvette and camaro guys switch over to those after they start modding engines.

Take the Mass Air Flow Sensor out and spray it down with MAF cleaner "do NOT use brake cleaner or anything other than MAF cleaner". Let it dry for a good 30minutes and pop it back in...while you have the MAF out go ahead and clean the throttle body with a toothbrush and some carb cleaner. Cleaning the MAF will make a huge difference at idle most of the time...what type of air filter does it have on it right now? K&N, paper, etc?

That should get you started...

Edited January 5, 2015 by tennesseetiger

[maroonandwhite]

Thanks for the info so far. I have decided to just get the brake pads and rotors changed / turned when I get new tires along with a coolant flush and refill. I don't want to mess with bleeding brakes and all that.

 

I myself am going to do new plugs and wires, change the front and rear diff. and transfer case fluid and probably leave the transmission alone. I have already greased all of the grease points.

 

I believe this is probably more than most do and should give me peace of mind. :up:

[Mike.357]

has the truck ever had suspension work done?

 

I dunno much about Chevy's but 145k is a lot of miles.  How are the ball joints?  Tie rods?  Idler arm?  What is the tire wear like?

[gregintenn]

Thanks for the info so far. I have decided to just get the brake pads and rotors changed / turned when I get new tires along with a coolant flush and refill. I don't want to mess with bleeding brakes and all that.

 

I myself am going to do new plugs and wires, change the front and rear diff. and transfer case fluid and probably leave the transmission alone. I have already greased all of the grease points.

 

I believe this is probably more than most do and should give me peace of mind. :up:

If you are going to do that, I'll suggest you go on and get new calipers as well.For some reason, when you change the pads, the old ones are prone to leak afterwards on these Chevys.

 

You might at least verify the condition of the serpentine belt and hoses while you're in there.

[maroonandwhite]

has the truck ever had suspension work done?

 

I dunno much about Chevy's but 145k is a lot of miles.  How are the ball joints?  Tie rods?  Idler arm?  What is the tire wear like?

I'm not sure if it has. I'm also not sure how to tell the condition of all of those but it drives and steers great. I did lube all of the grease points on those and the boots were fine. Not cracked or anything and no grease leaking.

[peejman]

I'm not sure if it has. I'm also not sure how to tell the condition of all of those but it drives and steers great. I did lube all of the grease points on those and the boots were fine. Not cracked or anything and no grease leaking.

 

Creaks, groans, clunks, and rattles are typically how you discover worn out ball joints and such.  If it won't hold an alignment, the ball joints are probably toast.  Sounds like you're good. 

Edited January 5, 2015 by peejman

[nightrunner]

clean the throttle body with a toothbrush and some carb cleaner....

Do NOT use carb cleaner! You must use throttle body cleaner! GM puts a coating on the inside of the throttle body so that carbon doesn't stick as bad. Carb cleaner will just eat through the coating. I did this on my step moms Tahoe with a 5.3. The throttle was sticking closed really bad, and it turns out it was just a really gummed up throttle body, tried carb cleaner but it started to eat through the non stick coating, used throttle body cleaner and it was ok.

I have a 02 z71 with the 4.8 which is the same motor but with a short stroke crank. The 4.8/5.3/5.7/6.0 otherwise known as LSx motors will run forever without needing much. I had over 260k in my last truck before it finally blew the trans which is the weak link on these trucks.

[peejman]

Do NOT use carb cleaner! You must use throttle body cleaner! GM puts a coating on the inside of the throttle body so that carbon doesn't stick as bad. Carb cleaner will just eat through the coating. I did this on my step moms Tahoe with a 5.3. The throttle was sticking closed really bad, and it turns out it was just a really gummed up throttle body, tried carb cleaner but it started to eat through the non stick coating, used throttle body cleaner and it was ok.

I have a 02 z71 with the 4.8 which is the same motor but with a short stroke crank. The 4.8/5.3/5.7/6.0 otherwise known as LSx motors will run forever without needing much. I had over 260k in my last truck before it finally blew the trans which is the weak link on these trucks.

Given how many problems there are with crud in GM throttle bodies it would appear the coating doesn't do much anyway. I've cleaned mine with carb cleaner and a toothbrush several times. Just be sure to disconnect the battery before you do it.

[nightrunner]

Given how many problems there are with crud in GM throttle bodies it would appear the coating doesn't do much anyway. I've cleaned mine with carb cleaner and a toothbrush several times. Just be sure to disconnect the battery before you do it.

I always pulled the whole TB off and cleaned it on the bench and scrubbed as far as I could into the intake manifold. Of course if you read any shop manual now, it tells you to disconnect the battery before changing an air filter...

The ones I've dealt with, it felt like a teflon coating of some sort. Couldn't hurt. The throttle body cleaner is quite a bit more expensive than carb cleaner though

[peejman]

I always pulled the whole TB off and cleaned it on the bench and scrubbed as far as I could into the intake manifold. Of course if you read any shop manual now, it tells you to disconnect the battery before changing an air filter...

The ones I've dealt with, it felt like a teflon coating of some sort. Couldn't hurt. The throttle body cleaner is quite a bit more expensive than carb cleaner though

 

I pulled the TB off the first time but subsequent cleanings have been in situ.  I've read that the battery disconnect issue with these is the drive-by-wire throttle.  If you move the butterfly manually with the power on, it screws up the calibration for the two position sensors and there's some gyrations necessary to re-calibrate them. 

 

On the wife's van I learned that when you disconnect the battery, you must also pull the horn relay.  Reconnecting the battery sets off the alarm.  You'd be amazed at how difficult reconnected the battery cable is with the horn blaring in your ear 6" away.   :rofl:   Isn't there something that comes up here from time to time regarding loss of fine motor skills when under duress?  :ugh:

[maroonandwhite]

So based on my owners manual I have decided to just do the following so I am not spending money I don't need to:

 

Plugs and wires were due at 100k and they probably didn't get done so I'll do that.

 

Coolant flush is 150k so I'm right on time for that.

 

Going to clean the throttle body as suggested since it's easy enough and free.

 

Brakes work fine so I think I may just leave them alone. Opinions? Would changing them help prevent wear on any of the other brake parts? Rotors don't look too bad through the rims.

 

Book doesn't mention anything for diffs and manual transfer case so not gonna touch it.

 

Haven't looked at brake fluid yet but everyone is telling me to not worry about it. Same with power steering fluid.

[peejman]

So based on my owners manual I have decided to just do the following so I am not spending money I don't need to:

Plugs and wires were due at 100k and they probably didn't get done so I'll do that.

Coolant flush is 150k so I'm right on time for that.

Going to clean the throttle body as suggested since it's easy enough and free.

Brakes work fine so I think I may just leave them alone. Opinions? Would changing them help prevent wear on any of the other brake parts? Rotors don't look too bad through the rims.

Book doesn't mention anything for diffs and manual transfer case so not gonna touch it.

Haven't looked at brake fluid yet but everyone is telling me to not worry about it. Same with power steering fluid.

Sounds like a good plan to me. No reason to change the brakes if they're working to your satisfaction.

Edit... PCV valve? Edited January 7, 2015 by peejman