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Broke down or never broke down ?

Has your truck stranded you due to a major mechanical failure.

  • YES, it broke bigtime

    Votes: 69 21.1%
  • Yes, I broke it (counts as NO check #5)

    Votes: 11 3.4%
  • YES, battery (I said major)

    Votes: 14 4.3%
  • I lost my keys (you are blonde)

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • NO, its done me right

    Votes: 231 70.6%

  • Total voters
    327

FLINTaVa

Silent Avalanche RIP
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Joined
Mar 10, 2004
Messages
13,337
Location
Flint, Michigan
We hear all the bad stories, when new folks show up they always ask what problems should I expect. Some of us never experience a problem or we look at it different as in "fix it and forget it". There are really only two options above, YES or NO !
It's either your truck left you stranded or it was your fault. No in between.

People put 100,000 miles or more on, you expect some maintenance.
I've never experienced worse than a dead battery on my Avalanche.
 
I am not answering...soon as I do...it will happen...

Sorry
 
Never had a problem other than a dead battery and right now a driver window motor gone bad.  Ya' gotta' expect a few minor things to go wrong over time.  They are machines after all.
 
4 transmission failures.... 2 towed in and 2 limped in....
 
Bricked it last night........

fliping Predator, not the first time so I Have a spare PCM

Any 4 people out there want a used fuel pump?
 
Alaska_AV,

I can't believe someone checked dead battery on the POLL, I always have jumper cables and a tow strap, spare coat, hat and gloves at least nine months out of the year too. A jump start is easier than changing a flat tire.  I had to put a few extras on the poll for fun.  :p
 
My Av always brought me home. Even when the ignition switch took a dump and the trans stuck in 3rd gear...she still got me back.

AVid
 
Gotta admit, even with the endless problems my truck had, it always managed to limp home or to the dealership.
 
u-joint at 37K miles
ignition switch at 108K (i think)
lots of tires patched
oil changed every 8K miles
bad instrument cluster
1st tranny fluid/filter change at 146K miles.
a few dead batteries....


but never stranded in 160K miles. 
 
dpreacher said:
does locking you keyes in the car while started (remote start) count????? :E:   did it twice and Dwife had to come get me  :beating:

#4 box (blonde)  :kidding: 

I had to add some humor here, it's not funny when you get stranded but lets place blame where it is due. If you went mud bogging and got stuck it's the same as locking your keys inside. Your truck was not at fault. We are not judgemental (meaning we will try and control our laughter) so please tell us the truth if the screw up was your fault.
 
limped home once due to bad PCM(put stock one back in and all was good)... second time...tranny failure, limped home (was in my neighborhood) and had to call a tow truck to take her to the shop...$1800 later, Id say yea, she's been broke down :p I still :love: her though and wouldnt trade her for the world!!
 
I had a U-joint go bad last month and start vibrating, while I was out of town about 300 miles away. I held my breath, and made the drive home, keeping at just the right speed to minimize the vibrations. I was really worried it was going to leave me stranded, but it made it home.  :love:

Got a new U-joint in there, and it's running like a top again. Other than the typical battery, tires, brakes, shocks, and routine maintenance, I think that was the first "unplanned" repair on the truck.

-- SS
 
thanks ShapeShifter,

I thought this might be fun, inject some reality ? Blame the truck or blame the driver.  ???

The POLL was an afterthought, my idea was that if it was your fault you can still vote and not have to openly admit that you broke your Avalanche. If you did harm your truck please share the story, we won't judge you overly harsh. (although we will laugh really loud) ! None of will laugh if your truck broke thru no fault of your own, we'll try not to laugh anyway, OK ?
 
Just that cheap a$$ delco battery. And one time it went from auto 4wd to 4wd lo by itself but I limped home and restarted it and straight to the dealer
 
My AV hates me!


I got some new (used) tires for her.... How does she thank me.... She pees anti freeze all over the shop floor and Poops gear oil out the rear end......

Guess she wants that $500 I saved on the tires still spent on her......
 
my 02 had a abs sensor/hub go bad.  I was 40 miles from home.  It was a slight vibration...headed home and it got worse.  I made it home, never left me stranded.  Even drove it to the shop 1 mile down the road when I got the part and fixed it myself.  My 04 batt went dead while it was in my driveway, but it had expired tag.  So I was never stranded.
 
The worst my Av has done was broke a rear brake pad in Nebraska, But since I was already stopped in a hotel waiting for my Trailer wheel bearing to be fixed. I don't think that counts as stranded. The wife had her Honda, which we just had a new clutch installed the day before in Iowa. So I went to the local parts dealer picked up a set of cheap pads and fixed the issue. That drive was the worst trip of my entire life.

We loaded all our stuff on out trailer in Milwaukee. We get just across the border into Iowa and the wife's Honda is having issues going into gear. So we get to Cedar Rapids Iowa at about 9pm and the Honda will not go into gear anymore. When you push the clutch in all you hear and feel is grinding. Well no shops are open at that time of night. So we call a tow truck, since my Av is loaded down with a trailer. The drive recommend a shop. So we have it towed there. We stayed in a crappy Motel6. The next afternoon about 2pm we get the Honda back after spending $550.00 on a new clutch, oh yea the Honda had 186k on the stock clutch. So we are driving into Lincoln Nebraska and the wife calls me and says the trailer looks like the tire is on fire. So we pull over on the side of the Interstate. Sure enough the wheel is about to come off. So we take the first exit for Lincoln. It leads to a Gentleman's club. So I go inside and ask if I can leave my trailer in the parking lot? We drop the trailer and go find a motel, then my son pukes all over the inside of the passengers door.
So next morning comes I go to look at the trailer, it is beyond my help. I could not even get the bearing washer off. So I call I guy who came out and fixed it for me for $220.00. Well after the guy shows up we head back to the hotel and I hear a bad dragging metal sound. I get back to the Motel and pull of the passenger rear and sure enough the brake pad on the inside has cracked in half. So pads cost $20.00, me and the wife changed them.
We start driving across Nebraska the next morning and the wind is 50+ MPH hitting me head on. Now the Av is not very aero dynamic to began with, but my trailer was worse. We took are 6x12 dog yard and assembled it inside the trailer and wrapped it with tarps. So my Av spent most of the nice flat drive across Nebraska at 55MPH in 3rd gear.
Then it snowed when we got to Wyoming. The day we left Milwaukee it was 85 degrees.

Now that is the worst trip ever.

Oh and the people who were renting my house would not leave or pay me when i got back to Pocatello. So I had to live in a trailer with my family in a friends back yard for 2 months.
 
Shanes 02 Avalanche said:
The worst my Av has done was broke...

Not stranded, close but no cigar. 

If your truck broke and you're at a hotel, still have available balance on your VISA card, the room has a jucuzzi, you can connect wifi with your laptop and ask other CAFCNA members for assistance it doesn't count as stranded. Did you have to wash dishes to pay for meals ?

Might work as an excuse for missing work, we have tough standards here  :p
 
Flint4x4 said:
thanks ShapeShifter,

I thought this might be fun, inject some reality ? Blame the truck or blame the driver.   ???

OK, I blame the truck (well, actually Chevy's design) for the U-joint failing. From the factory, there are no grease fittings to lube the U-joints. One pair of bearings still had a good load of factory grease, the other pair had absolutely nothing: the bearing surfaces of the spider, and their associated rollers, were totally dry and rusted. I have to wonder if they were ever lubed? The new U-joint has a zerk fitting on it, so this shouldn't be an issue going forward.

Now, on the other hand, I did drive it home in that condition almost 300 miles from Saratoga, knowing that I had a problem, and hitting the road anyway. If it did totally fail and drop the drive shaft, that would've clearly been my fault! But it was Sunday morning, I had the wife with me, and we had just picked up three dogs. I didn't want to be looking for a shop that was open on Sunday to get it fixed before hitting the road. And what to do with the dogs while the truck is in the shop? And what if I have to spend the night? It can be difficult finding a hotel that takes dogs, especially three of them. So I took a chance, hit the road, and the Av held it together and bailed me out. (y)

Is that more like what you're looking for?  :wave:

-- SS
 
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