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Finally Found My Avy

20streetrod06

Full Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
273
Location
Central IL
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me be the first to introduce you to Diamond! She is a 2003 Z-71 dressed in Summit White, and is 159,000 miles young. I'm the 2nd owner.

the only known issues are:
1. Rockers are rusted out.
2. Drivers side heated seat will turn on for a few seconds, then shut off.
3. Aftermarket remote start. it will start but only runs for ~3 seconds then shuts off.
IMG_20210116_161835589.jpgIMG_20210116_124112637_HDR.jpgIMG_20210115_174856345.jpg
 
there is some light bubbling on on fender. but the rockers are the only concern. and they are completely hidden when the doors are closed
 
Nice looking AV hope you have many safe and happy miles in her.
Just like the doors hide you rocker rust the lower plastic cladding can as well so if you have the start of rust please check under and backside of fenders when you can.
You might want to check older threads about seat heater issues and parts replacement on this site.
Older threads also talk of problems of aftermarket remote starts and alarms sometimes it's a bad ground or wiring and sometimes they have to remove the aftermarket setup.
Good luck with your repairs.
 
#2 is easy.

You have a burned out seat heater element pad.

My first one was the driver's seat back pad.

The following year, it was the driver's seat bottom pad.

I bought my replacement pads off of Amazon.

Dorman, I think.

They have been working properly for over 5 years now.

Driversseatheaterback04.JPG
 
I removed the seat from the truck to work on it.

Taking the seat bottom off of the seat frame makes it easier to get your hands up into the seat back to replace that pad.

It's all a bit of a tug of war, but not too bad.

Use caution around the exposed edges of the metal seat frame as they are razor sharp.

Wear gloves and be careful.

Also, DO NOT lift the seat in and out of the truck by grabbing the seat motor that sits along the lower front part of the seat bottom.

It CAN NOT support the weight of the seat and if you break it, you are doomed.

In this picture you can see where the OEM pads are attached to the seat back foam with glue.

Just run your hand up in there and carefully separate the pad from the foam.

Don't worry about re-gluing or taping the new pad to the foam.

The Velcro that holds the seat seams will hold them and they aren't going anywhere.

Be mindful of the location of where the wiring pigtail exits the seat.

The wiring pigtail will need to exit the seat closest to the seatbelt.

And for those goofy star bolts that hold the seat down, just find the two regular sockets to take them out and put them back in.

No special tool is needed.

Driversseatheaterback02.JPG
 
Congratulations on the new to you AV, there's still plenty of replacement rocker panels out there, not so much the quarter panels.

I'd get rid of the remote start they seem to cause more problems than they are worth.
 
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