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What did you do to your Avalanche today?

frito said:
Did I miss something?  When did you get an Avalanche?  I saw you mention driving your old explorer until you address the head issue in the EXT.  Maybe the time change has me a bit squirrelly than usual.  :dunno:

I still have the Explorer until next Sunday.

We are selling (for not very much) the Explorer to one of my wife's co-workers for one of his twin sons.

The boy's current car is a grandparent's hand me down rust bucket that spends more time broken than running.

I think the Explorer should be a nice upgrade and he is excited to come get it.

I hope it works out well for him.

The Avalanche is one that I have been trying to buy for almost 10 years now.

The timing was right for both parties and the price was good for me.

Now, I have a more reliable daily driver while I wait to get the new engine installed in the EXT and having it should buy me some time.

Once the EXT is fixed, the Avalanche will become primarily our family spare, taking the place of the Explorer.

However, since it is such a nice truck, I may swap daily driving between the Avalanche and the EXT to keep from adding too many miles to each.

At this point, I am feeling really blessed.

I've been a little busy of late, but I am thinking of tossing up a thread for the Avalanche with some pictures and maybe document some of the minor repairs and refurbishments I do.
 
EXT4ME said:
I've been a little busy of late, but I am thinking of tossing up a thread for the Avalanche with some pictures and maybe document some of the minor repairs and refurbishments I do.
Yeah, 'cause you know - Those are the rules when you get a new one.  Pics are required.  >:D  Glad things are looking up.  I've been battling the rotating issue of keeping high mileage daily drivers on the road.  My Bimmer has a leaking brake line I need to replace.  A bit unhappy with that since it's a braided steel line with only about 15,000 miles on it.  I'll probably do the calipers this time around since they have 225,000 miles on them.  Then when I parked the Avy at work this morning I smelled hot brakes which I hope were the semi not too far from me and not the Avy.  I need at least one of the two road worthy.  :needhug:
 
frito said:
I need at least one of the two road worthy.  :needhug:

Don't I know the feeling!

(y)
 
Well, actually yesterday I ordered my Dash Skins cover since I can't get GM to replace the cracked dash in my 13 LTZ. I am a bit concerned since it is traveling via Fed Ex and they have tore up some of my packages lately.
Also ordered another oil catch can, which looks the same as the one I had previously from Amazon. This one did have black tubing in the kit but I still think I will be paying a visit to NAPA for some new hose.
Still not sure if I will install my can like you did EXT4ME, but I have plenty of time to think about it as I am in knee deep with interior door projects right now.
 
I am interested in seeing where you end up mounting yours.

I am pleased with my location.

It seems any time you go to add something under the hood, the factory has already taken the best spots.

I have two more brand new cans sitting around and I will most likely add one to the Avalanche at some point.
 
My newly acquired 2003 Avalanche Z-66 had been purchased new and had been used since that time as a company vehicle and was used by the company owners to drive the entire state on a regular basis to visit their wide spread customers.

The truck averaged 50K miles each year for the first five or six years of it's life.

The vast majority of those miles were on the highway.

After that, they kept the Avalanche stored in their warehouse to be used by anyone needing a truck.

The owners had moved to Yukon Denali SUV's for their travel needs and swapped those out every couple of years.

They have all of their vehicles serviced on regular time intervals, including the Avalanche.

The Avalanche got an oil change every year whether it needed or not.

However, since the AVA was not a daily driver, some things never got addressed.

The cracked windshield was one and the missing passenger side running board cover was another.

I have known for 10 years now that the running board cover was missing, but I also knew it was highly unlikely that they would ever spend any money or time to replace it.

The actual right side aluminum running board frame is clean and shiny and fully functional, so what would have been the point.

Of course, once I took possession of the truck, I started my usual pattern of repairing and refurbishing anything I saw the truck needed.

In my search for a replacement plastic cover, I found they are not too easy to come by.

Even though there are still a very few new ones available, finding one with the exact same pattern in the plastic was damn near impossible.

The cover on the driver's side has a diamond plate pattern.

Most of the ones I had found had some other pattern and I could not be certain that the actual plastic cover with a different pattern would actually fit on my existing frame, even if I bought two to match.

It was looking as though I might just take both sides off and do without, but my elderly mother needs the running board to get in and out of the truck.

Then, I stumbled on a listing on car-parts.com that has a picture of a wrecked Avalanche in a salvage yard in Alabama.

I made contact with the yard and verified that the part I was purchasing was the one in the photo.

Much to my great pleasure, I received two boxes from the salvage yard today and the part I needed is exactly what I received.

I got two boxes delivered and inside was a complete right side diamond plate patterned running board with all of the frames and mounting hardware.

All for $75 plus $35 shipping.

(y)
 
Just as I was going to suggest just going out buying aftermarket steps...  Nice score.  (y)
 
Thanks.

Just an observation I would like to pass along.

If anyone has these plastic covered running boards installed on their truck, I suggest you go out and have a look at how the plastic covers are secured to the underlying aluminum frame.

There are maybe six or seven TINY spring clips holding the two pieces together.

No bolts of any kind.

They are not very big and all of mine were corroded and their springiness was almost gone.

I took the ones that came off of my salvage yard running board and doubled up on every spot I could, while re-bending the existing clips where I could.

Knowing what I know now, if I were so inclined, I could have the plastic covers off of one of these trucks in a scant few minutes.

Easy peasy.

I suggest having a look before your plastic covers go flying off while running down the highway.
 
New windshield is in!

A new windshield always gives you a fresh outlook on life.

(y)
 
I installed new ACDelco spark plugs and spark plug wires on the Avalanche today.

The plugs that came out were Bosch and the wires were some off brand.

Looks like they had been in there quite some time.

I pulled the throttle body and gave it a good cleaning.

By the looks of the thing, it had never been off of the engine.

I have previously cleaned the Mass Airflow Sensor and installed a new air filter.

The UPS truck brought me a non-sunroof, HomeLink equipped roof console I had found on eBay.

The one that came on this truck did not have HomeLink and I don't really care for visor remotes.

Finding a roof console with HomeLink that does not have the sunroof button proved to be quite a challenge, but I managed to scoop one up.

So, that got installed and programmed.

I have two other houses to get programmed and that task will be complete.

I still have a to-do list, but I am slowly getting this truck set up the way I like.

(y)

 
EXT4ME said:
The UPS truck brought me a non-sunroof, HomeLink equipped roof console I had found on eBay.

The one that came on this truck did not have HomeLink and I don't really care for visor remotes.

Finding a roof console with HomeLink that does not have the sunroof button proved to be quite a challenge, but I managed to scoop one up.

(y)

My 13 LTZ has the Car2U system which is a PITA to program.  So yours has the little house by the buttons? I had to buy repeaters for both my garage door openers since they use the new rolling code technology.
 
No Tyme said:
My 13 LTZ has the Car2U system which is a PITA to program.  So yours has the little house by the buttons? I had to buy repeaters for both my garage door openers since they use the new rolling code technology.

Yes, the little house is on a HomeLink device.

I have HomeLink devices in my 2004 Cadillac Escalade EXT, 2012 GMC Acadia and now my 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche.

The HomeLink roof console I just put in my Avalanche came out of a 2005 Avalanche 2500, apparently one without a sun roof.

None of these will work directly with a newer garage door opener and need a compatibility bridge.

The garage door at my house is older and the HomeLink works directly with it.

Both garage doors at my mother's and my daughter's homes are much newer and I had to buy a HOMELINK COMPATIBILITY BRIDGE KIT for each of those locations.

Once installed, both newer garage doors will now work with the HomeLink in all of my vehicles.

Pretty handy device.
 
Spent a little time with her today cleaning and re-familiarize myself  with all the awesomeness :B: getting a list of mods together for when the warm weather gets here I can start the transformation 
 
Loggie said:
getting a list of mods together for when the warm weather gets here I can start the transformation

Looking forward to seeing the transformation  (y)
 
Quarantine is a great time to get to those mods that I just haven?t had time for. I completed 2 mods today.

1. Installed a Derale transmission cooler
2. Removed the Painless Wiring adjustable fan controller and installed the Nelson computer controlled E-fan harness.

No test drive yet, but I let it get to operating temp and they are working like a champ! Why did I buy another fan harness? The PW kicked the fans immediately to 100% when the AC compressor came on. Great for the AC, but the sudden voltage drops were messing with my electrical system. The computer commands the fans to low, so voltage was nice and steady. The PW also never worked right for the speed sensor and kept kicking the fans on while on the highway. I do have a voltage gremlin somewhere, but darned if I know where. Possibly G103 on the block. But I haven?t wanted to take the intake off to get to it. For now the computer controlled fans are keeping the electrical system much smoother. Maybe I?ll use the PW on my 1980 Trans Am!
 
I redid the door panels with blue welting just to add a touch of color in the cab. Did this on my 14 Silverado but the Avalanche was a bit harder because the door panels were of a harder material. Had to add a bit of 2 sided tape to the ends of each piece to keep it in place.

 

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No Tyme said:
I redid the door panels with blue welting just to add a touch of color in the cab. Did this on my 14 Silverado but the Avalanche was a bit harder because the door panels were of a harder material. Had to add a bit of 2 sided tape to the ends of each piece to keep it in place.

Very cool (y)
 
Got my battery tender mounted on the mule.
Working on how I'm going to mount the Anderson Connectors.
 
Crap!! No down time for me to do mods. We are considered Essential Services at work. I was so looking forward to a couple weeks off.
 
yeah, I'm hoping to install a few mods soon
 
I spent the day outside enjoying the first real sunshine we have had for quite some time.

I washed my wife's GMC Acadia and my EXT and put both of them back in the garage.

My wife is remote working from home and her truck will not be getting driven much for a while.

The EXT is still on vacation until the new engine gets installed.

I hope to clean the Avalanche tomorrow and spend some time checking some stuff out on it.

While washing the other two vehicles, I pulled off the Avalanche's bed panels and gave them a good scrubbing.

These panels have never had any treatments since the truck was new back in 2003, so I gave them a good coat of Carworx Refinish Restorer.

I use this stuff on my EXT bed panels and any black plastic trim on that truck.

I had forgotten just how well the Carworx Refinish Restorer works.

The Avalanche bed panels went from chalky white to nearly black, just like my EXT panels did years ago.

I like it!

The new fresh can I just bought is not going to be enough to treat the whole Avalanche, so I am ordering more tonight.

I can not wait to get all of the cladding treated on this Avalanche.

(y)
 
It was sunny and 87 here today.

So, I treated the cladding on the Avalanche with the Refinish Restorer that I had on hand.

I think it turned out pretty good.

2003_Avalanche_Z-66_28Small29.jpg


(y)
 
:eek:  looking sooooooo good :love:
 
EXT4ME Nice! Looks good!

I finished getting the last 2 studs out of my bell housing to pull the motor, broke a cheap amazon knuckle extension trying to get the motor mounts free, pulled and cleaned up the starter, painted the timing cover and coil packs, and put clear coat on my new CV joints and axles so they don't rust. Also cleaned up the chassis a little bit while I was under there. And tried to get my Y-pipe out. I'm gonna have to remove the tranny crossmember for that though sadly and I'm fresh out of wood to build a stand for the tranny. So I'll just pull it the other way once I get the motor out.
 
Yesterday was cloudy, but dry, and near 80 degrees.

I ran down a coolant leak that was mostly coming from a loose hose clamp at the upper radiator hose.

Once I fixed the clamp issue, I fully re-pressurized the system again and found a very tiny leak coming from the water pump.

The pressure held steady for over an hour, so I feel confident the water pump is the only remaining coolant leak, at the moment.

The water pump looks to be the original unit, so I will go ahead and replace the water pump, thermostat and housing, all coolant hoses, firewall quick disconnects and anything else that catches my eye.

Belts, tensioners, pulleys and fan clutch are also on the to-do list.

I pulled the bed mat and OMG.

I found mud and grass clogging every crack, crevice and drain.

I have my doubts that this bed mat had ever been removed from the truck since the truck was new.

With the coming storms today, I am going to leave my freshly shined up bed panels in the garage and let mother nature rinse out the bed a little more.

The sun is supposed to come back out tomorrow and I will keep looking for things to tinker on.

The fresh air is doing my mind and body good.

(y)
 
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