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What did you do to your Avalanche today?

Z66Modder said:
Looks like I will be renting some coil spring compressing tools.  :E:

I do not envy you in this regard.

If I find the Avalanche rear shocks are in need of replacement, I am inclined to replace them with OEM NIVOMAT shocks and if more lift is required to tow the Party Barge, I may look into the helper airbags for the coil springs.

If the EXT comes back on line soon enough, I will probably leave well enough alone on the Avalanche since the EXT can easily handle the task as it has for the past eight years.

I already have the new transmission oil cooler standing by to be installed in the Avalanche, but new shocks and possibly the airbags may have to wait for a while.

I want to get the cooler installed since a rebuilt transmission may come at any moment with the age and mileage of the truck and I want that equipment standing by and ready to go.

I have no paperwork and the previous owner did not mention any work having been done to the Avalanche's transmission.

So, it may be on borrowed time.

Who knows?

I'm not even sure I want to tempt fate by using the Avalanche to tow the Party Barge and I may just stick to towing my utility trailer with my mowers.
 
Body shop progress pics!! Rust was showing through on passenger side fender just forward of rear tire, and the paint was bubbling rear of the same tire. All 4 doors had rust on lower lip (dang doors don't drain well), worse on drivers side which was beginning to show all the way through. Wish i had taken proper before photos...

Before:
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Body work about done, almost ready for paint:
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Ready for paint next week! Being a 1 vehicle family has been bit of a drag but with the work-from-home thing there has never been a better time than now.
 
So I installed the Bilstein conversion kit today. I highly recommend it to those who would only have a garage floor available to use; so that one day you can tell your grandchildren how much you suffered the ordeal.  :3:

Initial test drive showed no improvement going over the hard speed bumps in my hood, but cornering was very nice. I also gained an inch of clearance height of the rear bumper from the ground. The real test will be hauling or towing, but that will be in the future sometime.

If I had some help, probably could have cut the install time in half. Especially since it was my first coil spring install. Well at least it will be a piece of cake replacing the next set of rear shocks. Will post again how much of ride improvement I experience or not.

Rust cancer sucks!!! I saw a couple rusty spots underneath today. Yes wire brushing and painting will follow tomorrow.
 
19 year old truck and no rust on mine except forsmall rock chips occurred on hood..

Telling you to move south and save money!
 
I dropped the spare tire, backed the EXT up onto a set of ramps and installed a new set of air shock lines.

What a pain.

But, I can check that one off of my list.

(y)
 
Installed a backup camera in the tailgate, finally ponied up the money and ordered new leather for the seats, and gave her a little detailing today.

Been searching eBay every night to find the right deal to do the smooth cladding conversion.

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Drove it Saturday for 90 mins or so...
Stretch her legs so to speak.

Later put air in the cold tires as it has been a long time since I checked.
They did not look low but were at 20PSI..

So NOTE TO SELF: Check tire pressure more often.
 
Its time to do the front joints again.. but adding Urathane bushings this time. Will see how much tighter it will be. Also had a bit of rust on the battery plate so PUR 15 its will be. Alignment shot said my lower joints were shot. But nope its was the upper again.
My washer pump looked like it was in a bbq so replaced that also
 

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Finally got my Passlock issue resolved so I finally felt confident enough to drive her again daily. So the wife and I drove the AV out to Twentynine Palms to visit my daughter before she leaves for Oki. Would definitely suck if we got stranded out there.

Good thing she starts up all the time now. Stupid Passlock System!
 
Kitrods said:
Its time to do the front joints again.. but adding Urathane bushings this time. Will see how much tighter it will be. Also had a bit of rust on the battery plate so PUR 15 its will be. Alignment shot said my lower joints were shot. But nope its was the upper again.
My washer pump looked like it was in a bbq so replaced that also

Damn bro, how many miles on her?
Listened to my tranny making a funny noise while in park today. Last time I heard that, it got rebuilt 3 months later.
 
Ever since I bought the 2003 Avalanche, the only real problem of note was an occasional no start issue.

Followed by the engine starting and running just fine.

I was convinced that was probably due to it's advanced miles and age, and the fuel pump was on it's way out.

Most likely the check valve was failing and not holding fuel pressure.

I got no indication from the previous owner that the truck had even had a new fuel pump installed during the time they owned it.

And it was on that fateful day several weeks ago when my home hot water heater went out, that I was searching for my fuel pressure test kit to check the pressures.

We all know how those next few days turned out.

So, I finally got around to testing the fuel pressure.

The readings I got pretty much confirmed my thinking.

What I did not expect was finding that this truck is an EARLY 2003 and it shares some things with the 2002 model trucks.

This truck has a frame mounted fuel filter, which I had earlier changed.

It also has a vacuum operated fuel rail mounted fuel pressure regulator, which I have also changed.

The fuel system is a return line system and requires a fuel pump for that system, unlike most 2003's and up.

This all makes it a little tricky when buying certain parts.

Everything tells you the fuel pressure regulator and fuel filter are part of the fuel pump.

Even the local Chevrolet parts department was no help, even with my VIN in hand.

Luckily I figured all of this out before I dropped off my truck at my mechanic's shop.

I specified an ACDelco OEM pump, as I always do.

I picked up the Avalanche today and it starts as it should every time and the fuel pressures are all as they should be.

Hopefully this pump will last as long the last one.

That should get me close to half a million miles.

(y)
 
Hmm, my '03 has a frame mounted filter and three lines in the pump.  It was pretty easy finding one though time was of the essence so I opted for what Advance Auto had in stock.
 
I should have gone factory on my pump when I changed it a few years back; now my fuel gauge is intermittent when full to 1/2 tank. At least it works normal when it really counts, below 1/2.
 
When I bought my 2004 EXT back in 2012, it had a "Service Suspension System" error in the DIC.

It was soon determined that the problem was the OEM air shocks both had blown out bladders and the air pump had totally burned out trying to constantly air up those bad air shocks.

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It looked like a previous owner was not interested in repairing this system when it broke.

Who knows, the cost of doing the repairs may have contributed to them trading off the truck.

I decided at the time to replace these failed components and I found the products from Arnott would do what I needed to do without going to the absurd costs of OEM replacement parts.

I had not even considered replacing the air shocks with normal shocks and I'm glad I did not.

The air shock system has worked great and even when towing my largest load, my 25' Party Barge which weights in at 5,000 pounds with a tongue weight of 500 pounds, the truck rides straight and level.

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And here we are, some 8 years and 120,000 miles later, the air shocks were beginning to leak down overnight, where up until recently, the air shocks would hold a full load of air for as long as I could remember.

A little soapy water in a spray bottle confirmed that the Arnott air shock bladders had some spots that were leaking air.

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Knowing that those shocks were definitely leaking and the air pump did appear to be working properly, I decided to just purchase a new set of Arnott air shocks and see if that completely solved the problem of leaking down overnight.

It did not.

Since the air pump was starting as it should and pumped up the air shocks as it should, I decided to replace the old OEM air lines before jumping into the cost of a new air pump.

What a pain that was.

The air lines are secured inside the rear end wiring bundle and I had to remove that completely from under the truck to make the repair and make it right.

The problem persisted.

The only other component to this system that deals with holding air was the air pump itself.

So, I bought and installed a new Arnott air pump.

As of this morning, the air shocks look to be fully inflated and holding air.

Hopefully, this is the end of this issue.

If these new Arnott parts last as long as the previous ones, I am sure I will never have to visit this repair ever again.

Let's hope so.
 
I think it is time to clean the drains again
 

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Yeah, I had to do that after we picked up a load of top soil.  Boy that was a fun clean out job. 
 
Little modding  >:D

https://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?topic=154733.msg2175659#msg2175659
 
Just got the dreaded "HVAC blower won't turn off" today. Ordered the new updated module. I swear I need to get a battery quick disconnect cause lately all the problems I've been having seem to be electrical and drain the battery. All small problems for a vehicle with 14 years on her. Just want the week to end.

 
Both my 2003 Avalanche Z-66 and my 2004 Cadillac Escalade EXT have the old style engine cooling fan clutches.

I understand the attraction of the more modern electric engine cooling fans, but that conversion is something that I have no interest in performing.

We own other vehicles with electric fans and they perform without complaint.

The old school fan clutches have served me well and will continue to do so.

Now, to today's task.

Back when I bought the Avalanche, there were several things that I replaced, mainly due to the age of the vehicle.

A few of those items included all of the hoses, belts, pulleys and belt tensioners.

I also discovered the water pump had a tiny leak, so that and the original OEM fan clutch were replaced.

At the time I was acquiring parts, I purchased a standard duty ACDelco fan clutch that was listed for my application.

There did not appear to be a severe duty fan clutch for this model of Avalanche in my first round of searching.

In my second round of searching, I found what I needed.

I just needed to look a little deeper.

Most indications were that owners want a fan clutch that was quiet and the ACDelco standard duty fan clutch was just that.

Now, on my EXT, I have always installed a "severe duty" version of the fan clutches because I was more interested in the ability of the fan clutch to draw more air at idle and low vehicle speeds than having a constant low noise level.

With the severe duty fan clutch, my EXT could idle for extended time or drive in low speed traffic for hours on end on the hottest of summer days and the engine never got hotter than normal and the a/c was very cold.

That's what I wanted for my Avalanche.

I found that with the new ACDelco "standard duty" fan clutch I had just installed on the Avalanche did help the engine stay cooler than the old, worn out OEM fan clutch and the a/c was "cool" at idle, but the performance of the a/c was nowhere near as good as the EXT.

So, I decided to find and install a severe duty fan clutch and that's just what I did.

I located a Hayden severe duty fan clutch and installed it yesterday.

As expected, the noise level has increased at times, but the performance of the a/c at idle and while sitting in traffic has increased dramatically.

I could not be happier.

I am not going to sit in a warm vehicle just because of a little extra fan noise.

I prefer to have the a/c running cold all of the time and it now does.

I did find it interesting when reading online product reviews, the biggest complain that people had was fan noise.

There were people that were complaining that their new severe duty fan clutch was making more noise than they were used to with their old, worn out fan clutches and they were not very happy.

Never once did any of them seem to understand that that noise meant better air flow and the benefits that come with that.

They just wanted quiet operation all of the time and they did not understand that they were getting what they paid for.

More air flow at idle and low vehicle speeds.

Oh, well.
 
A followup to the installation of the severe duty fan clutch on the 2003 Avalanche:

A few days ago, I was once again working at my mother's bigger acreage yard.

That day's tasks including driving around the yard and picking up piles of sticks, limbs and other yard debris and transporting all of that in my utility trailer to one of the burn piles scattered around the property.

I was driving my 82 year old mom around to let her observe and point out tasks, like tree pruning, that she wanted done.

The outside temperature was in the nineties and letting her ride around in the air conditioned truck was a good choice for her.

At one point, a neighbor had dropped by and we stood around talking about the news of the day for almost an hour.

During the distraction, I had forgotten that I had left the truck running up by one of the burn piles.

When I finally made my way back, the truck was happily idling away with the engine temp running normal and the a/c in the cab was ice cold.

At this point, the truck had been idling or running at a walking pace out in the heat of the day for well over two hours.

I'll take that as a win.

:) (y)
 
Finally got around to painting a few pieces of the cladding, the coloring and clear coat are a great match for making it look brand new. I was only able to do the grates and side covers, underestimated how much spray was needed so I have to buy more. Hopefully I can finish it this upcoming holiday weekend.

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