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What did you do to your Avalanche today?

took her to the doctor to get the parking sensor system fixed
 
Removed all the front/rear seats and console from my 2004 Z71, preparing to install new carpeting from Auto Custom Carpets and seat covers top/bottom for both right/left front seats from The Seat Shop. Opted for a new drivers lower seat foam. Now it can go ahead and dump snow next week while I work on the front seats in my basement.

I tried to get the seat covers cheaper, earlier this fall through Auto Seat Replacement, but they never could deliver even though they charged my credit card. Long story short...... I ended up charging them back through my credit card company and ordered through the Seat Shop. 2.5 weeks later they came from the Seat Shop right on time. But due to all this jacking around, it's getting pretty cold. I had hoped to have had this done by now. Good thing I have another 4WD vehicle.
 
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Removed all the front/rear seats and console from my 2004 Z71, preparing to install new carpeting from Auto Custom Carpets and seat covers top/bottom for both right/left front seats from The Seat Shop. Opted for a new drivers lower seat foam. Now it can go ahead and dump snow next week while I work on the front seats in my basement.

I tried to get the seat covers cheaper, earlier this fall through Auto Seat Replacement, but they never could deliver even though they charged my credit card. Long story short...... I ended up charging them back through my credit card company and ordered through the Seat Shop. 2.5 weeks later they came from the Seat Shop right on time. But due to all this jacking around, it's getting pretty cold. I had hoped to have had this done by now. Good thing I have another 4WD vehicle.

The Seat Shop FTW.

:) (y)
 
Went to the junkyard and picked up some kick panels. Then I fiberglassed 8 inch speaker rings in them to make pods. Finished one and almost done with the second.
 
Over the past week or so, the Avalanche began having a noise appear that was coming from the engine compartment.

At it's worst, it was a kind of low whirling, whistling sound that only appeared in certain ranges of engine RPMs.

Generally, at low speed cruise speeds, with the RPMs between 1200 and 2000.

A neighbor even mentioned hearing the sound as I drove by while he was out working in his front yard.

It had gotten where I could duplicate the sound with a careful feathering of the throttle, but not always.

Now, for a bit of background story, after I bought the truck back in February, I replaced all of the belts, pulley and tensioners, including the a/c belt and tensioner.

The water pump is also new.

The alternator is the same one that came on the truck when I bought it.

My first thought was that the old alternator (and I have paperwork that shows the previous owner has had several alternators installed over the years and the repair shop always installed cheaper parts according to the stack of invoices I have) was going out.

I have a spare alternator on the shelf and I replaced that to no avail.

I put the old alternator back on and continued my troubleshooting.

Back when I replaced the water pump, I had also installed a new ACDelco standard fan clutch.

Later, I replaced that new ACDelco fan clutch with a Hayden severe duty fan clutch to aid with summer time low speed a/c performance.

I swapped back to the ACDelco without any change in the sound.

The Hayden clutch went back on.

I did find that the power steering pump was a little low on fluid, but topping that off did not help with the sound problem.

On Saturday, I decided enough was enough and I was determined to find the source of the sound.

I needed to determine if the sound was internal or external and so I removed the main serpentine belt and started the engine.

With only the a/c belt installed, I was able to duplicate the sound.

I popped off the a/c belt and the sound went away.

A quick search online showed the local Auto Zone carried a kit from Continental that contained a new a/c belt and tensioner.

I ran down and grabbed a kit and installed it.

When I started the engine with just that kit installed, the noise was gone.

I fully reassembled everything and did a test run for about an hour and was not able to reproduce the sound at any RPM.

I'll start the engine cold this morning and go for a drive to see if this thing is solved.

The belt I took off looked fine and only has 7 or 8 thousand miles on it.

The pulley of the ACDelco a/c belt tensioner looked good and rotated smoothly, just like the new replacement part, but there was a line of paint missing along one edge, possibly indicating that something was not wearing evenly.

When I first determined the sound was coming from the a/c, I was concerned it might mean a problem with the a/c compressor or clutch.

At the moment, that does not appear to be the case, thank goodness.
 
I recently did some dash and console upgrades.
A new Alpine iLX207 head unit with 3 cameras, accessory controller, and steering wheel interface.
Filled in the pointless compartment next to the HVAC controls with an ignition controlled USB charger and head unit audio/video connections.
Changed the cigarette lighters to switched USB chargers connected to a newly installed auxiliary battery.
Added footwell lighting and new Lloyd mats.
iPad magnetic mount with power socket in compartment behind.
Deeper cup holders using transparent tumblers (no spilling now) with LED lighting underneath.
 

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drove her yesterday for about 90 miles on errands.

Since she is older now she drinks less alcohol so I filled her up with ethanol free unleaded. only 20cents more per gallon... but as little as I drive here way better for the fuel system.

Still need a battery as the AUTOZONE PLATINUM AGM just does not like to start her to well... voltage drops down to just below 10 and well I can tell battery is dieing and I afraid of being stranded so maybe next month.. might even get her oil changed then as it has been since 2018 and 4000 miles ago.
After the holidays - Maintenance time I figure.

Oh yeah the new rear shocks..........rides like a dream again... and no more bouncing down the road.
 
Removed all the front/rear seats and console from my 2004 Z71, preparing to install new carpeting from Auto Custom Carpets and seat covers top/bottom for both right/left front seats from The Seat Shop. Opted for a new drivers lower seat foam. Now it can go ahead and dump snow next week while I work on the front seats in my basement.

I tried to get the seat covers cheaper, earlier this fall through Auto Seat Replacement, but they never could deliver even though they charged my credit card. Long story short...... I ended up charging them back through my credit card company and ordered through the Seat Shop. 2.5 weeks later they came from the Seat Shop right on time. But due to all this jacking around, it's getting pretty cold. I had hoped to have had this done by now. Good thing I have another 4WD vehicle.
Got the carpeting in. Geez! What a pain! Even though it was molded to fit the floor, had to trim the circumference of the entire carpet with a pair of scissors - and cut it in two under the front seats for installation convenience. Also cut for the rear passenger ducts under the seats. I retained the original felt padding for the OEM carpet. Then cut the 14 holes for each place the front/rear seat bases mount to the the floor (just like the original). I think it will be fine.

Got the four seat covers with new driver's seat foam on both front seats. Man they are tough to get the front retainers turned over the seat frame edges on the bottom covers (especially on the one with the new foam)! Maybe I'm just not as strong as I used to be. Looks quite good, but still letting material stretch and relax for a bit before taking apart enough (not front of seat frame edge though) to do a final velcro adjustment tomorrow to exactly line up the seams in top/bottom covers and hopefully get every wrinkle out. Still need to cut upholstery to mount the seat controls, but I'm waiting until the end for that.

Hopefully will have the seats all back together and be ready to install them by Wednesday.

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Seats look great!

I know what you mean about it being tough.

My hands hurt for a day or two afterwards.

That front clip can be a bear.

Keep an eye on it for a while, yet.

If it does not hold firm after some time, take the back clip off and bend out those tiny teeth tabs that hold the clip.

You want the seat bottom to stay on tight.

When cutting for the seat controls, start way smaller than you think you need and work up slowly from there.

Less is more, here.

Take a can of Scrubbing Bubbles foam bathroom cleaner and spray the head rests and arm rests to clean them and knock down that shine.

After applying the spray foam, lightly hit them with a brush.

Clean seat leather does not shine, contrary to popular belief.

Great job!

:) (y)
 
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Also, take a pressure washer and hit the seat belts on both sides.

They will come out looking brand new.

I have never found a fabric cleaner that did much good on seat belts, but a pressure washer does miracles.

If the seats are back in the truck, fully extend the seat belts and close the door on them.

I extended the seat belts toward the rear wheel and used a bungie cord to attach the belt to the rear wheel to hold the belt up against the side of the truck body.

Blast the water right down the belt with the tip of the pressure washer about 1-2 inches away from the fabric.

Flip the belt over and repeat.

You will be amazed as to how they turn out.
 
Seats look great!

I know what you mean about it being tough.

My hands hurt for a day or two afterwards.

That front clip can be a bear.

Keep an eye on it for a while, yet.

If it does not hold firm after some time, take the back clip off and bend out those tiny teeth tabs that hold the clip.

You want the seat bottom to stay on tight.

When cutting for the seat controls, start way smaller than you think you need and work up slowly from there.

Less is more, here.

Take a can of Scrubbing Bubbles foam bathroom cleaner and spray the head rests and arm rests to clean them and knock down that shine.

After applying the spray foam, lightly hit them with a brush.

Clean seat leather does not shine, contrary to popular belief.

Great job!

:) (y)
Thanks!
 
I am looking for performance upgrades on my 13 Black Diamond LT. thinking of doing a leveling kit, with Vogue Tires (hey yeah) mufflers brake upgrade engine performance upgrade,,,,I already have a throttle body spacer and Volant CAI and the programmer (not sure if its doing anything),,,so please tell me what are the products I need to choose and what performance upgrades have you done?
Worse thing I did to my AV is installed aftermarket headlights! dang cheap bulbs went out within 18 months and changing the headlight bulbs on the 13 is a MAJOR headache....ughhh give me my 07 back with just a screw in and our housing
 
EXT4ME and I was concerned my mule just turned 90K. Told the wife I need to put him out to pasture.
I need the new Hummer EV. >:D>:D
 
EXT4ME and I was concerned my mule just turned 90K. Told the wife I need to put him out to pasture.
I need the new Hummer EV. >:D>:D

I can not argue with your reasoning.

:)(y)

However, I bought my 2004 EXT with 116K and my 2003 Z-66 with 241K on them.

I guess I just wait until there is no possible trace of any new truck smell left in them before I buy them.

:ROFLMAO:
 
Did some upgrades over the holidays..... LEDs all the way around
 

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I like the LED lights, they glow every orange barrels for miles
 
Replaced the cabin air filter today - and while I was in there, I gave the blower motor shaft a little shot of spray grease to get rid of the little squeak that has been occurring from time to time. Super annoying.
This is the second time going in to change the filter, and it was amazing how much dirt and leaves that was in there. I don't think it's been in there two years yet. Putting back the plastic underdash cover, I remembered how much of a piss pot it is to put back the screw on the left end of it, that is adjacent to the centre console. I don't understand the point of making it so hard to line up that screw and thread it in there. One of those christmas tree push pins would have sufficed. Really kind of ridiculous. I was tempted to just leave it out, but I don't want to listen to any rattles...
Lol.
Opened up the air cleaner box and found the beginnings of a mouse nest in there. Glad that I checked it out. Lifted up the fuse box as well to see if anything was living under there. Wiring was all good. Vacuumed out the leaves and pine needles and junk that was under there. You don't want that crap remaining there and holding moisture to start corrosion issues.
That's all I felt like fooling around with for the time being.

CarMech1969
 
New plugs, 10.2 wires, coil igniters,fuel filter,another light bar, behind grill. Sail panel brake lights. Sent wrong skyjacker shocks. Waiting for new ones to arrive.
Does your truck have the external transmission oil collet installed? If so, was there any clearance issue with installing the light bar?
 
Well, after all of these years it finally happened.

One of those dang pants rippers on the tailgate finally snagged me and wasted a new pair of Levi's.

A quick round with my Dremel made short work of all of those things on both the Avalanche and EXT.

Put that down as one of those things I should have done a long time ago.

:E:
 
Well, after all of these years it finally happened.

One of those dang pants rippers on the tailgate finally snagged me and wasted a new pair of Levi's.

A quick round with my Dremel made short work of all of those things on both the Avalanche and EXT.

Put that down as one of those things I should have done a long time ago.

:E:


Dude, that happened to me back in 2002....and again in 2008 :LOL:
 
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