Truck in Life in General

Fair warning this one is a lot of car maintenance stuff so if that bores you just skip this one haha.

So something I didn’t get to in my last entry was the truck.

Jessica’s grandpa passed away a few months back and left everything to her mom, as the only child. Anyone who has dealt with a death in the family like this understands how stressful it is dealing with all the stuff left behind, which is why a lot of people just throw in the towel and hire an estate company to just sell it off for a huge cut.

I’ve been doing my best to help her mom with the furniture, listing each piece on facebook marketplace. It’s a lot of back and forth with rando people, but we’ve managed to get rid of most of it at this point.

One of the things he left behind was his truck. He paid cash for it about 3 years before he stopped driving. It’s a 2018 and only had 35k miles on it. It probably only had about 10k miles when he stopped driving, most of the miles were from Jessica’s parents driving it occasionally. Still not a lot of miles.

Well as I mentioned recently, I sold my Mazda. That truck was the reason why.

Side note: The dealership literally let me walk away over $500 at first, telling me they couldn’t pay $8500 because they said they weren’t gonna make a ton of money off it and it may be a tough sell, sitting on the lot for a while. I took their offer the next week, but I noticed they listed the car for $13000 and it was gone within 3 days hahaha. I mean I’m not surprised the car was in good shape and it’s a stick shift, something specific people will pay good money for. Good for them I guess, at most I could have probably sold it for $9500 privately, so if they can sell it for more as a dealership, more power to you fellas.

Well they offered the truck to us, no questions asked. They didn’t want the truck taking up room in their driveway, and I guess they’d rather we have it so they can still borrow it occasionally if they need a truck. Makes sense, it’s a win for both of us. They also know how well I take care of vehicles so it’ll be in good shape. It’s also good for us because it’s an automatic so now Jessica can drive both of our vehicles.

Oh and second side note, this is also another thing that Steve gets to hold over my head even though I never asked for it (it was offered out of the blue), it was never his in the first place (it was left directly to Kelly), they get to still use the truck when they want and it won’t be at their house taking up space anymore. Also, as you’ll see soon, it’s a DAMN good thing I got my hands on this truck when I did. But I’m sure he’ll find a way to be an asshole about it. Time will tell.

The Truck

Okay, so this truck was in pretty rough shape, even for something with so few miles. The interior was completely filthy, with dog hair and trash everywhere. It took a while but I got all of that cleaned out, detailed/steam cleaned everything, and shampoo’d the seats.

Next, was the exterior. Tons of dents, scrapes, stratches everywhere. I mean I understand things happen to cars when they are used, but this was VERY excessive for a vehicle with so few miles on it. The rear bumper was caved in on one part, the body panel underneath the fuel door is also caved in, there are countless scuffs and scrapes on the paint.

Step one: Tires

They were probably the original tires and while they still had a decent amount of tread left, they were starting to crack on the sidewalls pretty significantly. (ill attach a photo of the cracking below) Likely from the truck just sitting long periods of time without driving. They were probably still safe to drive but not for much longer. And Jessica may drive this occasionally so I don’t feel comfortable with borderline tires on it.

They were some nice goodyears so I decide to just get the same brand and after calling some tire shops it looked like the cost would be about $700 for a set. Expensive but swingable, but before I do that I check eBay to see if they have used tires in good shape.

Well I found the exact same tires, brand new for $400, free shipping. what? There has to be a catch....

Well turns out the catch was that they weren’t from an authorized Goodyear reseller, so you don’t get the warranty. Um, that’s fine with me I don’t think I’ve ever claimed a warranty on any tire I’ve ever bought haha. $100 to install the tires and I just saved $200 to just lose a warranty. I mean it’s still a risk I know, but I wouldn’t pay $200 for a warranty anyway so it makes sense. They’re a good brand so I know it’s likely gonna be fine.

I did spend some more to get an alignment because who knows what shit Steve has run over with the truck so I figure I’ll just get it done to protect the new tires.

Step two: Transmission

Oh boy this one was a doozy. So while getting the tires sorted, I noticed the truck was shifting REALLY rough and also the entire truck would shudder occasionally, like something was slipping in the transmission. I do a little research and it turns out that these trucks are known to have something called the “colorado shudder”. Basically, through multiple factors (crappy valve body, crappy torque converter, crappy fluid… etc), the transmissions start to fail around 70k miles. I’m assuming mine is only failing at 35k miles because it’s still the same age as those other trucks because it sat for so long.

Now what I’m wondering, is how did Jessica’s parents not notice this? It’s not even a subtle problem, the entire truck shakes when you shift gears haha. How did they think that was normal? Are they just completely oblivious? Well it’s safe to say I may take their vehicles on test drives occasionally to be sure they’re not on the verge of exploding haha.

Now apparently some people have had success just swapping the fluid out with this new blue label fluid, because the factory fluid is too hydroscopic. Turns out they’re right, because I found a TSB directly from GMC/Chevy to fix this issue, covered under warranty, and the fix? Flush the transmission with this new blue label fluid.

Now my truck isn’t under warranty anymore (it’s low miles but it’s 6 years old at this point), so I’m on my own to get the fluid flushed. I go to a transmission shop and explain the problem and the TSB I found, and they take the truck for a drive and do some diagnostics. They come back and basically say the transmission is too far gone and needs a rebuild.

$6000.

No fucking way I’m going straight a rebuild without at least TRYING the flush first bro. I tell them that and they basically refused to do it, saying they couldn’t warranty to work. I try to explain I’m not looking for a warranty, just a fluid swap but they still refused. Aight, bye.

So I call a few automotive places around and they basically say the same thing, “nope, if it has issues we can’t do a flush on it”. Guys… the TSB procedure literally says it’s A FIX FOR THIS EXACT ISSUE.

So, as a proof of concept, I decide to do it myself. For those who don’t know, there’s a difference between a fluid change and a fluid flush. A change is draining the transmission pan as best you can and filling it with fresh fluid. You’ll only get about half of the fluid that way, but it’s usually fine if you’re doing regular preventative maintenance. If you suspect the fluid is bad, then you need a flush, which is where they use a special machine that forces fluid through the entire system and you keep going until the fluid coming out of the transmission looks new. That’s how you know you got it all, but again, it requires special equipment. There are ways to do it at home, but it still requires some tools I don’t have and didn’t feel like purchasing just for this one job.

Now I can’t do a flush on my own, but I can do a change. And if the fluid is the culprit, I’ll still notice an improvement. I found a guy on a random forum that says “It’s a little wasteful, but if you just change the fluid like 4 times over the course of a month (waiting about a week between changes), you’ll get almost all of it.” And he’s right, but it’s a messy job and really annoying to do… normally.

Turns out those, my transmission has a fill port, which is really really good news. Means I can use a cheap hand pump and get the fluid out without dropping the pan. Just look up transmission service videos on youtube and you’ll see why it’s basically the messiest fluid job on a car. So a fill port is a GOD SEND.

So one cheap harbor freight hand pump later and I’m under the truck pumping out fluid. And this fluid is DARK and BURNT. Like holy crap, no transmission with so few miles should have fluid that looks like this. I start thinking “Oh my god those guys at the shop were right, it’s too far gone....”

But I’m in this deep, I may as well continue. So I get about 4 quarts out, and then start pumping 4 quarts of new fluid in. I start it up, take it for a drive and....

It shifts SO much better. Like the shudder is completely gone at this point. Still a little bit of a rough shift here or there, but like 85-90% better. I WAS RIGHT MUAHAHA.

So now with the transmission actually working normally again, I go ahead and take it to a dealership for the flush since they probably know about the TSB and will flush it with the proper fluid. (side note they tried to charge me more than the quote for a “disposal fee” but I argued “duh, it’s a flush of course there’s disposal that should have been in the quote” and after a little bit of back and forth they waived the fee to shut me up.”

Now here’s the thing, I may still be screwed because who knows how long Jessica’s parents drove it like that. I’m guessing… way longer than they should have based on how nasty that fluid was when I changed it. There’s a real chance this problem comes right back because it really is too far gone and this was just a temporary fix. So I figure I’ll put about 1000 miles on it and then pull some fluid out to check the status. If it’s nasty and dark again, I’ll probably just sell the truck and get something else. It’s still worth about $27000 so I could still get something really nice.

Step 3: Coolant

So, another thing I noticed was this wooshing water sound when I would accelerate. My first thought was “ah shit, there’s water in the doors or something (which is bad because it can cause rust and means the drain is clogged or something. But nope, I wiggle the doors and no sound. And then the water sound was gone, so I shrugged it off.

But then the next time I drove the truck, I notice it again. Loud water wooshing. I narrow it down to the glovebox area and thing “ah shit, that’s a heater core issue” And anyone who has ever worked on a heater core issue knows it’s a huge pain in the ass, you gotta disassemble the entire dash to access it and (on some cars) even take off the windshield to pull the dash out. It’s a nightmare.

But I don’t smell coolant leaking or see anything, so hopefully it’s just some air trapped in the heater core. I do a little research and found a forum where some redneck said to just park the truck on an incline and rev the engine a few times with the heater on full blast. And sure enough, he was right it resolved it.

But then, next time I drive the truck, it’s back again. What the hell? I checked the coolant reservoir and it’s at the full mark. I think “ah shit, I’ve got a coolant leak somewhere and it’s getting air in the system. So I go to an auto part store to borrow a pressure tester. Basically, when the truck is cool, you add pressure to the cooling system and watch the gauge. If the pressure falls over some time (usually an hour or so), then you have a leak somewhere. So I go get the gauge, let the truck cool for a couple hours, and hook up the gauge. Uh oh, I see a tiny pressure drop. I look everywhere and try to see a leak, and I see nothing.

I think “ah shit, I may have a blown head gasket and the leak is internal”. So I go rent a coolant tester kit which checks for exhaust gases in the coolant, which would indicate a blown gasket. Negative, what a relief, but now I still don’t know what’s wrong.

Now the next step is to drain the coolant system and hook up this fancy smoke machine and pressurize so you can visually see any leaks. It’s a lot of work but I’m getting ready to do that until I find this other redneck on a forum with the same issue who says “oh yeah you just gotta fill the reservoir past the fill line, it’s too low from the factory, just overfill it a bit and it’ll bleed the system.” Aint no way it’s that easy right?

It fixed it perfectly, hasn’t come back since. Thank god for rednecks. Wish I had seen that before spending all the time chasing a leak haha.

Step 4: Paint and bumper

So the truck is still in decent shape on the interior, but the exterior is a bit more rough. Clearly they just kind of rubbed against stuff a lot because there was tons of scuffs all over it, including tons of scratches that can be explained (like near the handle where their keys were smacking it) and some that can’t. Like people… it’s not that hard to take care of your paint. Just don’t hit shit…

Well anyways I go over the entire truck with some buffing compound and I get a good chunk of the light scratches out, but there’s still some deeper scratches past the clear coat. I did order some custom paint touchup for these spots but unfortunately it’s taking a really long time for it to show up so I gotta wait on those. Still though, it’s an improvement overall.

Next step is this HUGE dent under the fuel door. It’s too big for PDR, so it’s body shop time. I go to a shop and get a quote and they say it’s about $1800 to fix it. I go to a second shop that says the same, so now I know about what it’s gonna cost to fix that. I figure I’ll just live with it for a while and maybe put it on a credit card at some point when I feel ready.

Next step is the bumper. It’s a chrome bumper that has been caved in by someone hitting something. Who knows if it was grandpa or if it was Steve.... the world will never know.

I call a dealership to see how much a new bumper runs and they want $1300. Yeah fuck all that.

Next step was to check ebay and I find an aftermarket replacement that looks stock, and it’s only $250. I figure it’s worth a shot right? I also order a hitch receiver because even though this truck doesn’t have a lot of pulling power (I have thoughts on trucks this big with a small 4 cylinder engine, but I’ll save those thoughts for later), I figure it’ll still pull small trailers fine with some furniture or something. And I’m gonna be down there changing the bumper out anyway so I may as well just toss a hitch receiver on it.

Well both of them arrive and I yoink off the bumper and the stock hitch and… omg. Neither one of them are right.

The new hitch receiver is missing these holes for the spare tire bracket. (ill attach a photo of the stock hitch and the new one below) The ebay listing said it was compatible with my truck, so what am I supposed to do, not have a spare tire? I returned it and left a negative review and they were kinda shitty in their reply to the review and then also tried to keep half my money as a restocking fee, claiming I damaged it. I never touched the damn thing, I just plopped it back in the box and sent it off. Luckily ebay sided with me on the case and issued the rest of my money. Get fucked rando ebay seller.

And the bumper brackets were too narrow to fit on the frame. By a lot, not just a small tolerance issue that could be shimmied. I’m honestly a little relieved I had a good reason to send it back because it weighed about half as much as the OEM bumper and I was worried I’d step on that bumper one day (to access the truck bed or something) and it would just snap off, the metal brackets were just so damn thin.

So I found a new hitch receiver on ebay that definitely had the bracket holes that were missing. It arrived and I figure it would be a quick job since I already did it once. NOPE. Of course, one of the holes on the adapter bracket was drilled too low and the bumper bolt wouldn’t pass through it. FUCK. (ill add a photo of the hole not lining up) I was so sick of dealing with this shit at this point, I just whipped out a dremel and fixed it myself. I don’t like the idea of removing metal from something that is supposed to be towing a lot of weight, but these are just bolt passthroughs for the bumper, the main bolts for the hitch are underneath. So removing a little metal from the passthroughs shouldn’t be an issue. I still left those fuckers a negative review though.

For the bumper, I started calling junkyards. Originally I didn’t want a used bumper but at this point I’ll take anything as long as it looks better than what I have and it actually fits and isn’t made of tin foil. After calling a couple of yards, one of them tells me about this website where all junkyards list their parts so I could just search around myself and holy crap, he was right. It’s really easy, just go to car-parts.com and it’s all there. I found a couple of places only a 30 minute drive away and they were asking for $400. $150 more than the ebay one, but at least it’s built well and will fit. While I was on there I saw some pretty beat up ones for about $200, so I’m thinking I may try and fix the old one as best I can and sell it myself to get a little bit of money back.

Anyway the junkyard bumper was really dirty and needed some polishing, but it cleaned up and fit perfectly. A lot of hubbub for something cosmetic, but I think it makes the truck look so much better. Also a side benefit was I bought a trailer wiring kit for the brake lights and such, but this bumper came with the plug already, so all i needed was a cheap wiring harness. So now I get to return the kit and save a net $40… score! now I only spent $110 more on this bumper compared to the ebay one… worth. (queue the applause on the massive savings)

(this was shot before the new hitch receiver showed up)

Final Step: Miscellaneous

So a couple more things I need to address at some point. The truck has android auto/carplay which is great, but the touch screen is sort of malfunctioning. It touches things randomly sometimes, so you’ll be cruising on google maps and it’ll just open spotify on its own. Usually it’s just occasional, but sometimes it goes crazy and presses buttons all over the place frantically.

I figure the whole system needs to be replaced to fix the touch screen, but it turns out the screen is removable so only about $60 for an aftermarket screen. Even better, with a little effort, you can remove just the glass screen and replace that for only $13. And, as you know, I’m a cheapass so of course I’m trying that first. The part has arrived but I haven’t gotten around to installing it yet, probably today. I’ll update on that.

Also, for some reason the main battery cable that goes to the fuse box was completely bare. Like zero insulation. Yep, you’re right, that’s a fat fire hazard, so we’re lucky that wire didn’t touch metal and short out. It’s technically fused, but like 200 amps so could definitely spark a fire before the fuse kicks in. I think a rat must have gotten to it. I tried to find a replacement wire but apparently you have to buy the enter fuse box just to the get the wire, so nah I just removed it and wrapped it really well with tape and a wire grommet. Good enough!

Also the air filters on this truck have never been replaced, clearly. They were both full of junk and completely rotten. Put some nice wix filters on there! easy fix.

Another thing I need to fix is the backup camera. It works, but it looks awful. Like it’s really smudgy and dirty, but the lens is clean. My guess is one of the glued internal lens elements has delaminated or something, because a close look at the lens does show some discoloration. A new aftermarket camera was only about $35 so that works! It should have been an easy fix… but was it? OF COURSE NOT.

Before I open the tailgate to pull the old camera out, I decide I’ll test the camera real quick because who knows if a cheap aftermarket ebay camera works. I’ve had good luck with them in the past with my Mazda, but I don’t trust these sellers further than I can throw em. So I go under the truck, unhook the plug for the old camera, and just plug in the new one and leave it hanging under the truck. I go start it up, put it in reverse.... blue screen. Shit.

Okay I’ve seen that screen before, when I was putting in the new bumper, I didn’t push the connectors together well enough. So I go unplug the camera, and then replug and push really hard. Still blue screen. Shit, bad camera. I’m like “aight good think I checked this before tearing apart the tailgate, lemme just plug in the old one and I’ll return this piece of shit”. So I plug in the factory camera, go to test it… blue screen still. SHIT. Even after reseating the cable… still blue screen.

So I’m thinking, “okay when I pulled the plug out of the old camera, I may have fucked up the wiring by pulling too hard.” Luckily, I have a wiring hardness that was still attached to the junkyard bumper. I decided to keep it just in case, and now I’m glad I did. I bypass the factory harness with this junkyard harness aaaaand.... blue screen. SHIT.

Alright, so now I know I didn’t fuck up the plug, so why is this stock camera not working anymore? I saw it working earlier that day, so I now it’s something I did, but all I did was unplug it temporarily. What the hell.

Well just like everything else, I check online and find a youtube video of some guy diagnosing a blue screen camera and finding a blown fuse on the passenger side of the truck. I go find the same fuse, and sure enough… blown. Now the question is… why did it blow? I’m currently operating on the assumption that there must have be power running to the camera all the time and me unplugging the camera caused a short. But it’s possible this aftermarket camera is borked and has some kind of internal short and blew the fuse when I tried to use it.

So I ordered a fuse kit from Amazon and paid 2.99 extra to have it arrive in the morning by 8am. (I don’t have prime so occasionally they charge extra for fast shipping, but honestly it’s only like once every couple of months so the prime isn’t worth the 12 bucks a month they want).

So now I’m about to go out there and diagnose this but I wanted to wait a little while for the temperature to come up because when I woke up it was 22F outside, fuck that. This entry has taken a couple hours to write so it should be warm enough now. Hopefully I can figure this out because I need that backup cam (lots of kids run around and play in this area so I wouldn’t feel comfortable backing out of my driveway without it).

I’ll update with that later! I promise this will be the longest entry I ever write, because my wrists are currently on fire!