Faults:

Transfer case burned up at 97,000 miles. The mechanic who rebuilt it said that the transfer case gears are always in motion, whether you're in 4-wheel drive or not, and that some lever inside beat a hole in the transfer case cover which then leaked all the fluid and it burned up. He said he sees this a lot. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this?

General Comments:

I have put a lot of miles on this truck, but have followed the owner's manual maintenance schedule religiously and I feel that a $2,200 problem on a three year old truck is ridiculous.

I am a general contractor and I take care of all my tools and they either last or I look for a new supplier. This tool did not last.

Faults:

I had the drive shaft slip yoke lubricated 6 times before I could convince the GM Tech Rep that there was a problem. I finally got them to replace the slip yoke. When the truck had approximately 20,000 miles on it, I brought it in for an oil change, and the dealer told me that I complained about the throttle body sticking and they replaced it under warranty. I have since had that throttle body replaced at 50,000 miles.

The biggest problem I had was... 41,000 miles, the oil cooler in my radiator developed a leak and drained my transmission of Automatic trans fluid. This in turn, caused the transmission to eat itself. Fortunately, I had purchased the extended warranty because I have been complaining about piston slap since I bought the truck. Otherwise GM was going to make me pay for half the repairs. The dealer sent my truck out to a trans shop for inspection, and three weeks later I got it back with a completely rebuilt transmission and a new radiator. The next day I brought it back because of extremely hard shifting and a trans service light, to have the valve body replaced. Then I brought it back again because they forgot to hook up the vacuum line to my front differential, giving me a service 4WD light.

After all of that, and I am still complaining about hard shifting, I made GM give me a 100,000 mile power train warranty.

I have also had the front break calipers lubricated because of the brakes grabbing.

At 52,000 had the parking break shoes replaced at dealers expense.

General Comments:

Aside from the problems I have had with the truck, I still love it.

The engine has balls and it sounds great even with the stock exhaust and intake.

I am thankful for the auto 4WD on my pushbutton transfer case because the rear does get loose on wet roads.

Besides, hell will freeze over before I buy a Toy-ota, and I'd rather push my Sierra than drive a Fix or Repair Daily or a Dodge.