Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I'm thinking about taking a look at a 2001 Tahoe 4x4 that has 195,000 miles on it. How much should I worry about the high miles? It looks like it was really well taken care of judging by the pictures. I had a 2002 Silverado x-cab a couple years ago and loved the LS1 engine. How do they hold up? My price range is around $7000 so really can't afford a low miler. Plus I only drive about 8000 miles a year so I won't be piling on too many miles in the next few years. I need a Tahoe so I can tow a travel trailer later this summer with the fam.

Any thoughts

Thanks

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I wouldn't worry too much if you test drive it and its running well. I just bought an 02 xcab silverado with 206k miles on it...it had a long crank time while starting it, turned out to just be the fuel pressure regulator. I got the truck at the crazy awesome price of 4k on craigslist and after i swapped the regulator out it starts and runs like a chevy should!

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I got my 03 about 2 years ago with around 160,000 miles. Now have almost 184,000 and aside from problems with the right front suspension and wheel bearing everything seems good. Good power trans is still solid which surprises me knowing them they way I do. Only issue I have with the motor is the oil pressure is down from 60-70 psi at 2000 rpm to 40-45 psi at 2000 rpm. I believe that is because the Ford dealer I bought it from in Iowa put 0-20 semi synthetic oil in when they changed the oil and I didnt realize that until I was about half way back home on the 465 mile trip.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Well I went and checked it out today. It looked pretty clean for the miles on it. I took it for a test drive and it broke down. It just shut off while I was driving down the street and wouldn't restart. The sales guy thought it was out of gas so he ran up to the gas station and got a gallon. It started right up. We drove about 50' and it shut off again. He thought it needed more gas so we pushed it towards the station. He put a second gallon in. We go to start it and the battery dies. He calls to the office for somebody to bring a battery booster. Now it cranks but still doesn't start. Now he thinks it's the fuel pump and it has to be towed back. For some reason I don't think I'm too interested in this Tahoe. Too bad.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

too bad. looks like a clean tahoe

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Sounds like the fuel pump. Too bad, that things looks pretty clean.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Looks nice.
I'd just tell them to call me after the fuel pump was replaced.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

That's actually what I did. I figure a new fuel pump is a good thing to have (as long as they used a quality FP). They said they would have it done yesterday but they didn't call so I'm wondering if they have it correctly diagnosed. The last thing I want is a vehicle with electrical demons. He has offered me a free 3 month 3000 mile drive train warranty and would give me full bluebook for my Audi as a trade-in. I'm still leaning towards finding another Tahoe but I haven't ruled this one out completely. It's the omen factor that's bothering me. My wife thinks I’m crazy to even consider it and she may be right.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Going to look at this one later today. This one's an LT but still with cloth seats. It has 160,000 miles on the clock. It's 4WD lowered 3"x5".

Update: Owner totally blew me off today. I hate when people do that.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Today I finally got to check out the above Tahoe. It was OK. A few minor things but no deal breakers. The one thing that surprised me was how sluggish the 5.3 felt as in comparison to my old 2002 X-cab pickup with a 4.8 in it. I guess the Tahoe is probably heavier but it has nowhere near the acceleration that my truck had. Is this normal?

The other thing which, I almost expected, was the tires didn't feel balanced well at all. They are 305/40/22's and some off brand I've never heard of. Probably some cheap Chinese tire that can't be properly balanced.

The Tahoe that broke down was in better shape than this one.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

IMO, 7k for a truck with nearly 200k miles is not worth it. dont get me wrong, these trucks can last for a very long time. i just think the price is too much for the miles on it.

i find 01-06 tahoes around here for about 6k with way less miles on it. maybe it could be the area im in compared to yours, the average price of these could be different.

my wifes 2002 tahoe has 148k on the clock, and havent had any major problems within the 4 years we have owned it (77k miles when we bought it), just the gas gauge, starter, and front suspension changed in those 4 years. these are some very dependable trucks if you ask me, but it would be nice to find one with around 150k miles. driving 8k miles a year will get you nearly 5-6 more years of life out of it compared to one with nearly 200k miles.

heres one i found in LA area (not sure where that is from you)



$5800, 158k miles, 3rd row seat..
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv...039544686.html

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I was thinking the same thing about the price for a Tahoe with that many miles but after looking for 2 weeks I'm finding that there are a lot of them for sale at even higher prices with even more miles on them. I've even seen a few of the old body style Tahoes with more miles at a higher price. I'm not saying they are all that way and I've actually seen a few bargains on the older body style rigs. There are a few I'm still considering that have between 109K to 175K in the $4000 to $5000 range but I would preffer the new body with the LS1 engine. I've seen a few of the new style Tahoes at $6500 with around 160K on them but they are not in as good condition as the first Tahoe I drove that broke down (they did put in a new fuel pump). The second Tahoe I had pics of had 134K on it but there were too many problems with it so I passed. I don't know what to do so I guess I'll keep using my 64 C10 for my DD for a while until I figure it out.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Ya, i hear ya...before we bought the one i have now i went to a local dealership and seen one. They wanted 15k..had a 102k miles, only reason i didnt get it was because i didnt have enough credit. Thank goodness...mine had over 20k miles less and they wanted 13k, not to mention leather seats and 4 wheel drive...

That was 4 years ago, which was around the normal price of these. Just gotta be patient, theres always that one guy just HAS to get rid of it, always the best bargain deals
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Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

its california, i bought my tahoe with 100k on it 6 yrs ago and it was 11 000 bucks, in california you will be lucky to get that kinda price.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

6 years ago was a lot different than now though. i bought mine 4 years ago, with 77k and it was 14000.

keep looking, you will find something...

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I'm still on the hunt. The Tahoes I've checked out haven't been very impressive. I'm glad I paid to get CARFAX for a whole month. I've ruled out a few candidates do to odometer rollbacks and stuctural damage reports. Then there was the one that I past on due to color that had the most amazing CARFAX report I've ever seen. One owner that had the oil changed every 3000 mile at the dealership they bought it and it was garage kept its whole life. It had 167K on it but looked like new. I'll probably kick myself later.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

curious to know the color..lol

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I knew that was going to be asked. It was very gold. Even though I love the 49ers I don't see myself driving around in a big SF helmet. Teal and red aren't getting much attention from me either (just not my style). I've also avoided black just because the last three vehicles I've had were black and there is never enough room in our three car garage for my DD (can't tell it was washed 2 days after a good scrubbing). If there is ever one slot available in the garage my wife gets it. I'm hoping to get a medium charcoal grey metallic Tahoe.

There is a good possibilty that the first one I asked about will be mine in the next few days. We've been going back and forth on price and warranty for the last few days. If I don't find something else by Monday I might pull the trigger on the deal.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I finally pulled the trigger and bought the first Tahoe (pics in post #4 & 8) yesterday. I have a few things to fix but they are basically cosmetic things.

Thanks for the responses.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

With those miles, might as well get a 4L60E built and have it waiting to go in. Load it up in the trailer when you tow...

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Thanks for the nice afterthought.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Well it looks like I got totally screwed.

The AC didn’t even work all the way home. I had it recharged yesterday and it's already blowing hot air again. The change oil light came on the first morning after I bought it. I had the oil changed today at Winter Chevrolet and there was coolant in the oil so now they are saying it has possible head gasket issues. If so that's about $2500 to fix. The battery is now dead and had to be jumped to start after the oil change. The gas gauge is not working right. Half the time that I start it it says low fuel even though there is over 3/4 tank, then it will go up in a kind jumpy way. On top of that there is no signs that the gas tank was removed recently, which would have to be done to replace the fuel pump as the salesman swore was done after our breakdown (I asked several times).

It looks like the salesman erased the codes, reset the oil change light, charged the battery and recharged the AC on a regular basis.

I'm pi$$ed.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Take it back. With all the paperwork showing what you found. Have everything that has happened documented and give it all to them. Tell them to make it right. Hope you have the lemon law on ur side
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Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

You have to pay $150 before you buy the car to have the right to return it within 3 days, I didin't. And if you did return it you have to pay a $200 restocking fee. I'm not sure what rights I have at this point.

The guy did call me back and left a message on my cell and gave me the phone# to the place that supposedly did the fuel pump, but they were closed for the day by then. He says that the AC blew hot when they got it and he refilled the system about a month ago and it seemed to be fine. I'm thinking NOT.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

LOL I keep a rebuilt 4l60E in the garage as a spare for mine, already had to use it once...

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

As fast as it is leaking its gotta have a good sized leak. If its not leaking check the low pressure switch on the accumulator. You don't have to drop the tank all the way out of those to change the pump, just drop the rear half. You should be able to see tool marks on the strap bolts tho. If they take it back, start looking in TX for one, I bet you can fly out and drive one home with less miles for 7k easy.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

man that sucks, what a ****ty salesman. why would he give you the number to the guy who changed the fuel pump? you would think he would personally contact the dude to let him know...

i dont think this is all coincidence...

fuel pump will fix the gas gauge more than likely (did on mine), obviously new battery is no big deal, a/c could be expensive to fix, but i would be worried about the coolant in the oil. that alone would make me boycott the sh*t out of that place until he fixed EVERYTHING..

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

There is no way that he didn't know about at least most of this stuff.

I doubt he'll do anything. Sold "AS IS". His offer of throwing in the warranty didn't happen. I would have had to pay full price to get it. It's all a load of BS.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Very sorry to hear about your luck. The good thing is, all of that is fixable.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Thanks for the sympathetic note.

Things may not be as bad as I thought, then again they might be as bad as I thought. I have been doing some searching on the net and found someone with the same symptoms as mine. A milky looking fluid coming out of the oil pan just at the end when draining. In his case it turned out to be because it had been driven on just short commutes that didn't allow it to fully warm up causing moisture to build up under the fill cap. His solution was to trade cars with his wife every few days on a longer commute and it seemed to resolve the problem. My Tahoe had been at the dealer’s lot for over a month and had only been taken on short test drives. Before that who knows. I'm going to watch my fluid levels closely and go from there. Besides that I have been told by one shop that it's not recommended to change the head gaskets on such a high mile engine because the compression may raise and cause lower end problems and that it would require a new engine. I don't know what to believe anymore so I'm taking a wait and see approach.

I put a new battery (which the dealer knew was bad) in and it's down at a local shop getting the AC diagnosed so hopefully it's something cheap (yeh right). I have verified that the dealer refilled the AC multiple times though. He told me that when he got the Tahoe it was blowing hot so he recharged it just once and it's been fine ever since. That was before I drove it the first time. When I called the shop that supposedly changed the fuel pump (which they say was done at a lot lower price than the dealer told me) and he told me they also recharged the AC and the dealer didn't want any diagnostics done on it, just a refill. That was after I drove it so he knew about that problem. What a scumbag.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Just chalk it up to the fact that some dealers are lieing bastards.

You probably have a leak somewhere, they can do a leakdown test.

With the oil, I would run a synthetic blend and change it and the filter at 3000. Also run a WIX filter. See how it looks after that. Also, keep track of your coolant level. If that's going down and dont see it leaking then you might have an issue.

I just bought an 01 Tahoe with 166k and am in the process of going thru some issues myself. One being the fuel level sensor. My buddy works at a dealership and told me to replace the pump with a GM one (I think delphi makes them for GM) and not to use any other brand.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Well, so much for wishfull thinking. The shop just called me. The AC has a huge leak at the eveperator which requires the dash being pulled out to fix and will cost $900 to fix. He also drained my oil and found more coolant in the oil and sayus the bottom of the oil pan is coated with the milky white gooh. He says new engine time. He can put an engine from Jasper in for $5600. So I'm screwed royally.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

That sucks. Shop around on prices. $5600 sounds way high, and I would not do a 'Jasper'. I would get a GM crate or one from a wrecked truck.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

The shop also checked out my fuel gauge issue and found it to be the gauge cluster. $375 to fix. He checked the signal from the tank and it was fine. You might want to have yours checked to see if it's an in tank problem or a gauge problem.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Thanks for that advice, appreciate that.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

really anything is fixable lol


man, this sucks! have you checked around to other shops other than the ones who quoted you? all those prices seem super high to me...

i would just pulled a motor from a running truck, that should only be about a grand WITH install. 5600 on a truck you already spent 7k on is just not worth it. you could also sell yours or part it out to recoop some money back.
shops around here only charge about 150 to fix the dash (although mine was the fuel pump float)..good thing he ruled out the pump though. when mine was reading crappy i changed the pump off of known problems with these trucks, but i went with an autoparts store brand. fixed it, now 2 1/2 years later, its messed up again lol

you have to do something about this lemon seller though, i wouldnt let him get away with selling me a truck like that. either split the costs, take it back on a trade in credit, something to keep his name in decent standing!

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Yeah, anything is fixable... I didn't think it was that magnitude though... :/

Agreed.... I'd be giving that dealer hell for it and ask him if it is worth ruining his reputation?

Craigslist revenge, post the truth.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

lol

ya your right, i would be all over craiglist, if he cares any for his buisiness, he will cave at some point.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

Here is the ad that I posted to craigslist after the guy denied everything.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/3088349473.html
"Buyer Beware:
I just got totally ripped off by Ari at Direct Auto Outlet.
I bought a 2001 Chevy Tahoe from him and its all gone bad.
The AC went out on the way home. I had it recharged the next day and it was blowing hot the next morning (big leak in the evaporator that will cost $900 to fix).
The battery died on the third day when I was getting the oil changed ($100).
Found coolant in the oil on that oil change. Got it checked out and it needs a new engine ($5600).
The gas gauge not working correctly ($375).
I've put less than 200 miles on it since I got it so now I'm broke and have no way to pay to have it fixed.
I'm out $7400 with nothing to drive. We are devastated and he won't help. He just denies everything.

He had this vehicle on his lot for at least a month so he had to know about at least a few of these problems.
I feel that he is a dishonest sales person and would warn all that are considering buying a vehicle to stay clear of his dealership."


I'd love to protest in front of his dealership but it's 70 miles from here. Doesn't make it impossible, just harder.
I'm thinking about adding his email adress and ask people to send him a note stating "I wouldn't buy a car from your dealership". Maybe if he got enough responses he might change his tone.

Re: Going to look at a Tahoe. High miles-should I worry
 

I think you need to have an "accident" in your tahoe if ya know what i mean.