Hole in transfer case club

[bwdalcow]

In shop right now with small hole. Seems to be an ongoing problem. Gonna cost around $2100 with the core charge. This just adds to the list of problems. Too many transmission break downs to list, water pump, injectors twice, master cylinder and pump leak, u-joints, insulation in heater core wearing through so the truck now rattles, pittman and idle arm, and so and so forth. Does anyone have any advice on what I might be able to do to recover some of this money? The tranny work and injector work was done under warranty, everything else is out of pocket (bout $6500). People may tell me to sell it, but I didn't invest $40000 to turn around and sell it 5 yrs later to take a loss on it. Its an 01 with 113000 miles. Thanks

[More Power]

I was a high school kid in the sixties, and worked part-time at a local gas station. A customer drove a Buick wagon in one day with an odometer that just flipped to zeros. It had accumulated 100,000 miles. Everyone there was pretty excited to see a vehicle with that high of mileage, because it was so out of the ordinary. A year or two before that, I bought a non-running 1957 Chevy 2-door HT for $50. It was in near perfect shape, except the 283 didn't run. This car had 67,000 miles showing on the odo... I wish I'd kept that car... The good ole days.... Vehicles today are so much more reliable and dependable than they were a few decades ago.

Any vehicle over 100K will need a little work. Aside from the transfer case issue (which is a design issue), I think the other non-warranty items you're replacing should be considered routine.

If you're not equipped to perform your own maintenance, a third-party extended warranty might be a good investment. Replacing power steering pumps, hydraulic brake boosters, u-joints and most other work can be done in your driveway for half what the dealer gets. In addition, the 7/200K extended injector warranty will end for the '01 models later this year.

Jim

[KompressorMan]

My 01 suddenly went kaputz and found the transfer case dry. I first reamed the local guys that have serviced the truck since almost new. They admitted they didn't always check the level as it seemed to never change. I then found out about the pourosity issue and asked the dealer. It ended up that the exchange only cost me a couple of hundred dollars since this has been an issue. Not bad

[Kennedy]

It's actually not a prosity issue, it's a design issue. The pump has "ears" that ride in recesses in the case. There is a $.002 spring clip installed to keep it from rattling. This clip can fail, fall out etc. There is a $50 stamped steel plate that fixes this condition IF you get it before your case wears through and starts to weep. None of my trucks have this plate installed-yet...

[vetman]

So can the $50.00 part be installed without pulling and disassembling the transfer case?

[Kennedy]

The transfer case will need to be removed and disassembled as the problem lies within.

[MikeC]

Has GM fixed this issue or will I need to have my '07 done?

Mike

[Buck]

I was told that this "can" happen to just about all GM t-cases from the little blazers/jimmys to our trucks. Same type of design. I wonder if the new body '07s have a different t-case?

Kennedy, isn't the plate to fix it $250...Merchant?

[Bill Knieper]

The new 2007s have a new design transfer case.

The output shaft bushing on mine wore out and it then leaked because of the wobble in the yoke. When they took it apart they found pieces of sealent in the fluid. Most of the sealent was ground up making the fluid black and nastey, but there were some pieces nearly as large as a pencil eraser. The fluid had never been changed or the case worked on, so the sealer came from when it was first assembled. This mess got in the pump and partially plugged it up which damaged the pump and then the pump did not lub the bushing properly.

I had it repaired for $900. The good news is GMC reimbused me the full $900 and did not give me a hard time. It was a very good experience and I plan to buy another GMC. However, the truck was clean, not modified and not abused. The dealer backed me in my request to GMC

My truck is an 03 with 60,000 miles

[jbplock]

Short of disassembling the transfer case to check the spring clip, are there any early warning signs for this problem? Would periodically (one or twice a year) draining the transfer case to look for metal filings in the fluid provide an early warning? I've changed it twice since new and didn't notice anything but I wasn't really looking that close for signs of any metal .. On the other hand installing Eric’s fix (http://www.gmdieseltech.com/store2/cart.php?target=product&action=view&product_id=16343&category_id=316) sounds like a fun project …
:)