Common Problems With Chevy Silverado Trucks - Chevy Silverado 1500 Problems 

This guy shouldn’t have stopped making videos. I like his videos

I appreciate you taking the time to walk us through this. It is nice to have someone who gives you some areas of things to look for!

Love these mechanical deep-dive videos. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the thorough video. I have a 2005 silverado and aside from the u-joints, I have had and fixed everyone of these issues. My truck has 150k miles and I love it. My brother in law has a twin of my truck and every issue I had, he had within 5k miles. All these issues are easy to fix or not extremely costly. I'll keep fixing random things opposed to paying $58k for the new one. Chevy proud.

Great tips! Thanks for sharing this!

yeah, the front bearing thing, have the same abs issue, pain in the ass so i pull the fuse till i can swap it out. glad its only 3 bolts. good video man.

i really appreciate all those who put up videos of how to fix trucks or cars it helps to know what to look for 🙌🙌

Thanks for the video. Really sheds a light on what I should be watching it for. thanks again! 👍

Great information. Thanks for helping out us DIY'ers with your videos.

You can tell they don't salt the roads in Alaska. Here in New England, a 99 Silverado would be a piece of swiss cheese with the amount of salt they spread.

wow really helpful I have a 2001 gmc Sierra 4X4 and I'm having and have fixed every thing you pointed out on my truck and learned where the leak is coming from now thank you

I have owned eight shitter trucks in a row! One of which came from a ford dealer. Bought it on a sunny day only to find out the truck wouldnt run in the rain.. seriously. They wanted $165 just to look at it...sat in the dooryard til the repo man came..woulnt start for him either. After 10 yrs of no truck the girlfriend got me a 2011 silverado x cab with 80,000 miles on it. This was well taken care of and runs like a charm,, extremely helpful to watch you tell me what to look out for seeing as I havent had it up in the air yet! Fantastically helpful..please dont stop making these videos!!! You are really good at it.......and I just subscribed thanks again.... maybe ball joints and how to tell if someone put a lift kit in or not....nice job man. KEEP ON TRUCKIN!

This guy is always good to watch. He's cool, informative and helpful. Thanks.

Great video , you probably could have added rusted break lines. I have a 2015 Silverado now. It will be interesting to see what the common problems will be as the truck ages.

Awesome job on the video... I really like your description in the notes above. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Great video! So glad I saw it before I go to check out a 2004 Silverado 1500 4x4 Work Truck next weekend. Keep up the good work!

Great job of explaining and diagnosing! Man, I wish you were down here in Alabama. I have a 2011 high mileage (165K) Silverado that has none of these known problems or issues, but I would love to have someone like you put it on a rack and give it a good once-over. I just moved here and don't know anyone I know I could trust professionally or otherwise. But your video gives me things to be on the watch for. Thanks!

This man speaks the truth and he knows exactly what he is talking about PERIOD

i like a mechanic who is honest and really checking over the customers vehicles.

Lots of good info for us Silverado owners , thanks ! TheReaper!

Good video. People get so polarized in their blind brand loyalty that they forget that EVERY vehicle has common problems. You could make a similar video talking about F150 Triton spark plugs, fuel pump module corrosion, 4x4 hub actuators, and a whole host of other issues they have. Same thing with Dodge, or the Tundras, or the Titans.... Doesn't matter, EVERYTHING HAS COMMON PROBLEMS!

Great job inspecting.

This guy puts out some of the best videos on care of your vehicles.

Thanks for the video. Never owned a chevy so I'm trying to learn its little idiosyncrasies. I like the way you do your vids. Gotta make sure we can see what you're actually doing. You do a really good job though. Thanks again and God bless you and yours.

This is gonna around weird but you come off as a nice guy that knows what he's doing. Your tone to your voice makes the video nice to watch. no homo

Great video, More and more :)

Good video thank you. I have a 94 K1500 and am doing most of my own work. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.

Thanks for the info my man. Thinking about buying one of these trucks and this is super helpful.

thanks for posting

6:42 "Whelp anyway that moose sandwich just tried coming back up

Great diagnosis, Doc! Thanks for the video and your assessments.

Awesome video....EXTREMELY HELPFUL!!!

Just bought a 2016 Chevy Silverado, LT-Z71 package. I have about 70 miles on it right this moment. Looking forward to many years and many miles with this vehicle.

very good video

just brought my first silverado home tonight.now i know what to look for tomorrow morning.thanks

Thank you very much for the information. Especially about bleeding off the rear calipers when replacing rear pads which I plan to do in the weeks ahead..

Good info.

Hi there, I would like to share my "service 4wd" experience with you so that you may share it on your channel (I don't make videos). I started my car two days ago to find the "service 4wd" message in the dash of my 03 silverado LS(5.3L Z71). I looked at the transfer case switch to find no indicator lights were on, however the backlighting to display 2HI , 4Auto... were coming on at night. So i looked on youtube and found a video on how to check your swtich (). I check the resistance across each button as you showed and got the same numbers described in the video. Once I ruled out the switch I directed my attention to the Transfer Case Control Module. I was able to use a scanner (OBD Scanner that was not cheap was $1000 and still considered low end), that would read TCCM codes, however I got the msg "no communication". This worried me as I know on alldatadyi they suggest this means the TCCM must be defective and to replace. Remembering my OBD port fuse (cig lighter fuse) blowing and seeing the same msg (no communication) I tried replacing the 4wd fuse at the side of the dash, but again no luck. Finally I saw on many forms that a bad ground could also be the cause. This made sense as not having a good ground is the same as blowing a fuse (no power = no communication). So I went under my truck to the body mount under the A-pillar on the drivers side, to find it was caked in grease from under coating, I took it off, cleaned the bolt and scraped the contact area clean, removed any paint, and it worked! Problem solved, all indicator lights come on when I first turn on and only the 2HI stays on as that was my last selected mode. (tested all other modes and to make sure they work fine) So in conclusion: Problem: "service 4wd" msg on dash. Symptoms: no indicator lights on(little yellow lights beside 4Auto 2H...), no communication with TCCM when hooked up to "expensive" scanner (not crapy tire). Solution: cleaned ground wire and contact area on body mount under driver's side A-pillar. Lesson learned: start with KISS (keep it simple stupid) method always, save a lot of money potentially. Thanks for posting your video. Hope my post helps others who have my issue. If you can't get your hand on a scanner that can read TCCM code, its worth the money to go to your mechanic or last resort dealer to see what codes they get, from that point everything seems pretty easy to do yourself, other than replacing transfer case. FYI: TCCM is under the dash right behind the OBD port for my 03 silverado. Just so people with this year aren't looking to take apart the whole dash if they have this model year. You can easily access it without taking the dash apart. might have to remove the parking brake "release" lever from the under side of the dash as the cable goes foward and runs across the TCCM, making it harder to remove the TCCM. Always good to check for rust/corrosion on the connectors to the TCCM before deciding the TCCM is defective; and the ground cable as I said above. Video on how to check Transfer case switch is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JNWxhIWs8Uk.html very easy and could save you from replacing unnecessarily (yes the numbers for the spec resistances are accurate)

Good Info. Well done video thanx for your time to help us.........

Very cool video. I learned a lot.

I lost like 50 staring contests with this guy during the entire video

You look like that guy from Pawn Stars , except educated.

Very helpful! Thanks from Minnesota!

Good walk around on that truck. Thanks!! I have an '09 Suburban with 105K miles. I'm thankful I can (and will) work on The Beast myself and keep it in good shape. Thanks for the video!!

Great video. I noticed you didn't have enough time to go into what parts you'd suggest on for the front end. I'd highly suggest Moog, they are built to last a long time. Another common problem with these trucks is the upper intermediate shaft bearing located in the lower steering column where the upper intermediate shaft bolts to the lower steering column. These bearings go bad and produce a clunking noise when turning. Most dealerships want to charge you for a complete steering shaft. Don't let them get away with charging you more money: 9 times out of 10, it's the $20.00 plastic bearing. The other thing to watch out for in the 4x4 models is the grounding strap located under the driver seat on the frame rail. This is where your 4x4 computer grounds to and if this starts to corrode, you wont' have communication between the 4x4 computer and related parts like the encoder and front actuators. The 4L60 E is weak and so is the gov loc (G80) locker. Don't hammer on them too hard, especially on the pavement. Also if you start getting a weird rattling noise coming from under the vehicle and think it's the transfer case, check the driveline and U-joints FIRST. Your transfer case is pretty strong, however, if you have the Autotrak, it's going to need an updated bearing kit and BRNY wear plate so you don't get pump rub, which eats a hole in your transfer case. These are great trucks, you just have to properly maintain them and even upgrade them from the factory specs at times. Great video though man, keep up the good work!!!

my 04 silverado with 5.3 vortec we had to replace the heads at 120k miles,Gm had a bad casting run and it cracked right around the headstud causing coolant and oil to mix thankfully it was only 1,000$ and not worse and that was with us doing the work

Thanks so much, great info. My 2000 Silverado 2500 seeing a lot of these problems now.

I'm at 300,000 miles with my Silverado had to replace both bearings in the front a arms and just had to replace fuel pump just starting to have a few issues but got to love this truck probably 1000 dollars in repairs in 19 years and vert easy to work on thanks gmc

I drive a 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 and I love my truck to death thanks for this video now I can be aware of issues for my fav truck

Please,..blink your eyes once in a while.

Hi Nice video , liked it.... good job man.

I like these videos - subbed.

Reading all the comments below makes me wonder if I will ever buy another truck in my life! (LOL) My 1946 GMC is probably the best truck I ever owned, easy to work on and maintain, might have to go back to it for my daily driver. As I wrote below my 05 chevy has some rust issues but I'm lucky that when I ordered the truck I wanted a 5 speed manual(GM hasn't made a good auto since the TH-400). Of course GM wouldn't let you get the 5.3 with a manual tranny so I settled for the 4.8. Thank God that happened as I don"t have any issues with the manual tranny and the 4.8 has been trouble free. My 4x4 was ordered without the electric push button bullshit actuator. I figured for 800 bucks I could reach down with my right hand and pull a lever about 6 inches. Again thank God I'm a tight ass so I don't have all the electrical horror stories with the transfer case. It seems like that is a lot of the problems with GM trucks from 88 on, all sorts of switches and actuators go to shit and then it's chasing down shorts and all sorts of Gremlins. Also no electric windows, locks, seats, but warmers, etc. etc... Get in any truck that has been used for farm/construction work that has all the BS bells and whistles and you find half the switches don't work anymore and wiring harnesses are hanging all over the place. Also the cheap ass plastic GM/Ford/Dodge/Toyota/etc. interiors crack and break. Lots of comments about the 5.3 engine too. I never owned one but know lots of people that want to shove them up GM's ass. Good friend of mine has a 2012(I think) with the 8-6-4 or whatever the cylinder cut out is called and at 25,000 miles he basically had to threaten to sue GM to get a new motor. He keeps his vehicles in immaculate condition and treats them with kid gloves, I kid you not the truck looked like it came off the lot when it had 30k on it and the motor was still a POS. I guess it's only getting worse as the Govt. is requiring more electronic bullshit on new cars. I'll keep my old stuff and run them in the ground.

This is so freaking accurate. Replaced my front diff., front Hubs, u joint and just did my water pump yesterday on a 2004 Z71 with 140k

Thanks Doctor I appreciate any help on my Silverado.

Excellent, i know what to look for on my pop's truck, it feels a little "loose" in the front end now. He just hit 100k miles. Thanks for the info!

Merry Christmas to you if your customer says fix it....

I guess I'm lucky..I have a 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 with 335,000 miles on it..Since I've had it I replaced the fuel pump twice,alternater twice other than that the normal maintenance oil changes,spark plugs,air filter but the truck still runs like a champ!

Absolutely the best instructional video I've ever seen. Articulate, clean and good cadence for and old certified NASE, Ha 1979-1981, mechanic dealing with late models. No quaudrobogs trying to talk to computers. What I would have done in College to have them talking to fuel injection. Many Thanks and come to 50 acres on the lake 20 miles east of Gainesville Florida anytime. Felt like I had known you, a man of character all my life. A true rarity these days! All my Best, Lee

If it's true that you're not doing videos any longer that's a shame as I am here in 2020 watching bc I'm looking into buying a pickup and your videos are honest and helpful for finding out what to look for in models that one may not know much about. Honest mechanics are hard to come by so I wish you the best in whatever endeavors you find yourself in these days!

this is just common on chevy trucks. its just regular maintence on all trucks. biggest common problem on GMC trucks alone is transfer case pump rub.

Did anyone see him blink ? Great video thanks.

Very nice tips here. Thanks for posting it.

Thank you for taking time to share your knowledge with us. I love my 2001 Z71 despite having to replace parts of the vehicle (RF wheel hub) that I feel can be expected considering that I drive this truck like a teenager or better said, the 17 year inside me that just won't give up. My Z has 240,000 miles on it and if I can just manage to get through my most recent bout of "New truck fever", I hope to put many more on it. Again sir, thanks for the education.

front wheel bearings, stuck temperature control on the dual zone heater control to hot setting, starter, catalytic converters. full brake job all around, which i see as normal wear and tear. these all needed to be replaced on my 04 Silverado with less than 75000 miles. sold it when it needed a inner tie rod, because the water pump was probably going to go soon too. no more silverados for me.

Burrrrrp :) great vid. Bro

Ayyye. Greetings from the kenai peninsula! Nice to see my fellow Alaska brothers making videos.

great video! Liked his presentation and actually showing the bad front end parts.

Next time you're driving down the highway, notice how many GM's have blown out courtesy lamps,... usually on the passenger side but not always. It's a General Mistake.

Brother you must have T-Rex arms because damn is that camera close to your face!

This was helpful for me. Thanks!

Thanks for the video. Excellent information. Just say'n ... we don't need to see your lovely mug as much as you think. The camera mic typically works fine from behind ... too! Keep the videos coming. Thanks again.

Good video, but that camera is too damn close! 😂😂

Intake gaskets leak coolant also. Harmonic balancer comes apart, oil pump o-ring flattens out causing low oil pressure...

very good and informative video, thank you man

Thanks for the great videos.

I have a silverado 1500 black 1999 truck and its still good and we are in 2016 so chevy is not bad

How the jello are you keeping your eyes opened for so damn long without blinking?

Right on the money Doc. I've had all those problems, except the water pump leak. Thanks for the vid

very informative information Doc..Appreciate it...

Im not sure if I would call these common issues I have 221,000 on my Silverado and live on a dirt road with not one of these issues. all I have had to replace are my lower ball joints...

The owner is going to lose his mind when he gets the estimate

Thank You very much for the info. I see a lot of these vehicles at my shop.

Spot on with the water pump... Couldnt find the leak.. But you mentioned dropping off the that harness. And bingo.. Bad pump. Thank you.

I sold my Tacoma and bought a chevy it was like having a gold watch and selling it for razor blade!!!!!!! 😂

my dads 00 z71 just hit 400k with only 2 new parts a radiator and an alternator everything else is bone stock

Thank you, that was a very good informative video.

thanks for the helpful video, very much help. keep it up thank you!

Good video.Figure spending some money to freshen up a used truck versus the insane price of new vehicles.

The light is actually too much. It just washes everything out. We could see a lot better without the extra light.

just bought One today, Thanks Brother 👍👍

Good video. I have an 01 Silverado 5.3, , 2 wheel drive with 121,000 that I plan on keeping for a few more years. It's been the best vehicle I have ever owned.

1999 to 2006 full size Chevy and GMC trucks,rocker panels,the box sides and fenders are prone to rusting out.Brake lines,you don't replace one brake line.Touch one brake line,the next one will break replacing all 5 brake lines.Fuel pumps and don't ever buy the aftermarket fuel pumps,Delphi or AC Delco only.Airtex has a huge failure rate.

Own a 99 GMC 1500 Sierra with 230K.. it's in a lot better shape than this wreck!

Great overall information.

Thanks for the thorough explanation brother.. 👊🏾👊🏾

LOL... Sounds like it about time to get a new truck...

The vehicle isn't the issue, the owner is clueless. Most of this is lack of maintenance.

very insightful video.

awesome tips on things to watch out for thank you!