1996 GMC Suburban

[GMTruckGuy74]

I found on Craigslist the following 1996 GMC Suburban SLT 4WD for sale at an attractive price ($1,195):

http://southjersey.craigslist.org/ctd/2942513897.html

I have been in contact with the dealership and verified that the price is correct and asked what they meant by needing "tlc". The price is correct and here is the reply about the TLC: "The car has 3 leaks: 1 transmission 2 Rear seal and 3 oil filter housing, The car runs good it just needs a little work."

Like my desire for a 2-door Yukon, the GMC Suburban of the same vintage is equally desired by me. This would not be a daily driver, actually I don't know what I'd really use it for other than around town errands/fire police duty, but the price seems to be too good to pass - unless someone here feels the issues (leaks) are leading to much bigger problems (I don't want to buy a money pit).

Input?

More pictures can be found here: http://www.bmwofturnersville.com/detail-1996-gmc-suburban-sl-used-8409034.html

[GMTruckGuy74]

If purchased, maybe down the road a mild lift kit would be added, along with some more aggressive tires, making this more of a toy than anything else.

Here's what I have in mind:

Edited April 18, 2012 by GMTruckGuy74

[David]

Love the color and price. CHEERS for this lovely Suburban.

GMTruckGuy74 you have a lovely one also.

Here is my baby! 1994 GMC SLT

[GMTruckGuy74]

Love the color and price. CHEERS for this lovely Suburban.

GMTruckGuy74 you have a lovely one also.

Here is my baby! 1994 GMC SLT

Well, the '96 isn't mine just yet, and the one I posted was for referencing the lift I could do with it

Yours is very nice. 1994 was an interesting year for me with Yukons, Tahoes and Suburbans (both). I spent a lot of seat time in them at car shows, I test drove a diesel gold-colored Tahoe Silverado at Reedman Auto World in Langhorne, PA (that was fun!), and day-dreamed a lot about owning a Suburban (I was 19 & in college at the time, so it was not only uneconomically feasible, but just little old me to drive such a big truck).

If the leaks mentioned above are not red flags to purchasing this Suburban by anyone here, and the rest of the truck when I see it in person Saturday is in decent condition, I just may be fulfilling a very old wish

[David]

Love the color and price. CHEERS for this lovely Suburban.

GMTruckGuy74 you have a lovely one also.

Here is my baby! 1994 GMC SLT

Well, the '96 isn't mine just yet, and the one I posted was for referencing the lift I could do with it

Yours is very nice. 1994 was an interesting year for me with Yukons, Tahoes and Suburbans (both). I spent a lot of seat time in them at car shows, I test drove a diesel gold-colored Tahoe Silverado at Reedman Auto World in Langhorne, PA (that was fun!), and day-dreamed a lot about owning a Suburban (I was 19 & in college at the time, so it was not only uneconomically feasible, but just little old me to drive such a big truck).

If the leaks mentioned above are not red flags to purchasing this Suburban by anyone here, and the rest of the truck when I see it in person Saturday is in decent condition, I just may be fulfilling a very old wish

I wish you the best, if the foundation is solid, these are beast that can last a long time. Good Luck.

FYI - You can do a 2 inch Body lift and the Duramax with Allison tranny fits perfect, just have the drive line adjusted and get the wiring harness for the engine bay. I bought a book on doing the change over and talked about it on a thread here. I still hope to do it, but have not yet.

http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramax6600.htm

http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramaxconversions.htm

Awesome vehicles, enjoy.

[wildmanjoe]

Transmission leak could mean either the input shaft, output shaft or the pan. If it's either the input shaft of output shaft you're looking at R&R time to get it replaced, which if done at the dealer, would wind up costing more than the purchase price. If it's just the pan, then you could do that in your driveway.

Rear seal could mean an axle seal or a differential cover seal. Axle seal is could potentially be done in the driveway, while the differential cover could definitely be done in your driveway.

The filter housing just needs an O-ring and a gasket. It can be done in driveway in about 15 minutes.

Find out where the transmission is leaking and where the rear axle is leaking. Then I can give you a better idea of what it will cost to fix.

[SAmadei]

Transmission leak could mean either the input shaft, output shaft or the pan. If it's either the input shaft of output shaft you're looking at R&R time to get it replaced, which if done at the dealer, would wind up costing more than the purchase price. If it's just the pan, then you could do that in your driveway.

Agreed. In my experience, its not usually the input shaft. Pan is easy... output shaft is not too bad, assuming the tranny has a removable tail section... which, IIRC, most electronically controlled modern trannies do. It also depends on where you plan to park it and how bad the leak is. If the leak is slow and you have a place to park it where a stain doesn't bother you, you can ignore fixing it somewhat.

Rear seal could mean an axle seal or a differential cover seal. Axle seal is could potentially be done in the driveway, while the differential cover could definitely be done in your driveway.

I interpreted "rear seal" to be the rear seal on the engine, not the rear end. "Rear seal" on the engine can be fixed with the engine in the vehicle, but removing the tranny is required. Its definitely an advanced repair, but can be "done in your driveway". _IF_ you removed the tranny, and a non leaky replacement could be located, you could obviously kill two birds with one stone. Tranny swap can be done solo, but I highly recommend having a helper. Rear seals can also be ignored if they are slow and you don't mind a stain... but you can always moving to a slightly thicker oil or adding a stop-leak to see if that can help tame the problem.

If they meant "rear" seal, then WMJ is pretty much spot on. However, the rear can also leak at the pinion, which is not a easy fix... to replace the pinion crush seal basically requires complete disassembly and setting up the rear from scratch. Sometimes swapping the third member is easier.

The filter housing just needs an O-ring and a gasket. It can be done in driveway in about 15 minutes.

Again, I agreed... but its also possible that somebody has munged up something badly, though very unlikely. I am surprised the dealership didn't just try to stop that leak by tightening the oil filter a 1/4 turn.

Find out where the transmission is leaking and where the rear axle is leaking. Then I can give you a better idea of what it will cost to fix.

Yeah... a bit more info. The problems aren't immediately indicators of major problems, but they sound like typical problems on a sub-$1500 vehicle that has seen deferred maintenance, as the owner planned on trading it in. If the truck is in good shape otherwise, doing these repairs yourself could reap you some profit in this brutal post-C4C used car market.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Thanks wildmanjoe and SAmadei for your input/advice. The fact that these leaks are not causing you to say run away at this time, I will investigate the truck further. I was planning to go early Saturday morning to see it for myself, but something came up delaying that until late morning or sometime in the afternoon. I will email the salesperson to see if I can get more details on the meaning of the rear seal.

As for where it will be parked, this huge thing will be parked out on the street (especially with the leaks). The '96 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham occupied the driveway briefly in '09 and leaked power steering fluid and some rust water from the battery tray - did not make the wife happy staining the driveway! I live in a townhouse community and across from my unit is open space, so I won't be disturbing anyone else by parking it there.

[David]

GMTruckGuy74, The leaks posted do not make me worry that much as I have been able to replace most of them myself when I did have to do it and the seal on the connection point of tranny to engine got fixed when I finally did replace the tranny with a rebuilt from GM. It was the cheapest way to go and since their rebuilds have a 36 month / 36,000 miles warranty, it was easy to buy and install my self. You can rent a tranny stand an do it in a day if you are focused, prep before and have everything ready the night before.

[GMTruckGuy74]

GMTruckGuy74, The leaks posted do not make me worry that much as I have been able to replace most of them myself when I did have to do it and the seal on the connection point of tranny to engine got fixed when I finally did replace the tranny with a rebuilt from GM. It was the cheapest way to go and since their rebuilds have a 36 month / 36,000 miles warranty, it was easy to buy and install my self. You can rent a tranny stand an do it in a day if you are focused, prep before and have everything ready the night before.

Thanks for the vote of confidence in this 'Burban and the information, dfelt!!

[GMTruckGuy74]

It sold Friday afternoon, salesman called to let me know.

Oh well, on to the next search...