My 2009 Tahoe started shifting badly. Then it got worse. I also noticed some drop in fuel economy. It was hard to get it above 18. In addition I was noticing a bucking feeling.
To rule out something obvious and cheap I jacked the truck up so I could roll around comfortably under it. I didn’t see anything that caught my eye except as I was marveling at what a nice beefy front sway bar I had I realized there was no end link connecting it to the suspension. Hm. I glanced over and could see the other end had a link on it. I ordered one. Then when I got back under it I realized the bottom of the other link was missing so the sway bar wasn’t attached to the suspension at either end. I ordered another.
While I was waiting for the ends I drove the truck to Knoxville again and now my shifting problems were really bad. Time to bite the bullet. I asked some fellow firefighters who I could trust my transmission to and two of the recommended the same guy. I called him and he told me to bring it right over. Shout out to Allen’s Rebuilt Transmissions in Newport, TN. He hooked up his scanner and took a drive with me in the passenger seat. His scanner showed a problem right away. He also noticed the bucking and checked and it showed a random misfire. While I sat in his waiting room he dropped the pan and called me back to see. It looked like the floor of a metal shop in there there were so many shavings. Dang.
He gave me a couple of options. I opted for just a used transmission cleaned up some as the cheapest route. I still get an 18 month unlimited mileage warranty. That took a couple of days for him to get his hands on. He got it put back together for me in only part of a day after he got the tranny. $3237.05 later my shifting was fixed.
Next up was putting on the sway bar links and changing the plugs. I went for the plugs first. Man they don’t make reaching those easy. I got it done though. Here’s what came out. They’re iridium plugs so they last a long time but these were probably in there way too long. I don’t think they’re original but the truck has 184,000 miles on it.
At the bottom is a handy cheat for handling the plugs; it’s an old spark plug boot from a wire set long ago.
The sway bar ends went quickly. Getting the top part of the broken one out was a bit of sweat and tears but nothing fancy.
I haven’t really test driven yet. That’s coming soon. Praying the misfire is gone. I like my odds. To sweeten the bet I’ll get some SeaFoam and run it through.
Tossing in some pictures from the heated/cooled seat modules to help someone.
