A personal update on the SS

[SilverEcstasy]

Wish I had pictures to accompany the update, but unfortunately I've lost my Photoshop software and 8mp pictures arn't exactly easy to upload and post.

I've had the SS since January now, 3300 miles on the dial. A few minor issues (it's to be expected, especially with me):

-Erratic brake pressure (noted at dealer, sometimes stiff, sometimes soft - assuming lines need to be bled eventually)

-Rear end whine (considering my GTO did this with 3 rear end swaps, i'm not worried until it actually becomes an actual mechanical problem)

-RF Bose speaker blew (within the first day owning the car. It was losing frequency and when it did get it, it'd rattle like crazy. Tech tried saying it was normal but I insisted it wasn't correct, and they swapped out the speaker. Been perfect ever since)

-Both fog lights dead (just happened tonight, not sure if the fuse is blown or both lights are burnt out - will find out tomorrow)

-Trans slippage (deemed normal so far because it literally has happened to every single SS owner - until I actually lose a gear or two, that's when I'll be concerned obviously)

-Passenger side of truck lower than right (infamous on SS, rear air suspension sensors recalibrated)

The attitude i'm taking with this vehicle is very laid back and comfortable. Could be the fact that i'm enjoying the truck very much so! It gets me to and from work in comfort and style, and I actually have MORE fun when the weather turns for the worst. Winter was a breeze (even with it being just a 2WD). I feel 10x safer and more comfortable in the bad weather but I don't let it get me over-confident. The truck required a LOT of patience and restraint. But it wasn't anything I wasn't already used to having. The GTO with summer tires was a disaster in the winter, but that was to be expected. This was great.

To date, I have not done a single performance mod because gas is already getting tough as it is. I pay about $70 per tank at premium gas prices. That was to be expected and I accepted that, but it's also not worth hauling ass like an idiot all over the place - especially with how congested MI is getting, you can't go anywhere without it taking WAY longer than necessary. It's not like I even got a chance to drive the GTO fast all the time either, so the SS is the same. If I can drive decent and save a buck or two in gas, why not? Otherwise I lay it down when needed. Which reminds me, I haven't gotten challenged or raced with ONCE. Not many suspect the SS I guess. Also, highway cruising isn't exactly the same fun as it is in a car. With 4.10 gears, i'm cruising 80 mph at 2600 rpms. That's higher than i'm used to (with the GTO, I was at 2100 rpms in 6th). 90 mph and i'm hauling ass at a consistent 3000 rpms (Gas Tank: E...). I'm really considering a CAI, tune and exhaust eventually. I'd also like to lower the truck an inch or two to try and get the center of gravity more towards a handling aspect as opposed to super-wheel gap style.

Mods to date are: Clifford 50.5x remote start/paging alarm, hardwired Passport 8500, re-installed my grand am's sub setup of Alpine 600watt mono amp, Rockford Fosgate Cap and 2 10" Type E Alpine subs. I'm also re-installing my Pioneer DEH 7600MP headunit until I can gather the dough for my Pioneer AVIC D3. In the mean time, stay tuned because I will have some new pictures up in this thread, especially a photoshoot I just did with my buddy and mine's SS's before he moved to Dallas.

[GregFarz78]

Trans slippage is normal :confused:

...waiting for Bob to chime in

[5-lO]

Your angry about 2,600 rpm at 60mph? Deem yourself lucky...

tC is 3k at 60, as was the Miata. With the exhaust system, it gets old fast.

Great ride for sure though man, regardless of gas prices, it is a toy, and I think you need some MAD MODZ yo!

[caraudiodave]

hey ill trade you my 2.73 gears for the 4.10s. youll be cruising at 60 mph at about 1800 rpm. lol

maybe your truck came with a high factory stall converter or something. its weird to have 4.10s stock, so who knows.

if i saw you on the road id race you. that would be fun. sorry to hear about all the issues tho

[SilverEcstasy]

Trans slippage is normal :confused:

...waiting for Bob to chime in

Yep. SS's have the notorious 1-2 Bang Shift upon cold starts. It's a delayed slip into 2nd gear. I've developed a slip shift into 3rd as well. Highway is even worse when you floor it, it drops down hard core and almost nearly touches the rev limiter or it just slams into gear hard as hell.

It's been heavly documented that the AWD (and 2WD- but mostly AWD) SS's have some pretty horrendous tranny issues. Guy had his blow up at 3k, another at 18k, it's really whenever the truck decides. This one will blow your mind:

http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=22724 Check out first page, guy was bone stock SS. This is a VERY rare occasion in fact the first time i've seen it happen, otherwise people just lose gears.

Yeah, 4.10 gears come stock. The truck hauls ass stop light to stop light i'll tell ya that.

I FINALLY got my first race today! Only raced about 400ft with a corvette. Spun pretty heavily off the line (it was also on an incline) and he was ahead but half a car length, it would have been interesting had I kept going but I had to turn into work.

Also, no problem on the issues guys, i'm not even sweating it. I'm tellin ya, sometimes it's my luck, but i'm not even worried, i'm very happy with the truck. The issues I've had are MINOR compared to the Goat. No worries.

[Grreen99GT]

Wish I had pictures to accompany the update, but unfortunately I've lost my Photoshop software and 8mp pictures arn't exactly easy to upload and post.

you can resize the pictures using ms paint. all you have to do is go into paint and click on image under the tool bar and then stretch/skew and reduce it to about 20%-30% of its original size and bam! you have pics that can be uploaded easily.

[Bryan]

Wow @ the picture of the tranny in the thread you linked from the TB forum.

[SilverEcstasy]

you can resize the pictures using ms paint. all you have to do is go into paint and click on image under the tool bar and then stretch/skew and reduce it to about 20%-30% of its original size and bam! you have pics that can be uploaded easily.
Oh..hmm that's weird. Alright i'll just do that then. I was going to use Windows Image Resizer but that ruins the quality of the picture big time.

Wow @ the picture of the tranny in the thread you linked from the TB forum.
Exactly. Again, that's only one instance. But it's typical people have tranny issues, especially the modded guys. It's unfortunate, and I think that's part of the reason why the SS won't be made next year (unless they change their mind), not to mention gas prices arn't helping either.

I checked out the fog light fuse, sure enough it's fine. I'm going to visit the dealer tomorrow and ask them to swap out both bulbs. Really surprised that they both blew like that. Make's me wonder why all of a sudden both go bad.

[notsoaveragej0e]

I can't even imagine what kind of noise a transmission makes when it blows through 3/4inches of steel ;crap

[SilverEcstasy]

Probably sounds like a god damn shot gun..

I can't imagine what i'd be thinking. That story is pretty humorous though. Plus he's bone stock. Rough!

[SilverEcstasy]

Another funny story that happened recently. I wish I had my camera to back the story up.

Last week, both my fog lights burned out. Now I know my buddy's SS had one go out on him, but not both at the same time. I checked the fuse and it was blown. So I take the truck in to the dealer on Friday, thinking it would be a simple bulb and fuse replacement fix. They kept replacing the fuse and the minute they would, the fuse would fry. So the tech thinks, "Maybe the fuse box bolts are loose?" because one of the times, the fuse lasted until he shut the hood.

So he tightens all 4 fuse box screws down and off I go for the weekend. Sunday night, both bulbs are out again. So I take it into the dealer yesturday and they were jam-packed so my service write up guy asks me to come back tuesday (today). I said sure, and while I was around the block from my dad's shop, I figured i'd say hi to him.

I ask him to see if he can figure out what's wrong with my fog lights. He looks under the bumper and goes "Those dumb sons of bitches..." and starts laughing his ass off. Part of me is relieved and part of me is seriously wondering WTF? He figured it out in two seconds flat.

On the 2006 Trailblazer SS's, there was a TSB regarding "Fog Lights Shaking Heavily". The bumper was not very supported and thus the fog lights would shake because of it. So GM designed some bumper brackets and they were added as a standard part in the 2007 SS line up. When they installed my bumper brackets on the assembly line, some dumb ass drove the bolt straight ontop of the wireloom containing the wiring for the fog lights. Over time, the loom had wore thin and had exposed a single copper wire that was shorting out against the bolt.

SO we undid the bolt, cleaned up the wire, taped it up, re-installed a new fuse and i'm set. I made sure to call the dealer, and I even told my salesperson the story just for fun and he said "Wow...and our 'professionals' couldn't figure that out". It was a good laugh, but thankfully I didn't have to leave my car for a couple of days just for them to figure out whadafxup with my fog lights.

[Graxall]

:applause:
round of applause to gm

[SilverEcstasy]

lol you know it!! My dad's my hero hehe. 25+ years, he pretty much knows how to fix or figure anything out on cars (mostly in plastics/auto body, minor mechanical and electrical "expertise" but he knows his way around it).

He helped me tear down my rear trunk assembly, custom make a wooden plate to mount my amp and capacitor on, and re-install the trunk plastics and carpeting in like 2 hours flat lol.

Here's my before picture of my audio setup:

http://members.aol.com/mikent256/TBSS/subinstall2.jpg

http://members.aol.com/mikent256/TBSS/subinstall3.jpg

New and improved look:

http://members.aol.com/mikent256/TBSS/relocate1.jpg

http://members.aol.com/mikent256/TBSS/relocate2.jpg

http://members.aol.com/mikent256/TBSS/relocate3.jpg

Very stealthy! I'm not worried about ventilation either because I don't push the amp that hard at all. RCA's are unplugged because I ran the wire but it's not hooked up to the radio yet - i'm waiting on my purchase for my new radio very soon.

[AMRAAM4]

Trans slippage is normal :confused:

...waiting for Bob to chime in
not a focking chance in hell it's normal. I, nor fishhunter911 (old school member here who got a TBSS and led me to mine) have had this and we are modded.

Get the Vector Tune and see how hard your shifts are!! The rear end whine is common and is a simple TSB. The rear diff fluid is not the correct viscosity from the factory.

Trailvoy is a nice site, but I don't believe half the BS posted on there, thus why I don't go there much. fishhunter911 is a Super Mod, and we personally know Tommy the sites owner ;)

[Molson]

MIke, you're turning into GTLUVA, going to the dealer to change a fuse. :P

[AMRAAM4]

^ lol

[SilverEcstasy]

Did you even read my post Jim?

I flat out said, typically things like this can happen with one or two bulbs going out over time, but not both at the same time. When I checked, the fuse wasn't out. When I had them check it out, the fuse was blown and it kept exploding as soon as they put a new fuse in. So wtf? How is that me being stupid and going to a dealer when there's an electrical short in my wiring?

And Bob, that's the general consensus i've gathered from the guys on the SS forums. Did your shifts get harder with the tune? Is it a harsh way?

[GrandAmGT1996]

Did you even read my post Jim?

I flat out said, typically things like this can happen with one or two bulbs going out over time, but not both at the same time. When I checked, the fuse wasn't out. When I had them check it out, the fuse was blown and it kept exploding as soon as they put a new fuse in. So wtf? How is that me being stupid and going to a dealer when there's an electrical short in my wiring?

Easyyy, I'm pretty sure he was just giving you a hard time...not being an ass.

PS- I like the amp location

[SilverEcstasy]

Easyyy, I'm pretty sure he was just giving you a hard time...not being an ass.

PS- I like the amp location

I'm sure it is, just makes me wonder why i'm always the target of this when there wasn't anything stupid even said.

Thanks btw.

[Molson]

Did you even read my post Jim?

I flat out said, typically things like this can happen with one or two bulbs going out over time, but not both at the same time. When I checked, the fuse wasn't out. When I had them check it out, the fuse was blown and it kept exploding as soon as they put a new fuse in. So wtf? How is that me being stupid and going to a dealer when there's an electrical short in my wiring?




lol

Yes I read it, and still chose to post that. Down boy, I was only kidding around. :D

It just sounded funny and GTLUVAish. :)

[SilverEcstasy]

lol

Yes I read it, and still chose to post that. Down boy, I was only kidding around. :D

It just sounded funny and GTLUVAish. :)


Well you and I both know that's the lowest form of flattery whatsoever lol

[AMRAAM4]

Did you even read my post Jim?

I flat out said, typically things like this can happen with one or two bulbs going out over time, but not both at the same time. When I checked, the fuse wasn't out. When I had them check it out, the fuse was blown and it kept exploding as soon as they put a new fuse in. So wtf? How is that me being stupid and going to a dealer when there's an electrical short in my wiring?

And Bob, that's the general consensus i've gathered from the guys on the SS forums. Did your shifts get harder with the tune? Is it a harsh way?
The tune changes the shift points and makes them very firm, but it takes away the stock 1-2 axle snapping shift.

You should be getting this ASAP, it makes the truck a lot more fun.

[SilverEcstasy]

The tune changes the shift points and makes them very firm, but it takes away the stock 1-2 axle snapping shift.

You should be getting this ASAP, it makes the truck a lot more fun.

Yeah i'm going to be heading down there to get the dyno-based Vector tune and CAI. My dad's interested in getting a Vector tune done on his 5.3L V8 02 Suburban. I'm seriously taking video tape when it goes on the dyno LOL

Someone told me that with the Vector, it shifts harder on more acceleration but goes to normal comfortable shift during laxed driving. Is this true?

[SilverEcstasy]

Wow, I just thought i'd add this to my thread guys -

We went to my purchasing dealer today, to look at cars for my gf.

I asked about my 05 GTO and if they still had it for sale. They said someone bought it in February, an Army reserve gentleman that LOVED the car. He bought it and picked it up on a Friday, drove it out to Kalamazoo, MI over the weekend and put it into a ditch! Luckily, he's okay but I haven't heard what happened to the car! Talk about some crazy stuff!

[notsoaveragej0e]

heh, maybe the plagued Goat can finally RIP.

[SilverEcstasy]

No joke right?? Kinda ironic.