1996 Yukon HELP before I burn it~!

[tracey-canada]

Hi,
boy oh boy am I glad I found this forum before I light a match and throw it at my truck.

First off - new user, 1st post, be kind please.


I have a 1996 GMC Yukon with 196,000KMS. I've had it for just over a year, bought it with 140K on it. Have had no problems ~except the past 2 months have been a total nightmare!

I had a vibration in the front end, had it checked, was told it was nothing. Not even 2 weeks later - turns out, both my U joints were bad, and from this vibration it ended up cracking my transmission case. Or so I was told.....anyway....I just paid $2200 to get a newly rebuilt transmission installed, I picked it up on Monday (today, *sigh* is only Wednesday) --the damn thing is STILL leaking transmission fluid so I've got to now take it back to them - is there something I should say/ask other than fix the darn leak?? I am female and I swear, I believe now I'm being taken advantage of (or at least my credit card is! :crazy

In the meantime, my motor vehicle inspection ran out (Canadian eh?) - it needed a spot of welding on the frame (front passenger side by wheel well), a brake line and upper control arm bolt needed to be "replaced".

Took it to my buddy who is a lic. Today, we tightened the control arm bolt (which BTW the shop said "needed to be replaced").

We welded up the frame and when I went to start the truck up & back it out of his garage, it wouldn't go. Wouldn't start at all!

I replaced the fuel pump last january, but today it almost sounds like when i turn the ignition, i can't hear it kick on like usual - so I'm wondering if it could be this again?? I can't see me burning up 2 fuel pumps in less than 12 months?

I know Haynes has manuals ---does anyone have these for 1996 Yukon - are they any good? Should i spend the $30 for one? Any feedback on them??

Thanks!
Tracey~

 

[1999HOE]

does iot turn like it wants to or not? also could be a pressure regulator perhaps try and nab one from a junkyard truck and see ...be a pretty cheap way top find out if its the problem unless however that one is bad also lol

 

[tracey-canada]

it doesn't even crank.....we poured gas in the carb and it started up no prob & ran but once that was gone, the truck shut right off again...

 

[992door]

So it is not getting any gas? That could be the fuel pump you could I have heard that you can take a rubber mallet and go hit the gas tank and have someone try to start it and it would start working in the 2 chevrolets that I have had the fuel pump went out on both of them.

 

[tracey-canada]

no, it doesn't seem to be getting any gas.
I'm not sure about hitting my gas tank with a mallet :eek2:
but maybe I'll give it a try....at this point, it's a pretty expensive "new" transmission holder....

Any feedback on the Haynes book BTW??

 

[treepete]

welcome to the tahoeforum.

hmmm. yeah if you used a crappy fuel pump, that may be the problem..
Im no electrician, but is it possible that the welding situation frazzled the ground of the fuel pump? there's a ground wire in there, that if disconnected/damaged, might make the pump not function.
odd that the no-start happened right after the welding.

dont be upset. tranny, yeah, be upset. dont go that shop anymore.. find a private mechanic/ fellow enthusiast. these are solid trucks, you should get answers here, lots of good people and smart about thess trucks. hang in there.

 

[992door]

Could have done what I did put a new transmission in my 92 and totaled it 3 hours later

 

[treepete]

oh hell no.

 

[tracey-canada]

thanks treepete for the response - it could be that, although we were quite careful but you just never know.....i mean it literally wouldn't crank when we were all done which is quite odd.

as for the transmission, it's THE ONLY transmission shop really in our city. Even the dealers outsource their tranny work to this guy. Thankfully, i have a 20,000KM/1yr warranty so the guys got to cover it. He did tell me to watch really close for leaks for the first couple of weeks & if anything was leaking to bring it back so I'll be going back there as soon as I get the darn truck to start again.

Prior to all this happening, I've been pleased with the purchase of the Yukon. It's a pretty solid truck and I tow a bass boat with it, it tows like a dream which is what I wanted, you don't even know the boat is back there!

I've done minor things to it (fuel pump, water pump, exhaust) but other than this whole mess now, it's been pretty good other than basic maintenance so I hope to keep it a few more years.

Plus, it's funny to see the looks a little short girly (5 foot nothing) like me gets jumping in and out of it ...'specially when I'm towing my boat. I don't think I've ever seen mens heads turn so fast.

thanks again for the advice, I'll be sure to post back after I have the dealer look @ it....I've got no choice now to take it to them but, if it is the fuel pump, it's under warranty as it's less than 12 months since they put the last one in.

I just can't fathom blowing 2 pumps in 10 months!

 

[tracey-canada]

ok here is the latest.

Had my truck towed into the GM dealership this morning at 9:30am.
At 3pm, they still had no update & the guy had been "working on it" for over an hour.

Finally at 5:30pm he called me and said
I've taken out the spark plugs, I've checked the wiring, blah blah blah

I said:
Did you test the fuel pressure?

he said:
Yah, its only getting 14 PSI but I gotta get it going so I can figure out whats wrong with it, so I took out all the plugs, etc and I still can't get it going.


NOW - if it's only giving 14 PSI ---wouldn't you check the fuel pump?????
I thought I should be getting around 40 PSI or higher for it to be getting gas.

help!

 

[treepete]

your kidding, right.

I think its sposta be up there I thought 55-60, but 14 sounds too low.

 

[TahoeGoBoom]

yea, id bet that in the process of welding it fried the ground to the fuel pump.
sounds like the dealers kinda "slow". good luck with it.

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

you could have fried a number of things when welding on the frame. did you atleast disconnect the negative battery cable before you welded on it?

 

[95TwinTT]

you could have fried a number of things when welding on the frame. did you atleast disconnect the negative battery cable before you welded on it?

I second that notion. With the fuel pressure down, I would investigate the circuits involved with the fuel pump. It looks like there a priming mode for starting and then the fuel pump will run if it has oil pressure and maybe it looks for rpm's from the crank sensor too. The ECM is involved, so there are many low voltage circuits that could have taken a hit. It does not take much to damage a 5 volt circuit.

The dealer should have been all over this if the fuel pressure was down. Seems like they have their heads in their duffle bags, if they are looking at spark plugs while ignoring the fuel pressure issue.

This should be OBD 2 so it must be throwing a code of some kind. You might want to talk to the service manager and let him know a welder has been used on the car recently, just so they get on the same page.

Oh, and welcome to the Forum. And good luck.

 

[tracey-canada]

latest update....
dealer called this morning 10am said they were STILL trying to figure it out.
I talked to service manager, told him to again check fuel pressure.
1/2 hr later called me back said "yah, it's your fuel pump" well DUH....
And the ground wire was frazzled....

We had disconnected the neg battery prior to welding but we must've fried the wire somehow.

anyway, getting new fuel pump (which thankfully is under warranty from last January)...and replacing the ground wire.

Hoping to get my truck back Tuesday so I can then drop to tranny shop AGAIN to have it checked.

$3000 later, still no truck

 

[tracey-canada]

Latest update....

Dealership called today, they STILL don't have my truck going. They thought the module they put in was defective so, instead of replacing it AGAIN they decided to change the fuel lines, change the fuel filter...and *wow* it still wouldn't go.
I said If you thought the fuel pump you just put in was defective, and you fixed the ground wire, why would you not put another pump in?!?

the "GM Service advisor" then said the statment that I now know why GM is on the verge of bankrupcy

Why did you bring your truck to us? If the Chev dealership put the last fuel pump in why didn't you just take it to them in the first place? Why even bother with us?

I told her, because YOU are the GM DEALERSHIP for #$@$# sake! At that point she hung up on me.

I then spent an hour google-ing every GM email address I could find. I emailed every one of them, including the CEO of GM Canada and US with my situation and asking for help. Yah, it may sound a bit crzy but at this point - i'm 7 days, no truck, up to a $1200 bill for what was SUPPOSED to be a warranty job on a part.

No response yet from GM. I happened to forward it to my Chevy dealership however and they called me within 10 minutes offering their assistance. The owner took it upon himself to call the GM dealer. He called me back (the Chevy owner) within an hour and told me that the GM Owner had no clue as to what I was going through and they'd do what they could to "make it right" and get my truck back on the road. Unbelieveable!!!

Man oh man, I am KICKING myself for taking it there!

 

[Just Kroozn]

Being a Sevice Manager for the local Chevy dealership...sound's like they are not giving the service that is expected by GM...Call 800-CHEVYUSA and rattle a few cage's they can even confrence call with the service manager on the line with you,that way no translation problems...If that doesn"t help get in touch with the Distict Svc. Manger...He will address the problem...good luck and I hope you dont hold GM accountable for a goofy dealership...If you ever in Paris, Arkansas. look us up our service stands alone (sorry ,shameless self promotion:lol

 

[tracey-canada]

Thanks Just Kruizn, I am in Canada however and the US # will be of no help. I tried calling the Canadian GM line today, spk with a service rep who was of absolutely no help either. I'm now just going to pray someone gets back to me from my email, and that the dealer keeps is word and comes good.

 

[treepete]

man. thats the worst thing I've ever heard.

 

[tracey-canada]

OK - another update.
Yesterday at 11am I sent a SKATHING email to every gm contact I could google as I mentioned above.

today at 11am, my dealer calls left a msg as follows
Hi, It's Donna - we've put in the 2nd fuel module, as well as fixed the ground wire and your truck still won't start, we need your direction on how you'd like us to proceed.

I called back, and spoke with the Service Manager instead of Donna. He had seen my email. We agreed to chalk it up to a lack of communication between Donna and my hubby. I also authorized him to do 3 hours (on my dime now) of diagnostic hoping to the lord himself that they'll find it.

I mean, what else should they be checking?!

Fuel module- replaced 2x
fuel filter - replaced
fuel lines - replaced
ground wire - replaced

any suggestions??