Sights on 99 Burb 2500

[Aquila99Burb]

Hi Folks -

I am about to join your community of Suburban owners. I have my sights on a 1999 2500 Black on Black beauty which I am hoping to acquire shortly.

I have been in talks with the seller and we seem to have reached an agreement on price and terms. I am a bona fide car guy and I often have to tow cars home - much to my girl's dismay at times ha! Anyway, I figured a nice way to combine my love of cars, the need to two and camping and stuff would be to get a nice Suburban. It won't really be a daily driver, but it will get it's use.

The one in question has 197K miles on it. It has been sitting for about a year in a non-op status because the owner has 3 of them and this one just doesn't get used - part of why it's for sale. The family are the 2nd owners of the truck.

The car does have some issues which I hope to learn to fix from the knowledge base on this forum. Here are the issues:

Wipers - They just work on crazy fast speed. Seller says it's a bad module and has disconnected it.

Reverse - The truck clunks hard into reverse and then does a slight shudder as it starts to back up. My buddy said it might be a transmission on the way out or a bad rear differential.

Suspension - The truck is raised a bit. The bushings on the front control arms seems worn and pretty brittle. I was able to remove rubber from the bushings with my bare hand.

Seats - This is something that seems common, I could not find a truck with good front seats to save my life. They all seem to wear pretty quickly. Is that a Chevy thing?

Paint - Another common thing I noticed. The paint was fading bad. Might just be the clearcoat though, I will look into that down the line.

Brakes - They don't seem to be in best condition at the moment, but I am attributing that to the time the truck spent parked and probably need bleeding or plain replacing.

Oil - There was some fresh spilt or leaking oil on the engine when I checked it out. The Seller's wife says she spilled it while topping off the oil. My concern is that it might be too full - I'll have to check that before driving it home.

Tires - Truck will need new tires, particularly in the back.

Other than that, the truck passed the SMOG check, it runs and drives and has a nice list of modifications to it that I like. It has the 454 big block with a Hypertech power chip set up. It has air ride airbags in rear, electric trailer brakes. The air bags can be adjusted with two nozzle and valve stems in the rear bumper. I like that for load leveling.

Are there any concerns I should be aware of for this model? I have heard they are pretty durable, but I also believe I am nearing the plateau of it 's serviceable life?


Any insights, thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome.

Cheers!

 

[zora]

I'd be concerned if you are leaving yourself enough wiggle room for all the problems you have listed and the mileage factor. Have you gone to any site like www.edmunds.com and checked whether you are paying the correct price for a vehicle with that mileage and condition?

 

[VanGo]

Yeah, I hope the price is low enough to offset the condition. My '93 sounds like it's in better shape. My guess is there are other reasons why this one sat while the others didn't. good Luck!

 

[Aquila99Burb]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am getting it for $1200. Should I walk away from it? Edmunds list such a car for $1870.

 

[VanGo]

How bad do you want it? You have at least that much more to spend to get it in decent condition. Tires are what $800-$900? A rebuilt trans might cost you $2K if you need one. Suspension, brakes, who knows. Then there's the cosmetic stuff if you must. My guess is you could spend a little more for a lot more 'burb. That's just my $0.02

 

[Aquila99Burb]

How bad do you want it? You have at least that much more to spend to get it in decent condition. Tires are what $800-$900? A rebuilt trans might cost you $2K if you need one. Suspension, brakes, who knows. Then there's the cosmetic stuff if you must. My guess is you could spend a little more for a lot more 'burb. That's just my $0.02

Well, I never want / need anything that bad - learned that lesson already. I planned on doing all the work myself. I wrench on cars - doing restorations here and there, so this would be a way to learn about the Burb while wrenching on it.

I also figured it's worth it's price in parts if all else fails. I'll be taking a look at the SMOG numbers which should give me some indication of how well the engine runs.

I am glad I joined here - this is the kind if information that helps a lot. If the truck is too much of a dog, then I'll walk away from it.

I am not too worried about cosmetic stuff. All the Suburbans I have checked out in that era seem to suffer from similar issues.

 

[Aquila99Burb]

So.... I brought home my very first Suburban, I bought this truck. Onf the things that sway me when buying as Seller honesty / openness.

When I got to the seller, the truck was not with him. It was actually at a shop getting some work done. Apparently, the oil seep I had observed was a bad Power Steering line, he had it replaced at his own cost of about $300 as he was concerned about safety.

We went to pick up the truck together and I saw the receipt and parts to confirm this to be true. He did not ask for more money for the truck. Also, while I was at his shop - I happened to over hear some people talking about his work and how he is a great guy in the community. Maybe it was very well planned for my ears - either way, I got a great vibe from the guy.

I ended up paying right around $1000 for the car. I went over the issues again, and my updated observations are in bold italic below.

Wipers - They just work on crazy fast speed. Seller says it's a bad module and has disconnected it.

This was what I was told when I initially saw the car. When I picked it up, the wipers and every were working fine. Seller told me to just keep my eye on it.


Reverse - The truck clunks hard into reverse and then does a slight shudder as it starts to back up. My buddy said it might be a transmission on the way out or a bad rear differential.

Yesterday when I drove it home, I only had the shuddering once during out of the few times I had to use reverse. I am wondering if a transmission service might help or even just topping up the oil.


Suspension - The truck is raised a bit. The bushings on the front control arms seems worn and pretty brittle. I was able to remove rubber from the bushings with my bare hand.

I still observed a fair amount of vibration. It was smoother on the freeways at speeds of up to 80 MPH. It does bounce a bit compared to other autos I have driven, maybe it just the way this one drives. The shocks are actually not worn as it does not oscillate continuously over bumps. However, I have SO MUCH play in the steering !

Seats - This is something that seems common, I could not find a truck with good front seats to save my life. They all seem to wear pretty quickly. Is that a Chevy thing?

Meh! Not much can be done about the seats. They are not the worst I have seen. Of course, the heating doesn't work and I am starting to read up on this. Car was cleaned and the carpet is VERY clean, and I got two sets of mats - rubber and regular mats. Interior is in decent shape too.

Paint - Another common thing I noticed. The paint was fading bad. Might just be the clearcoat though, I will look into that down the line.

Most of the body without the fading clearcoat will actually buff up nicely with a nice polish. I'll worry about the body later, it's fine for now.

Brakes - They don't seem to be in best condition at the moment, but I am attributing that to the time the truck spent parked and probably need bleeding or plain replacing.

Still a lil worried about these. They work, but without what I would consider adequate bite. Could just be worn, old brakes. I can hear some brake noise so I'll be checking this out to see if I have worn rotors. I was prepared for this as part of this purchase though - hopefully it is not bank breaking!

Oil - There was some fresh spilt or leaking oil on the engine when I checked it out. The Seller's wife says she spilled it while topping off the oil. My concern is that it might be too full - I'll have to check that before driving it home.

As it turns out, it was the power steering lines which the seller had replaced by the time I got there.

Tires - Truck will need new tires, particularly in the back.

Tires aren't that bad to where they need to be replaced immediately.


Other than that, I believe the A/C doesn't work, or I don't know how to operate it yet. Also, I could not get the cruise control to work, I might just replace that switch / stalk assembly at some point.

The truck has a hard time starting sometimes. I will be giving it a full service - plugs, air filter, oil, fuel filter, coil wires, etc. Hopefully, that will improve things. It drove fine otherwise.

I also get the Hypertech Power module - apparently, you plug it into the OBD port and you can dial in different tunes to suit your needs. I also got a K&N Filter set up for the car which I might just install. Maybe it'll breath in air better.