I've experienced problems with my rear differential in my 03 Avalanche. At approx. 80k miles I started hearing this grinding noise. I took it into my local dealer that I trust dearly. They diagnosed it as the rear differential is bad and needed to be rebuilt. I had this done and it was covered by warranty. No my problem is that 18 months and 30k miles later I hear this noise again but this time there is a leak in the differential. I took it into the sTame trusted dealer and again diagnosed with the same exact problem. The cost to fix is approx. $2100. I talked with my service adviser and asked why would this happen again just 18 months later. He did not have an answer. He said that he would talk to his service manager about the issue and get back with me. The adviser called me later and told me that his manager talked to the district service manager and was told by him that it is not under warranty since they have only one year on the service. I tried to get GM to at least meet me halfway on the cost but they said no. Nobody can explain why the differential went bad again but I feel that a part was defective. Now what do I do? The service manager won't call me back but had the service adviser call me to tell me to call GM's complaint line. Am I wasting my time doing this? I feel that GM could help out on this. What avenue should I use to complain? I feel that calling the complaint line might be a dead end and that nobody will listen. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
2003 Chevrolet Avalanche Z66 Differential Problems
jlbnab
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I have a 2003 1500 4WD Avalanche. I baby this thing. It still looks brand new. I've never towed anything nor hauled anything heavy. I took it in because the 4WD was acting up. I rarely use 4WD (only when I go skiing and it's snowing), but occasionaly the 4WD status would be on Auto, 4WD Hi or N when I would start it. However, it would be in 2WD. Anyway, I took the AV in for the problem and they said the encoder motor needed to be replaced ($800). They also said the rear differential gears needed to be replaced ($2,200). It only has 33k miles on it! I'm scared now that this maybe an ongoing issue. I don't want to get rid of it, but maybe I should.
This is a very common issue with the 8.6 locking differential, we have rebuilt hundreds in my shop and I never put the junk that GM used from the factory. If you are going to rebuild this unit go with an after market carrier, it will save you money and you will never need to open the cover again for a rebuild just do regular oil changes. Auburn lockers are what we install and in 15 years of using there products we never had a problem.
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