Top High Mileage Issues 2000-06 Chevy Tahoe SUV

Here we have a 2000 to 2006 Chevy Tahoe. And if you have one with high mileage, or you just bought it, we're going over some of the things that you should check over. Let's start with the battery, it's located right here on the driver's side. If it's over five years old, you're gonna wanna replace it. Or if you've notice excessive corrosion or the battery leaking, to replace it, you wanna take off the negative terminal first, and then the positive, you have a bar right here, take that off these two 10-millimeter sockets to get those off. And then there's a mounting bracket at the base of the battery, use a 13-millimeter socket to take that out, pull the battery out, put the new one in, should be all set.

While we're talking about electrical issues, the fuse box is located right here. And a lot of times rodents get in this fuse box and chew up a lot of the wires. So if you have a weird electrical issue, that could be the location of it. You have to take this bar out, take those bolts out, they're a 13-millimeter socket, we'll get those out. And then this cover will slide right up, you can slide the fuse box up and just double-check there. A lot of times you do see evidence of rodents up in the top just by taking this cover off and sometimes you might even smell it. So another electrical issue you can have is this ground strap. If it seems like it's badly corroded or frayed, then replace this ground strap. If you can grab it and it just appears to crumble in your hand, then it's time to go, time for a new one. This one actually doesn't look too bad.

Let's talk about fluids, washer fluid it's pretty obvious, just top it off, whatever type of washer fluid you wanna use. Brake fluid, make sure you clean off the top of the reservoir before you open this. If the fluid looks dirty, it's a good time to replace it. A lot of times they say about every two years to replace brake fluid, to do a flush. That might be a little on the expensive side. But if it looks dirty like this, it should be flushed out. Transmission fluid, if you have high mileage and it looks like the fluid is dirty, it's definitely a good idea to replace the fluid. And you can check this while the vehicle's running, there's the hash marks right there. And that hash mark is when the vehicle's in hot, so when the vehicle is warmed up, and the other hash marks or when it's in cold the vehicle hasn't really warmed up too much. It's best to warm the vehicle up to operating temperature and then check that oil dipsticks right here, you just wanna wipe it off. Make sure that vehicle is on a level surface, reinsert it, and check the level. You wanna be closer to the top of the hash marks somewhere in this area, which that looks pretty good and your oil looks pretty clean in this vehicle. You need to add oil or you're doing an oil change, this is where you're gonna add your oil and normally it says what type of oil to use on top of the oil cap. Just twist that off, take it off. The coolant reservoir is located right here, you can check the level on the side. And if you're taking the cap off, you wanna make sure the engine is cold, you don't wanna ever open this while the engine's hot if you have to adjust the level.

Check the serpentine belt, see if you see any cracking, especially on the inside of the serpentine belt where the ribs are. If you're looking and you see one crack like pretty far apart, that's not too much of a concern, you could let it go a little bit longer. But if you see multiple crackings fairly close together within an inch apart, it's time to replace it. The tensioner, a lot of times the tensioners go. So most likely if it's been a while, you wanna replace the tensioner. Same with the AC belts, there's an AC belt down here. And those tensioners become weak over time,so replace those before you don't have any AC. And the plugs and wires, they're actually really easy to get to, the plugs you're not gonna have to figure out which way to route the wires or anything. There's a coil right there then the wire and then the plug, nice and easy.

Before we check underneath the vehicle, the last thing up top is the wiper blades, just double-check, make sure they're not fraying. Make sure they're not streaking excessively. If they need to be replaced, replace them. Normally there's a little tab under here, push on that tab and slide them out. These ones have a little different system, you just squeeze right here and then these slide out. But it's pretty common. There's a normal hook like that. It's pretty easy to do. So make sure you get some new blades.

With the vehicle raised up a little bit, you wanna check the suspension, make sure everything's good in the steering. So grab the wheel, give it a shake side to side. If you see excessive play there, you could have a tie rod, an inner tie rod or an outer tie rod loose, and then grab the wheel at the top and the bottom and give it a shake. If you have play there, most likely that's in the wheel bearing. To check the lower ball joint, you're gonna need to support the lower control arm, you can either use a floor jack or a jack stand. With a dial indicator checking the play on the lower ball joint, you can use a pry bar, prying up on the tire you're allowed eighty-thousandths of an inch. If you don't know how to do this, we actually have a video on how to check the play on a load-carrying ball joint.

With the tire off, you can check the brake pad thickness, you can look through this little window on the caliper and see that you have plenty of brake pads or if they're thin. And for the outer pad, you're gonna have to look down in this area. Take a look at the rotor as well, see if there's any rust buildup. Sometimes, if this vehicle sits for a little bit, there might be some rust buildup that just will be eliminated once you drive the vehicle on the highway a couple times. Take a look at the brake hoses, see if there's any dry rot on the hoses. They're gonna need to be addressed if there is any cracking. These look pretty good. These have been replaced recently, and the brake lines, these have also been replaced. But if they're severely rotted and you see a lot of chipping where the brake hose has rusted, that might be something you wanna take care of. For the rear of the vehicle you're gonna do the same thing, look at the brake pads, look at the hoses and the brake lines the same way.

Check to see if those shocks are leaking. If you feel like the vehicle bounces more than normal, they probably need to be replaced. And while you're in this area, the CV boots, if they're ripped, those are gonna need to be replaced. Sometimes you can replace the boots but if they've been ripped for long enough, then the elements have gotten in there and damaged the components anyway, the joints, so sometimes it's just better to replace the whole half shaft or the whole CV shaft.

Checking for fluid leaks, transmission cooler lines are very common that they leak, especially in these areas right here. These have been replaced. If you have a vehicle that has oil cooler lines, you'll see oil more on this side heading in that direction, this vehicle doesn't have that, and then also power steering cooler leaks, which the power steering cooler goes on the other side of the frame, back here and then to the front. So if you see power steering fluid in this area, that could be the cooler. Check the axle seals, see if those are leaking. It's more common to see the passenger side leak than the driver side but they both do tend to leak. Check in this area for leaks, sometimes the oil pan gasket will cause a leak and also the rear main seal. Check for any leaks in the transmission, sometimes the transmission pan or the transfer case, sometimes the tail shaft seal will leak.

And continuing with leaks, check to see if the pinion seal is leaking or the rear cover and sometimes the axle seals. If you see the back shield covered in oil, most likely that's from the axle seals. You can check the U-joints, just grab the yoke and grab the driveshaft and give it a shake back and forth. And you might not be able to see it but this is actually bad, there is play there, very slight. So this one is starting to go. You can do the same for the front view joint.

The ABS unit is right here. This is the BPMV and also the EBCM, which is the brain that controls it. And the BPMV is basically a pump with valves and stuff. So there's a line that goes from here to the back behind the fuel tank, a lot of times those rot away, they got to be replaced. If you see any fluid leaking in this area, that's what that is. Underneath the rockers, you can check for rust. This vehicle is actually in really good shape even though there's a little bit of surface rust, there's no major rot, but a lot of times underneath here, you're gonna find some rot holes that are gonna need to be addressed.

And same with the frame, you wanna check the frame to see if there's any rot. And this frame,although there's a little bit of rust on it, this is just surface rust, there's no rot. If you take a screwdriver and try to pound through it, this won't break but if you find a new vehicle that you can pound through it, it's gonna be fixed. So those are the things you should check on your high mileage Chevy Tahoe. If you enjoyed this video, make sure you subscribe to our channel, ring the bell, turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our videos.