Top High Mileage Issues 2007-13 Chevy Silverado 1500 Truck

In the shop, we have this 2007 to 2013 Chevy Silverado. In this video, we're gonna go over some of the things that you should check or replace if you have one with high mileage or you just bought it.

Let's start with under the hood. You're not gonna be able to drive the vehicle if you can't start it. So start with the battery first. It's in this location on the passenger side. Check the terminals. Check the condition of it. Give it a wiggle. Check the ground. And you wanna see if the battery is original. If the battery is original, it needs to be replaced at this time. Batteries only last about five years, give or take, and this vehicle is well over 5 years old. So if it's original, replace it. If you see any corrosion, you want to clean that up. And if the battery itself is leaking, you're gonna have to replace it. If you're unsure of any of this, then make sure you do a battery test and check it out. Make sure it's good.

Before we get into more specifics, we just wanna take a general look over, under the engine, see if there's any major fluid leaks or anything, any hoses that are cracked. We're gonna pop this cover off. It comes off pretty easily. Just pop up and then slides forward. Over on the passenger side of the engine, we have some of the air conditioning hoses right here. Take a look at those, see if you see any fluid on those. The heater hoses, make sure those look good, they're not cracking.

This hose right here, just grab it. This goes to the radiator, the upper radiator hose, and to the reservoir, and sometimes these get brittle. And if it seems pretty spongy, it's a good time to replace it. Same with the upper radiator hose. In general, you just wanna look at all those hoses. Make sure they don't look brittle, cracked, or if they feel a little spongy, it's good time to replace it.

Check the top of the engine, see if you see any fluid leaking, especially the valve covers. There could be oil leaking, and you don't want those to leak onto the exhaust and potentially cause a fire. While you're checking for leaks, check underneath the water pump. That's a common area where you're gonna have coolant leaking out, especially if you see coolant coming from the front of the motor. Take a look at the serpentine belt, see if it's cracking. If it's cracking, it needs to be replaced. If it seems glazed or when you start up the vehicle, if it's squealing, you might need a tensioner as well, but check out that belt and replace it.

Check out this ground strap right here. If you see that it's green or corroded, you wanna replace it. If you can grab it and rip it, definitely replace it. You're gonna end up with some weird electrical issues, and you don't wanna get stuck somewhere. So make sure that's good. This ground strap right here is not as crucial. If it breaks, it's a good idea to replace it, but it doesn't affect anything other than the ground of the hood whereas this one's gonna give you weird electrical issues.

The under-hood fuse box is located right here. If you're having a problem with any type of electronics, it's always a good idea to check the fuse first. Pull the cover off. Sometimes mice like to hide in here too, so double-check for that. If you're having weird electrical issues, definitely could have a problem. So your engine's got to breathe. You wanna make sure your air filter's nice and clean. If it's dirty, replace it. It's located right here. Take the air box off, take the cover off, take a look at it. And the intake snorkel. Make sure there's nothing broken on the intake snorkel. Make sure everything's attached.

Make sure all the worm clamps are tightened down. Spark plugs and wires, nothing special on this engine. It's pretty easy to access. Everything's right out in the open. Make sure the wires aren't frayed. Make sure no mice have chewed them or anything like that. Normally, when you replace the plugs, you're gonna wanna do the wires as well. Most of the time they just break when you pull them apart.

If you wanna keep your car cool, let's check out the coolant. You wanna replace this every 5 years or 150,000 miles. If you're not sure if it's been replaced, it's always a good idea to replace it when in doubt. Make sure this is cold before you take the cap off. And if you have one of these coolant testers, you can always test the coolant that's in there. Now, this should be orange Dex-Cool coolant. It shouldn't be green. If you see that it's green coolant, then it's not good. Now, it should be right around the negative 32-degree range. It's a little bit on the high side. So whether it was down in this area, you wanna replace it. And whether it was too high, you're gonna wanna replace it.

Check the oil, the dipstick is located right here. Pull the dipstick out. Wipe it off with a rag. Slide it back in the tube, and take a look at it. And it looks pretty dark, so we would wanna replace this at this time. But you wanna change your oil about every 5,000 miles if you're using synthetic. If you're using conventional, you want to do it about every 3,000 miles. The type of oil is on the oil cap, which is located right here. And it's 5W-30. Transmission fluid, similar to oil, the dipstick is right here. You want the engine running while you're checking this. Unlock the lock, slide the dipstick out, and wipe it off first. Slide it back in, slide it out again, and take a look where it's located and the fluid color. Now, it looks a little dark. It would be a good time to change this as well. On the dipstick itself, it actually says where the fluid level should be. This is where it should be when the transmission's hot or cold. And it says with the vehicle in drive idling, make sure you're on a level surface and don't overfill. Dexron-VI is the fluid that you want. So that's the GM transmission fluid.

Power steering fluid is located down here underneath the alternator. Twist the cap off. This, you can have the vehicle not running. Just wipe the little dipstick that's on the cap, reinsert it, pull it off, and take a look. And I believe there is a cold level and a hot level. So right up to that line would be the cold level, and right here is what hot level is. So somewhere in between there is where you want the fluid level.

Brake fluid is located right here in the reservoir. And just wipe off the top with a rag. It says DOT 3 brake fluid is the type of fluid that you're going to use. And there is a max line and a mid line on the side of the reservoir. The condition of this fluid is pretty dark. So we're gonna wanna flush this fluid. If you see that it's pretty light in color, it's probably okay. Make sure there's no leaks as well. If you look around the master cylinder, see if there's any leaking in that area. Those are all the fluids under the hood. Let's go underneath.

We're gonna start from the front and work our way to the back. Right up here is the front differential. And the fluid check level is right there. Use an 18-millimeter socket. Take that plug out. You always wanna take that plug out whether you're gonna drain it or whether you're just checking it. Take that one out first. And then if you wanted to replace the fluid, you can drain it right here. Use a 13-millimeter socket for that. When you're doing that, you probably wanna remove this shield. These are 15-millimeter bolts right here. Take those out. Then you have more room.

For the fluid type, you wanna use gear oil 80W-90, or if you're using synthetic fluid in this, 75W-90. Engine oil drain plug is located right here, and that's a 15-millimeter socket or wrench, whatever you wanna use. And the filter, easy location, it's right there. For the transfer case, it's located right here. Fill plug is right here. Use an 18-millimeter wrench to take that fill plug out. If you wanna drain it, drain plug's right here. Always take the fill plug out first. You can check the level. If the fluid looks dirty, replace it. You wanna check this more often than not. This is more important to replace the fluid in here than let's say the front differential. The transfer case works pretty hard, especially if you live in a climate where you're using all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive a lot.

These fluids vary in this transfer case, but this one takes Dex-VI. For the rear differential, the cover has a little fill plug right here. You're gonna use a 3/8 ratchet to take that out. You can check the fluid level there, although there's no drain for this. So you either need to use some kind of suction pump, suck out the fluid, or you can take the cover off. You're just gonna have to replace the gasket when you do that. If you have a limited-slip differential, you wanna add the limited-slip differential additive. Put that in first before you put the synthetic gear oil in. If you're in doubt whether you have one or not, you can always add it. It's not gonna hurt anything.

With any of these fluids, you always wanna double-check your owner's manual. Some of these vehicles vary whether the fluid's underneath or the fluid's up top. Any of those components that you check the fluid level or you replace fluid, if you see any leaks, you wanna address those. If you have a major leak, you probably wanna do that sooner than later. If you have something more like a seep, maybe you just wanna monitor it. If you have a fluid leak underneath this area near the rear drums, you definitely wanna check that out sooner than later. It could be the axle seal leaking, and that's going to be getting on the brake shoes, that's not good, or it could be the rear wheel cylinder, which is gonna cause you to lose brakes completely. So take a look at that.

Take a look at the brake lines and brake hoses. If you see that they're badly corroded, you gotta replace them. Same with the brake hoses. Make sure they're not cracking. With a rust area where the brake hose is crimped on, you wanna make sure that it's not too bad. The brake line that goes from the rear of the vehicle to the front of the vehicle on some older trucks would corrode and cause fluid leaks. This vehicle it's actually coded, so you may not have that problem, but keep that in mind. If you have a fluid leak near the gas tank, it's probably that line.

Check the rear brakes. This vehicle has drum rear brakes, so you're gonna have to take the wheel off and the drums, take a look at the shoes themselves. See if there's plenty of pad life left. If you look right here, there's still a good amount of material, but if you go to the other end, it's pretty thin, and this side's even worse. So at this point, these brake shoes need to be replaced.

Check for fluid leaks at the wheel cylinder. Some people like to pull these boots back and see if there's any fluid in there. If you see any fluid leaking, you're gonna wanna replace that wheel cylinder. For the front brakes, take the wheel off, take a good look at them. If you see a good amount of rust on the rotors, it could just be because the vehicle was sitting just like this one, and driving it around a little bit may take care of that. If it doesn't, you're gonna have to replace them.

You can see how much brake pad material you have left. There's a couple of little windows on the backside of the caliper. You can see these are pretty thick at least for the inboard side. The outboard side might be a little more difficult. You might have to look at it down below here. Take a look at this brake hose right here. Make sure there's no cracking in it. If there is, it needs to be replaced. Before you do any hydraulic pieces of the braking system, check this bleeder screw out and the same with the rears. If it looks like this, you're gonna need calipers as well or wheel cylinders.

Take a look at the shocks. If you see any fluid coming out or if you notice that the vehicle bounces a little more than normal, then they're gonna have to be replaced. The rear shocks as well, the same as the front, just check out, see if there's any fluid leaking. And, again, you could jump in the back of the bed and see if it bounces a little more than normal then replace it.

Check the front end out. Just grab the wheel while the vehicle's off the ground and shake. That's gonna tell you whether the tie rods are nice and tight, and those are good. And then up and down, and that'll tell you if the wheel bearing is good and the upper ball joint. To check the lower ball joint, you wanna take a floor jack and support the lower control arm and then take a pry bar underneath the tire and raise up on the tire. And if you have a significant amount of play there, then that lower ball joint's gotta be replaced. You can also have someone looking at the ball joint while you're doing this. If you have some rattling around while you're driving down the road over bumps, it may be a sway bar link like this one. This one's broken.

Underneath the vehicle, you also wanna check for rust. If there's any frame rot, it's gonna need to be addressed. There's a big rot right here, rot hole there. Another common area is the running boards area. Underneath the truck, someone actually just put some running board covers on this truck. But this all rots away. That's really common on these vehicles. So check for that. And then the cab corners. You can also see some of the rot in the cab corners. This vehicle doesn't have it. This one's good, but it's pretty common.

Check your wiper blades out. Make sure they're not cracking, or make sure they're not peeling. Some of the ends fray on them. This vehicle doesn't have a cabin filter, but while you're on the inside, it's a good idea to check out and see if the heating and air conditioning works and all the levels on the blower motor are working properly. If not all the settings on the blower motor are working, it's probably the resistance that's failed.

That is what you should look at on your high-mileage Chevy Silverado. If you enjoyed this video or it helped you out, make sure you subscribe to our channel, ring the bell, turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our videos.