Whining

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I foolishly lent my 2007 Chevy Silverado 2500HD to my girlfriend’s 17 year old son, who proceeded to burn all the rubber off the rear tires in about 4000 miles. Now I hear a whining noise starting at about 30mph that wasn’t present before. My first thought was the tranny, but when I take it out of gear, the sound remains, so now I’m thinking the drivetrain - driveshaft bearing or ?? The truck only has 26,000 on it. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

2

For starters I’d pop the back off the pumpkin and look at the wear on the ring gear.

Good luck.

3

dude what about waranty only 26000 cant you get is seviced for free or something

4

Yes - I do plan on getting it serviced for free I do want to point them in the right direction if possible though, so I can tell them what I want looked at when I get the “we can’t duplicate the noise” that dealerships sometimes like to say…

5

Allen made a good point. I missed that one. Do nothing, including making any suggestions to them, until they’ve had a chance to do their diagnosis.

I was focused on the “smokin’ the tires” part of the post.

6

You might want to replace the tires before you take it in… I can hear it now… " Well sir… you only have 10,000 miles on the odometer, but you have 100,000 miles of tire wear…"

I wonder if they can read anything from the onboard computers that will alert them to the abuse?

7

Any good tech or service manager will, most likely be able to see past this and know it’s abuse.

8

one would guess that the 17 yr old has no more auto priveleges correct? m’kay

9

NO! Especially on warranty work, your job is to describe what you have personally observed. It is NOT your job to interpret what your observations mean. They will not pay even the slightest attention to what you say anyway. The have a book that says if this noise you replace this. Even if they believe you are right about what is wrong, they have to follow the book to assure the manufacturer will pay them. Frankly there are a few good reasons for this policy.

10

I would hope so. Maybe after another 6 months he might get them back, if he were my son.

11

I’m guessing rear axle damage and/or drive shaft universal joint damage. Smoking off a set of tires in 4,000 miles is sure to damage something. Unfortunately, most of this damage will be very apparent that it is damage from abuse. Replace the worn-out tires, then take it in and complain about the noise, but don’t mention the abuse. Let them tell you.

12

Thanks - I did get the tires replaced and I have an appointment monday to complain about the noise - and yep, the kid won’t get near my truck again anytime soon…

13

Hey timma1. What city/state are you in?

14

I’m in Ellsworth Maine…

15

The good news is it went to the dealer today, and they did find a problem - a bearing in the rear end is shot…so, at least it’s going to get fixed!

16

Thank you for the feedback. We so rarely hear what happens.

17

Well…what happened? Who paid, you or did the general have Warren T. pay it?

18

The dealer covered it —

19

so mountain bike was onto it with the first response.

too bad you had to go through this, i hope junior realizes it takes $$ to drive, and the more abuse the more $$.

good luck

20

Rats!!! I’m dissapointed. This was clearly not a warranty issue. Oh well!