Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Change transmission fluid in my vehicle.

Mine's a 2001 Silverado Z71. Every two to three yrs the ABS sensors screw up. There was a recall on this about 5 years ago which I got done twice...the first time I paid myself about $400.00 then was reimbursed by GM about a yr later. The problem happened again 2 yrs later and GM paid for it(recall). The third time it happened about two years ago they refused to fix it, so they were in fact making me pay for their bad sensor design. Other than that, the trucks been reasonably reliable(recently the electric window gear disintegrated on the drivers side). I feel they should have redesigned the sensor, as my brother had the same experience with his '05(Sierra not Silverado as posted earlier). I think the sensors get corrosion from the salt in the winter and foul up, I'm not sure, but it can lead to a very dangerous situation.

The sensor was most likely slightly redesigned thus the recall, unfortunately due to the operating environment there isn't much they can do, except IMO, shut the ABS off even at low speeds like they used to be. In the beginning the ABS was not active unless vehicle speed was over 35MPH, IIRC, that was a while ago.

Jay, I've owned nothing but GM products and always will, you take care of any vehicle and it will last for a long time...my wife mixes it up a bit with the Rodeo and her Honda Pilot.

Adrian, 77,000 miles on my Silverado and never had a problem.

Back to the fluid, checked it when I got home, rubbed some off the dip stick onto some white paper towels, kind of a light/clear redish/pink color. Forgot to smell it...

You've had better luck than me:

One transmission, due to input shaft splines shearing.10,000kms warranty

Front wheel bearings/hubs both sides at 85,000kms $$$

3 times issues with ABS, twice warranty, paid last time but is still an issue now

Has had the well known Chev V8 "piston slap" sound on startup. Not so much an issue as irritating.


Driver's side elect. window gear shattered recently (motor works still)

I drive about half city/hiway and always change oil regularly and don't use the truck off road or abuse it. I used to trailer a fairly light boat for a couple of years(about 3000 lbs comb boat/trailer) Total mileage now is about 160,000 kilomtrs.

I won't say I'm unhappy with the truck, am I totally satisfied? no. Out of the repairs that it needed, I was most pissed about the front bearings/hubs($1400)....they should last the life of the truck imo.

That's like taking a shower and putting on the previous day's underwear.

Bren R.

Hey, when you're a college student and haven't done the laundry for a couple weeks ... certain compromises must be made.

Yes, laundry before food.

There's a reason I never put on the Freshman Fifteen.

Bren R.

I think I actually considered inventing moebius underwear at one point...

What I meant by my knock on wood comment was you may have jinxed yourself.

You can take care of any product and if there are manufacturing defects it will still break down. Even when there are no defects, if it is used hard or outright abused, it can and will breakdown at some point. I get to see it all first hand, owners have come in, had all the regular maintenance done and they still end up with blown motors, water pumps failing at will, etc.

The Trans fluid by your description sounds like it is still clean and OK, not burnt, if it was burnt it would have been brownish in color.