2010 Chevy Silverado

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A week ago Monday at my suggestion, Kurt bought a 2010 Silverado for $2300. It’s a 2WD Work Truck with 170k miles and the 4.3 V6. This truck had been for sale for 11 weeks and he was asking $2900.

This truck needs work: broken windshield, slight coolant leak, blown out driver seat airbag, TPMS light on, driver door inside handle broken, tail gate not latching, broken headlight, both taillights broken, A/C not working, the support beams between the bed floor and the frame are quite rusted. We did a field repair after negotiating a price to bypass the power steering cooler which had failed earlier that day.

I have a long list of stuff to fix. For this thread though I’ll focus on what is getting done. With some effort and money this can be a good work truck for Kurt.

Fix the Gate – item #1

The gate would not latch, so it was held up with a ratchet strap. With a little bit of effort I was able to determine the center latch was rusted – with some PB Blaster and some patience I freed it up.

Fix the inside driver door handle – item #2

The handle assembly is permanently attached to the inside of the interior door panel. I ordered a replacement. Upon removal of the panel I could see the assembly was already replace once, and shoddily attached. There are plastic pins that retain the assembly when the ends of the pins are melted. I was able to melt the ends of these to get it to hold, used hot glue to replace pins that had been broken out by prior installer.

Fix the headlight – item #3

The passenger headlight works but it was all broken up. For $80 two new headlights were ordered. Changed out both of them. The black structure behind the lens should look good with the black work truck front trim.

Fix the coolant leak – item #4

There is an auxiliary port on the radiator that is not needed for the 4.3 V6 which had been plugged with a vacuum line plug and a hose clamp. This plug had cracks in it. When we were looking to buy it I noticed it was low on water, he put in a gallon to get it full.

Other

This thing was dirty – like it had been sitting under a tree for a while. There was green algae in some places. Really needed soap and water to get the dirt to come off the paint. Trucks are big so it took a while.

The prior owner has just spent over $600 to replace the battery and starter, fix a bead leak and get an oil change. Nice enough guy, but fixing cars not in his wheelhouse.

The rocker panels were all there when I looked at it but rusty. I was easily able to poke holes in them with my fingers. The hammer brought down a lot more rust.

Frame has some rust but looks solid. Cab looks solid except for the rocker panels. Engine runs good.

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Airbag system – item #5

The airbag light was on, and the driver side seat was split open where the seat airbag is located. I didn’t see any damage on that side of the truck but assumed these were related. As it turns out the connection to the driver seat belt retractor was corroded, and as far as the seat it appears the stitching on the left side of the seat back has just failed. I’m still deciding how to handle the seat cover split, but the system is operational.

Driver window switch – item #6

The switch panel would lower all windows, but not raise any window except the driver front window. In my learnings about this truck I found a video on how to clean the contacts, and that worked.

Fix the rust on the roof – item #7

Wanted to address the rust on the roof to open the possibility of getting the windshield replaced at any time. The rust spots on the front of the roof ran right up to the edge of the windshield. I removed all the trim at the top of the windshield (rubber pieces that are replaced when windshield is replaced) and was able to sand out the rust in the channel, as well as the rest of the rusted spots on the roof.

The factory paint on this truck is having problems with adhesion. There are places scattered all over this truck where the paint is flaking off: roof, door jambs, under the floor mat, bottom of the hood, bottom of the cab, inside the front fenders, under the bed. Current plan is knock off as much of the loose paint as is reasonable (with the right pressure washer it would probably all come off) and touch it up mostly to prevent rust and a little to help it look a little more presentable.

paint just flaking off

I’m taking BP’s recommendation and putting Rustoleum rusty metal primer on these areas, following that up with Rustoleum gloss white. It’s not an exact match but it passes the 20’ test pretty good. Prep includes cleaning out dirt, removing rust with wire wheel followed by a sander, removing loose paint with compressed air, then applying paint by brush. This oil base paint lays down nice and with the right amount of paint it does not leave brush marks. It’ll be fine for this truck’s purpose – probably more than I should bother with.

Other

About a week after it arrived I found the owners wallet in the truck tucked in the front seat near the seat belt buckle receiver. When I got to deep cleanout in the truck I found another guy’s drivers license under the back seat. I sent the wallet back to the owner, but he didn’t recognize the other guy at all. I’ve never come across two driver licenses in the same car so that’s a first.

Also this:

Truck came with two matching Empire Strikes Back stickers