1997 GMC Suburban review from North America

Electrical problems started at about 15,000 miles. Interior lights would come on while driving. I could simultaneously hear the relay under the dash click sporadically. The clicking would sometimes continue without any visual symptoms.

At about 22,000 miles, the A/C blower motor started making an awful roar. Turns out the fan shroud was contacting the fan blades. Dealer replaced the blower motor.

The transmission went out at 44,000 miles. Dealer replaced at no charge, but with no admission of any design flaws or such.

Electrical problems continued. Sometimes the interior lights would fail to come on when the door was opened even when the light override switch was not engaged. Sometimes, the door "chime" would fail intermittently while the door was open with the keys in the ignition. (I don't know if, along with the intermittent chime failure, the lights flashed or not.)

An electrical problem caused a no-start that, when taken to the dealer, could not be reproduced. No service was done at that time, but as soon as the vehicle was picked up, a low-frequency rattle was noticed and seemed to be coming from the rear of the vehicle. In owner-diagnosis, I found that the rattle would only begin at a constant speed. Any change in acceleration, either positive or negative, would cause the rattle to stop. Also, a slight depression of the brake pedal along with a constant accelerator position would cause the rattle to stop. This indicated to me a transmission problem that could possibly be traced back to the torque converter. The service rep first said that, according to his transmission man, there was no problem with the transmission. Instead a rear-end problem was reported to be the cause of the rattle. To make a long story a little shorter, the service rep said that consensus among three mechanics including the service manager was that the torque converter and solenoid was the problem. Transmission number three will be warranted for a period of three years or 50,000 miles. By the way, that rattle might also be characterized as a low-frequency noise that is half-rattle, half-hum.

The truck has a good motor.

Plenty of room in back with and especially without the third seat.

I haven't done any research about the transmission except to be able to say that I suspect a design flaw with either the transmission or its integration into the overall drivetrain of these vehicles. It is further my opinion that a poorly designed shifting program in the computer could also cause transmission problems such as this one.