1997 Chevrolet Silverado from North America - Comments

Its nice to know that I'm not the only person with all of these same problems. I have a 96 4.3L C-1500 Silverado Pickup 85K miles. Just had the transmission rebuilt to the tune of 2,000K. And I'm now experiencing the infamous 'coolant' leak from the manifold gasket. ($400). Given light of everyone elses comments it looks like I will not be purchasing a Chevy in the future. How unfortunate because I really liked that pickup.

If you have no tranny problems / Leaks after 80,000 (consider yourself very lucky).

May you all have better fortune in the future.

I saw a Chevy Silverado 1993 for sale. It had 314 000 miles on it. The owner said he never had any major work done on it. Could that be possible?

314,000 miles, and no major work? In my opinion, I don't believe it. That's a lot of miles on that block, tranny, and rear, and not to mention the suspension parts. Unless that body was cherry inside and out and mighty cheap, I would stay away from that truck.

Got my 1997 Chevrolet 5.7 brand new, ordered 3 door, waited 6 weeks. Have had same conditions occur that everyone else experienced, starters, manifold leaks, water pump replaced, and electric fuel pump. No transmission problems yet, probably due to regular interval transmission fluid replacement. So far have had to replace 2ea of 4, O-2 sensors. driver outside door handled cracked and was replaced. At 106,000 miles now having repeated check engine light occurrences. Different plugs misfiring and getting white stuff on tips. Had the major 100,000 tuneup with new plugs, wires, rotor replaced before check engine light occurences. Last visit to shop asked them to pull gas tank and check for water, also did fuel injection soak. They changed out bad plug also. Running like champ again, trying to get 10 years out of it. Last Chevy PU was 70 model, bought when 15 yrs. old, got 12 yrs. out of it, paid lots to keep it in good running condition, but brought $3000.00 when sold.

I have a 97 Chevy k1500,350,Auto Trans,88k miles and no Cruse control. Problem is, no deceleration/engine braking. I remove my foot from the gas pedal and the truck stays at same speed (level ground).I checked throttle cable for binding, no binding. This seems to happen at any speed. If I shift into neutral, rpm drops and truck starts to slow down.

Thanks, Dave.

I have a 1996 Chev silvarado myECM-1 fuse keeps blowing.

I changed my ignition module and still the fuse keeps blowing. I had my transmition replaced, could there be a wire pinched around the bell housing? The reason I ask is the fuse

seems to blow when the transmission shifts. I can run in low 1 and the fuse don't blow, but if I shift in any other gear it blows. I have a automatic transmission. Please reply I can't seem to figure this out and I'm sick of paying for repairs on this truck.

I have a 97 5.7L 4WD Silvirado with 97k. I purchased it

new in 01-98. It has operated flawlessly for the most part. I have driven it in two plus feet of snow through 4 States when all state roads where closed. I have had to swerve it on the freeway at 65mph. To avoid road debris, and the truck didn't roll. From that moment I realized that it might not be the most maintenance free vehicle on the road, but it is one Hell of a truck when I needed it to take care of me it was there.

I'm having difficulty draining the radiator with the plastic drain, bottom left. Does it screw out or do you pull and turn? I have a repair manual but it does not explain. I'm trying to change out water pump. Perplexed

voododawg@yahoo.com.

In 2/02 I purchased a Silverado Z71 NEW with 7 miles on it. I loved it all the way, even now; however, I have to tell you I am really not pleased with it at all now.

In the last year I have had the transmission rebuilt 3 times under warranty each time same problem. The dealership never complains about me bringing it in to have it worked on and they always have a rental paid for waiting for me.

Yesterday the truck turned 81K a mere 6K away from the 12K warranty given on the last transmission overhaul/rebuild the dealership preformed. Experiencing the same issues as the (3) prior episodes I take it in only to find out they blame the transmission issues on the blown Intake Manifod Gasket. To fix this they quoted $700-$800 dollars. The latest issues with the transmission occurred 2-3 days prior to the check engin light came on; however, when they pulled codes they say nothing is wrong with the transmission only the intake gasket.

No work will be preformed at this time, maybe next week I will just trade it in for a Ford.

Well, looks like I'm not alone in my misery. Just picked up my truck...97 Chevy Suburban 4wd from the dealer after having the intake manifold gasket replaced. Truth is, I love the truck, and it's gotten just over 160,000 miles, but at a cost. This is my second intake gasket replacement at $400 bucks a pop, a couple of master brake cylinders, a couple of water pumps, one pittman arm, two idler arms. Seems the stinking thing can't stay aligned to save it's life, and the interior door handles break easier than egg shells. About a year ago the tranny started slipping between 1 and 2 and 2 and 3. I had a flush and fill that solved it for about a 1000 miles. I'm going to try the TCC relay that someone suggested and see what happens. I generally take good care of the truck, but I've put close to $7,000.00 of repairs into it since paying nearly $38,000 for it in 97. I'm test driving a Toyota Sequoia tomorrow... Sorry GM, you just are not built to last.

I have a 1998 Silverado, 5.7L engine, automatic transmission, and it has about 95,000 miles on it. It has been flawless since I bought it, used, with about 43,000 miles on it.

Recently, I have noticed a bit of coolant loss (maybe a quart per month), and a whiff of coolant odor when I get out of the truck after driving it a while. But I can never find even the tiniest puddle under the truck, or on the block anywhere. Not only that, the odor, and the disappearing coolant are VERY intermittent (I haven't had any this past week).

Bearing in mind that I'll lose coolant much faster than this, and see a good bit of white smoke in the exhaust if it's really leaking into the combustion chambers, I'm going to wait to make sure it isn't just some silly drip that burns off the engine, before I tear off the manifold.

My previous truck was an 89 Silverado with the 5.7L V8. At about 100,000 miles, it suddenly developed a SERIOUS manifold coolant leak (as in white smoke out the tailpipe big-time, and it would use up a gallon of coolant in an hour of driving). A dealership replaced the intake manifold gasket, and a blown head gasket, and charged me $700. That's a lot of money, but it did fix the problem, and I never had trouble with the truck again all the way until I traded it at about 192,000 miles.

Question: I see a lot of problems in '97 and '99 Silverados, but not many with the 98's. Was 98 a luck year or something?

I guess I have mixed feelings on my 1998 GMC Z-71. I too am having the water leak from the intake. I will take it in today for repair. I am at 130,000 miles and have not had much trouble except for the brake booster going out and causing me to run a red light in heavy Dallas traffic. Missed all the cars somehow! I have basically abused this truck from the get-go. It routinely pulls a race car trailer fully loaded which is about 8,000lbs. It has also seen it's fair share of four wheeling. I guess outside of normal maintainance, I have spent less than 300 dollars on this truck and it's been paid for for over 3 years. I would probably buy another one.

I have owned my 1997 z-71 for one year without any problems. all of a sudden the engine started missing at cruising speed. a total tune up was done, but that did not fix the problem and the cost was over $300.00. turns out that the intake gasket that I have just read about is suppose to be the problem. this is costing me over $450.00 via a chevy dealer service department. during the time I had the miss in the engine the brakes went to the floor. the chevy dealer went through the whole brake system which took them a day and a half. they said it was done and running perfect. I went to pick it up today and the brake pedal went to the floor again. the total bill was over $750.00. I do not know if the miss is out of the engine due to it being unsafe to take the truck out on the road. I do believe they thought it was good to go after it was serviced, but after sitting overnight something happened. noticed no fluid leaks where it was sitting. no transmission problems yet and the truck has 101,000 miles on it. front end steering problems were also fixed at 100,000 miles to the tune of &175.00. the dealer has not looked for a problem in the ABS system, but after reading about so many he will be notified. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I have a 1997 chevy silverado with a 5.7L v8 in it. It has 78,000 miles. I've had it for 5 years and I've had to replace the water pump. Lately my engine coolant has been leaking and I can't find the leak. It has an automatic transmission and two days ago it started jerking when the first gear changes out. It only does it if I drive it for like an hour without stopping and turning it off somewhere. I'm going to take it to a mechanic sometime this week and find out what the problem is hopefully. Looks like everyone has these problems with these model trucks.

1998 Chevy 1500 2wd. With 167,000 miles, I have had transmission repaired three times since purchased new. Of course all was after warranty ran out. Its paid for so I just keep repairing, but it sure burns my tail that these transmissions are so weak. I do not pull anything, but a small trailer. I have added a additional transmission cooler that I hope will help.

Also had to replace water pump at about 110,000, had door hinges replaced, Power steering pump leak repaired, oil sensor replaced and front rotors replaced.

My new problem today is missing coolant. It runs a little rough at idle so I am assuming it's a head gasket or intake gasket. Spark plugs look fine (replaced 5000 miles back) except they are a little frosty.

Add me to the list of '97 Chevy 1500, 5.7L engines with the apparent intake manifold leak.Can't find any other source for the leak which is getting progressively worse. Sounds like $400 is the going rate; $1000 is a rip-off.Haven't had any other major problems. Replaced alternator and A/C compressor, don't remember the miles, got 96K now. Truck has been great up to now. Bought it new and has only pulled a 23' OB a couple of times. Want to drive it at least until 125K miles. Will probably invest for the repairs.