1988 GMC Pickup Sierra 3500 review from North America

When I first purchased the truck at approximately 55,000 miles, the idle was too fast and unable to be adjusted slower. I discovered that the fuel injection body had defective leaking gaskets.

The fuel pump became inoperable at approximately 57,000 miles. This required the fuel tank to be removed to replace the fuel pump.

The transmission failed at approximately 61,000 miles.

The bottom of the radiator blew-out shortly after the transmission problem? Never heard of such a thing happening before. There was much metal corrosion at the failed area.

The alternator windings became loose. While stopped at a stop light, I heard a clunk sound and the engine locked-up. The loose internal parts of the alternator had jammed which caused the engine to stop turning.

At approximately 70,000 miles, again while stopped at a stop signal, I heard a loud bang sound. The crankshaft pulley had broken loose from the crankshaft, and again I never heard of such a problem! The pulley had developed fractures connecting each of the three bolt holes until finally it broke-off. The three bolts remaining on the crankshaft were very tight. It would appear that loose bolts were not the cause of the pulley cracking.

At approximately 83,000 miles, the engine water pump began leaking and required replacement.

At approximately 85,000 miles, the most forward of the drive-shaft universal joints suffered crumbled bearings. Strange, since I always kept them greased!

The windshield wiper mechanism always sounded like it was about to seize-up. Also, it only operate on low speed and the washer pump was inoperative.

The radio/tape player mechanism was frozen.

The original paint seemed to have a continuous problem with chipping. It appears that the paint wasn't sticking to the primer coat. I've seen other identical Sierra Pickup trucks with the exact same problem.

This truck has lots of power, considering the gas guzzling 454 c.i. V-8 @ 6 mpg around town: 8 mpg highway.

It was a very comfortable truck with the custom seats, very quiet and with good insulation.

Since most of my use of this truck was out-of-town, each break-down situation was a major problem for me. I completely lost confidence with this truck and got rid of it cheap!