1999 Chevrolet Suburban LT from North America - Comments

I have had a 1999 suburban for just over three years, bought pre-owned with 62,000 on the clock, been great, but had several teething problems which has culminated in a problem arising only a few miles away from home. I got a slight rubbing sound and then a click as if from the drivers side wheel, within minutes the noise got louder and it was also felt in the steering. It eventually became a loud crunch sound and felt like going over a pot hole upon investigation I could find no problems so have aimed at the fact that the ball joints and tie rod ends have grease nipples so I topped them up, problem was the rubber bush on the drivers lower ball joint split so I tried a temporary solution of cleaning and sealing it with silicon caulk, well it didn't work, I drove it round the block all okay, but then the crunch appeared, upon checking the bush I noticed it had split again so have to surmise that the problem is the lower ball joint. The point here is to grease them all every year or so, I think I will have to replace the ball joint to be safe here. Just to let you know the sub now had 106,000 miles on her so who knows what the previous owners did to it.

I have also had the drivers electric window motor die twice, the interior and now exterior door handle break apart whilst opening the drivers door. Also have the rear passenger side turn signal bulb gets hot and burn the bulbs contacts, the rear windshield washer pump crack and leak, the battery leak, oh and the back lighting for the door switches and some dash controls go out only to be told by Chevrolet they do not sell replacement bulb units so you cannot repair them...great. I will post another comment when I find out if the ball joint is the real culprit to my current problem.

I own a 1999 suburban 1500. I bought it from an individual that I knew very well and new that he took good care of it. He had put 21,000 on it but now has 148,000. It is a very nice truck, but I have had problems with it. The transmission had to be replaced at 32,000. The Tie rod ends had to be replaced because of excessive play in the steering. The water pump had to be replaced because of leakage. The intake gasket had to be replaced because it was leaking antifreeze. The drive shaft gets dry where it goes into the back of the transmission and has to be dropped occasionally and the spline greased. The check engine light comes on when I tow a trailer. The gas gage shakes all the time. There is a vibration noise underneath that always occurs at 76-77 MPH, can't figure that one out and neither can the dealer. The door locks works one time with the remote switch then they have to be manually operated. The sockets for the rear lights over heat causing the contacts in the sockets to not make contact with the light bulbs. I have found that I can take the circuit board out and take a very small screw driver and bend the contacts back in and they will work. Saves $60.00. The worst problem is the brakes. The front pads have been replaced 4 times and the rotors turned twice eventually replacing them. The rear drums and shoes have been replaced and the brakes still over heat and are mushy. I have thought about replacing the rear drums with disks and pads to see if that would help. Has anyone gone that far?

My 1999 Chevrolet Suburban LT has been very expensive to maintain lately.

The rear door (2nd row) locks use to work using the remote control, but now the doors have to be manually locked and unlocked;and in the winter they cannot be locked or unlocked manually.

The front headlights suddenly stopped working, however the the daytime running lights were working.

Recently, the right rear tail lights burned out and although I replaced the burned bulbs, the fog fuse burned out causing the lights to burn out again. I replaced the right rear circuit board ($60.00) and that did not resolve the issue. I burned eight fuses. The left rear (driver side was o.k.

I took the car to a reputable mechanic to have it repaired and he replaced the turn signal assembly and wiring harness on the steering column which corrected the headlight problem but not the tail light problem.

Total cost for that repair $1045. Less than an hour after leaving the shop the fuse burns out and the tail lights are out again. If anyone knows of any other option or possible solution please post.