Fixing The Avalanche

Just a quick update on the whine in the truck driveline.

When we got back from Woodstock, I took it to the Chev dealer where Ken arranged to have Rob, one of their top guys, take it for a test drive. I went along. He hooked up his diagnostic computer and drove to Coniston and back, monitoring what it was doing and controlling some of the operations from the computer. He heard the whine right away but said that his instrument suggested the torque converter was fine. He thought it was perhaps a pinion gear bearing in the front differential. I made an appointment to take it in on the 12th.

So Tuesday morning, I dropped the truck off at the dealer. I got a call from Marc, one of the fellows who writes the work orders, telling me Rob had found a rough feel in the right front wheel bearing while the truck was on the lift. This wasn't the source of the whine but I had just replaced the left front. I didn't want to have to come back later when the noise got louder, so I told him to replace it. After replacing the hub assembly, they went after the whine in the front differential and the truck would stay in overnight.

Yesterday, I got word that the front differential was fine and they had the noise pinned down to the rear. It seems there was a lot of play in the pinion gear bearing so Rob was going to replace all the bearings and seals. And the truck would be in for another night.

Today, after we attended the Salvation Army Christmas Lunch with members of the OPP Veterans Association, Ron and Mary dropped us off at the dealership where we picked up the Avalanche, sans whine. It was an expensive exercise but I have always been overly aggressive with maintenance and repairs, probably why we have spent so little time broken down on the road over the years.