Shocks

[Juddrock]

What's up everyone, I am a newbie here. I bought my Silverado SS new in 03, still have her today. Been through a lot with the truck. Sea foam locked my engine up tight this past fall. Nightmare!!! I babied my truck, it only had 65k on it when it blew up. Ended up dropping a brand new SS 6.0 liter in her around Christmas time. I was devastated. Its running better now than it did when it was new in 03' I really feel I had a lemon engine. It was always sluggish and it idled terribly. Over the years it got worse and worse to the point where it was shutting down at almost every stop light. I always used mobil 1 synthetic and I stayed up on all my maintenance. So I decided to clean the throttle body this fall, and sea foam it. I was hoping to get a good clean of the pistons and valves only to have it blow up on me when I started it. piston walls were warped and cylinder number eight stroked up and hit the spark plug and snapped it on the interior of the piston wall. major scarring in cylinder number 8. So instead of machine work I had a new one dropped in with a new factory 3yr 100k warranty. The new lq4 runs great. Can't even feel it idle and response is like night and day compared to the oem engine. Did any of you all have any idle problems with the 03' original year or any other years. I feel like my dealer did me wrong I called and complained of the poor idling frequently and they would always tell me trouble shooting was not covered under warranty if they couldn't find a problem, so of course I was reluctant to have them start tearing into the engine to say "we found no problems!" So, overall the truck has been a lot of fun, but disappointing at the same time. So,now that the short story is over, lol, I have it all lined out now, still only has 73k on it and just a 5k or so on the new engine. Looking for new shocks now, starting to ride rough. What is a good choice for performance and comfort?

[Hankg42]

Welcome to the site!

 

Sorry for all of the issues you had. My truck has been rock solid since day one.

 

I went with Bilstein shocks, as have a number of others here. Part numbers are BE5-C891-H0 (Front) and BE5-C892-H0 (Rear). Others will supply their choices I'm sure.

Edited February 22, 2011 by Hankg42 (see edit history)

[huero626]

Did u replace the engine with an LQ9 or LQ4? Im adding Belltech Shocks to my V-Max but Im going to add a flip kit soon.

[tayldss]

Welcome to the site!

 

Sorry for all of the issues you had. My truck has been rock solid since day one.

 

I went with Bilstein shocks, as have a number of others here. Part numbers are BE5-C891-H0 (Front) and BE5-C892-H0 (Rear). Others will supply their choices I'm sure.

 

 

I'm putting these shocks on my SSS tonight -

[O2 WS6 TA]

Cast my vote for Bilsteins. I use them on everything, but put a set of Monroe Reflex on the SSS a couple years ago (my Monroe Rep practically gave 'em to me) and I wish I had ponied up for the 'Steens. I'll be going to Bilsteins again once I get annoyed enough with the Reflex's.

[Juddrock]

Did u replace the engine with an LQ9 or LQ4? Im adding Belltech Shocks to my V-Max but Im going to add a flip kit soon.

 

My bad I said the lq4 didn't I? I replaced it with the factory LQ9 that originally came with the truck. I will check into Belltech. Other than the idle issue it didn't give me any problems. I wish I would have forced the dealer to check into it more. I blame myself because the new engine is running like a "top" and is averaging 0.3 mpg better than the original and its barely broke in. Just my luck, paid the truck off and one year later it blew up..haha. Oh well I still love my Black SS w the navigation..I recently added a Kenwood in Dash double bay with back up camera. It sounds bad ass with the bose. My son likes to watch his DVD's too. I am all factory otherwise, I've just babied the truck from day one. Only other add on I have is a Rhino Liner. I had it done day one as soon as I drove off the lot. It's has held up great to the bad road conditions in crappy Ohio weather. Toyo Proxes 2 is the new tire I went with, great ride! Now for the shocks. Next, Maybe just maybe the new whipple twin screw???? I would also like to add and FYI, in case you all hadn't heard, the mechanic that did my engine swap, drained the Dexacool factory coolant, it is the worse thing GM put in their new vehicles. If it hasn't ate up your gaskets yet you are lucky. My head gasket was in bad shape, and my intake gasket was almost completely deteriorated. Dexacool is JUNK... go with straight up coolant.

Edited February 23, 2011 by Juddrock (see edit history)

[T-Bag]

I would also like to add and FYI, in case you all hadn't heard, the mechanic that did my engine swap, drained the Dexacool factory coolant, it is the worse thing GM put in their new vehicles. If it hasn't ate up your gaskets yet you are lucky. My head gasket was in bad shape, and my intake gasket was almost completely deteriorated. Dexacool is JUNK... go with straight up coolant.

 

 

Off topic but interested to get others opinions on this. Has anyone else swapped out to straight up green stuff? What are the pros/cons besides more frequent flushing. I thought DexCool was required? Anyone know?

[Juddrock]

Off topic but interested to get others opinions on this. Has anyone else swapped out to straight up green stuff? What are the pros/cons besides more frequent flushing. I thought DexCool was required? Anyone know?

No, I know for a fact that DexCool is NOT required, ask any local mechanic or that is GM certified, he will tell u to get rid of it. Straight up stuff is better. Here is an interesting link, you might want to think about switching over now. He told me Dexcool was more than likely the killer for my truck. Take it for what it's worth. You don't want to end up in the boat I did man!!! : READ THIS!!

[O2 WS6 TA]

Dex-cool sucks.

[f1ss]

Good to see an original owner. I would recomend the Bilsteins or Edelbrock IAS shock.

Only issue I ever had with idleing was when I stored my truck for awhile and it took 2 or 3 cycles to get the idle working properly. It would want to stall at a stand still, but would fight to keep the engine on and within 10 miles it was back to grade A performance. I was lucky enough to have a local member who has worked on my truck longer than I have owned it amd gained great knowledge through this site.

Welcome to the club

[Fireman31]

You guys should read Post #2 in this thread, it outlines the pros and cons of regular green anti-freeze and DexCool.......

 

http://www.silveradoss.com/forums/topic/57063-dexcool/page__p__651218__hl__dexcool__fromsearch__1?do=findComment&comment=651218

[2006SilverSS]

I went with Bilstein shocks, as have a number of others here. Part numbers are BE5-C891-H0 (Front) and BE5-C892-H0 (Rear). Others will supply their choices I'm sure.

I've been running the Bilstein's for years now and they are great. So they have my vote.

[dfresh]

I have had the same idle problem with my '03 that has worsened over the years, also it usually doesn't start on the first turn which I was told is a check valvle in the fuel pump. I'll be replacing the fuel pressure regulator and fuel pump and let you know if it fixes the problem. As for shocks I'm also about to purchase and going with the Edlebrock IAS.

 

 

 

What's up everyone, I am a newbie here. I bought my Silverado SS new in 03, still have her today. Been through a lot with the truck. Sea foam locked my engine up tight this past fall. Nightmare!!! I babied my truck, it only had 65k on it when it blew up. Ended up dropping a brand new SS 6.0 liter in her around Christmas time. I was devastated. Its running better now than it did when it was new in 03' I really feel I had a lemon engine. It was always sluggish and it idled terribly. Over the years it got worse and worse to the point where it was shutting down at almost every stop light. I always used mobil 1 synthetic and I stayed up on all my maintenance. So I decided to clean the throttle body this fall, and sea foam it. I was hoping to get a good clean of the pistons and valves only to have it blow up on me when I started it. piston walls were warped and cylinder number eight stroked up and hit the spark plug and snapped it on the interior of the piston wall. major scarring in cylinder number 8. So instead of machine work I had a new one dropped in with a new factory 3yr 100k warranty. The new lq4 runs great. Can't even feel it idle and response is like night and day compared to the oem engine. Did any of you all have any idle problems with the 03' original year or any other years. I feel like my dealer did me wrong I called and complained of the poor idling frequently and they would always tell me trouble shooting was not covered under warranty if they couldn't find a problem, so of course I was reluctant to have them start tearing into the engine to say "we found no problems!" So, overall the truck has been a lot of fun, but disappointing at the same time. So,now that the short story is over, lol, I have it all lined out now, still only has 73k on it and just a 5k or so on the new engine. Looking for new shocks now, starting to ride rough. What is a good choice for performance and comfort?