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What did you do with your GMT400 today...or yesterday....

Replaced the driver’s side interior handle as the existing was bent, which made it extremely difficult to open as the length of pull on the actuator rod was severely diminished. RockAuto had a close out on handles for $3.98, but shipping was $11.98, so I ordered 3 handles to justify the shipping cost 🖕

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While I had the door panel off I replaced the speaker. Old one had a tear in it and a wire from the terminal to the speaker had broken. I installed one of the used ones I got for $20 off e-bay and it works great.

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Long run I will upgrade these to the JBL GTO629 speakers which are very nice.
 
when I replaced the inside door handles on my 95 even after the new handles were installed I noticed that the handle was maxing out on the stop before the door would unlatch. I ended up taking the rods out from the door and tweaking slightly on two of the bends using my bench vice and hammer. shortening the rod length maybe 1/8". this allowed the handles to only go to about 3/4 the way till the door unlatched.

I think that over time the rod gets pulled straight at the bends causing it to stretch some which in turn the forcing the handle past the stop ruins it
 
dbrannon79 said:
when I replaced the inside door handles on my 95 even after the new handles were installed I noticed that the handle was maxing out on the stop before the door would unlatch. I ended up taking the rods out from the door and tweaking slightly on two of the bends using my bench vice and hammer. shortening the rod length maybe 1/8". this allowed the handles to only go to about 3/4 the way till the door unlatched.

I think that over time the rod gets pulled straight at the bends causing it to stretch some which in turn the forcing the handle past the stop ruins it
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That was my next step, but right now it’s opening nicely. RockAuto does sell replacement rods. I’d probably go that route.
 
dbrannon79 said:
when I replaced the inside door handles on my 95 even after the new handles were installed I noticed that the handle was maxing out on the stop before the door would unlatch. I ended up taking the rods out from the door and tweaking slightly on two of the bends using my bench vice and hammer. shortening the rod length maybe 1/8". this allowed the handles to only go to about 3/4 the way till the door unlatched.

I think that over time the rod gets pulled straight at the bends causing it to stretch some which in turn the forcing the handle past the stop ruins it
Click to expand...
I concur. I think.i used vice grips and a crescent wrench
 
Welp!! when it rains it pours!! wifey called me while at work to say she's stranded in town with here trailblazer.... wonderful I said.

Had my son go out there to see if he could help, but it's doing some weird stuff that leads me to think electric gremlins have attacked.

Key on, all gauges and lights working but no crank. key off and out of the ignition, all gauges are still on but no lights on the dash. Key on and the shifter won't come out of park to check the neutral safety switch. had her try to put it in neutral to crank and the shifter is locked in park!

Even though it was starting perfectly fine earlier before this happened, my son didn't have a jump pack on him to try in case, but why the gauges are staying on without the key is beyond me.

I guess I know what I will be doing after work today, trying to figure out how to get it back across town to the house!!
 
dbrannon79 said:
Welp!! when it rains it pours!! wifey called me while at work to say she's stranded in town with here trailblazer.... wonderful I said.

Had my son go out there to see if he could help, but it's doing some weird stuff that leads me to think electric gremlins have attacked.

Key on, all gauges and lights working but no crank. key off and out of the ignition, all gauges are still on but no lights on the dash. Key on and the shifter won't come out of park to check the neutral safety switch. had her try to put it in neutral to crank and the shifter is locked in park!

Even though it was starting perfectly fine earlier before this happened, my son didn't have a jump pack on him to try in case, but why the gauges are staying on without the key is beyond me.

I guess I know what I will be doing after work today, trying to figure out how to get it back across town to the house!!
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I was silent on this when you bought it. Wish you had asked here, because this model is well known for electrical gremlins.
 
Well, I'm keeping my hopes up hoping it's a blown fuse or battery voltage is low. I can handle that, but if it's an ECM problem, Oh boy!

The fun part is I don't think there are any tow point on the front end so I will have to figure out what I can hook to to pull it home if I can get it to crank and run where it's at!
 
Maybe there is hope... I have an onboard GPS connected to her trailblazer which also will report operating conditions and trouble codes to me through the app. when she called me the GPS hadn't reported anything, but now I look at it and it's reporting the battery voltage critically low.

maybe, just maybe it was low enough for the ECM to shut down things and now it's about fully drained. the battery is new (purchased by the PO)
 
dbrannon79 said:
Maybe there is hope... I have an onboard GPS connected to her trailblazer which also will report operating conditions and trouble codes to me through the app. when she called me the GPS hadn't reported anything, but now I look at it and it's reporting the battery voltage critically low.

maybe, just maybe it was low enough for the ECM to shut down things and now it's about fully drained. the battery is new (purchased by the PO)
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Alternator gave it up.
 
Big T said:
Alternator gave it up.
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Hoping that all, something simple! My son couldn't find the portable jump starter at the house, so I'm having him put a spare side post battery I had in the garage on the charger making sure it's hot. that way when I get off work I can grab it and some tools, do a battery swap and hopefully it will fire up and drive home!
 
Welp, problem solved. got home from work and grabbed the spare battery and tools. headed out with my wife to where here trailblazer was. popped the hood and first thing I noticed was a faint odor of rotten eggs! the battery... pulled it out and installed the spare and it fired right up with no issues. she drove it home, then I double checked the alternator. everything checked out fine.

took the battery that was in it mind you it's a super start with a date code of June 2025, I tried to connect it to my "smart" charger and it said even though it's dead, it showed it was at full charge within a couple minutes of charging. IDK if O'reilly auto will accept it for warranty since we didn't purchase it, but I had her send a message to the guy we purchased it from to see if he bought it, if do he might provide the info to get it warrantied.

in the mean time she'll be cruising around with the spare LOL.
 
On the handles and rods for opening the doors:
We kept the handles in stock in the fleet. Diagnosed properly: the rod unbends itself. Then the handle maxes out. The common action is people pull the handle with fingers and that elbow gets used as a fulcrum to lever the door open. Quickly comes the bent handle.
One of the guys made a set of replacement handles from steel. The rods just kept un-bending and the problem continued. Ever notice on higher mileage the outside handle has to lift more than originally?

So the same guy who wanted something fixed once & never again got into the rods. Took them out after figuring the perfect shape to be in. Heated the bends with a torch and quenched them. Now they will never bend again. So we all watched him do it, then wondering about it… had him do the rod quench to rods on a driver door of a new truck for a rig that had extreme use- about 30,000 miles each a year (60k total), by a pair of hyperactive drivers that who were in and out of that door probably 40 times a day each shift. The handle still bent but it took a lot longer. Those two guys normally Got a new handle once a year. We didn’t have to replace that handle until a few months before selling the truck.

Idk if it’s worth the effort to pull one, quench it, then reinstall it. But if you already have one out…


Doug: just like all gm… get the locations from the manual and hit all the grounds when you get a shot. Put some No-lox on them while you’re at it to help a little bit.
 
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