2001 Silverado 2500 HD 8.1

AlbertaMan · October 1, 2018

Hey guys, been doing a fair bit of research over the last couple weeks and i have a couple specific questions. I'm new to the world of owning a truck, and am looking at a 2500HD 8.1, 200,000 KM on it (125,000 miles). The ride is very clean, and drives like a champ, stops ok (and starts ok!), tranny felt tight, steering was relatively straight. Question I have, do these things have any notorious issues that I should be aware of? I have read some stories of peoples t-case failing, and exhaust bolts rusting, etc. Are these typical issues? With our harsh winters up north, the underbody takes a fair beating, and i can understand rusting bolts etc after 18 years. The only thing that caused a bit of a concern was when I started it for the test drive, it felt like it almost died before turning over - is this typical? It had been sitting for only 24 hours by the time i started it, and the dealer said they but a brand new battery in the truck when they received it on trade in a week before that (reeks of an alternator issue...)

Colossus · October 1, 2018

Have an independent repair facility do a pre purchase inspection. See what they say. They are good trucks overall though.

AlbertaMan · January 7, 2019

Sorry to be gone so long... i ended up going with a different truck but it is still an 8.1. (2001 2500HD with 130K miles)

Recently I changed the alternator, and now i have these two issues. Battery drain overnight and tranny will not shift out of 3rd gear. Note that i had the tranny issue before but it was intermittent, now it comes up more from time to time...I checked the tranny fluid and its fine.

Any ideas what would cause it to keep in limp mode? (ive got a code reader en route)