Silverado gas tank strap failure!!

[bwag]

Yesterday morning on the way to breakfast a loud scraping noise started coming from under my 2000 Silverado shorty. When I stopped to troubleshoot ,I found my gas tank sitting on the ground with both straps rusted off.Thanks to a ratcheting cargo strap I got the tank lifted up and was able to drive to a local service station.We lifted it up and were able to install 2 new straps without a lot of trouble. Just a heads up to all the pickup drivers, the factory straps were dipped in some sort of rubber coating and rusted off without any tell tale signs on the outside.If you have a high mile truck do yourself a favor and change your tank straps before they fail. The gas station techs claim they are changing a lot of these along with the rusty rear leaf spring shakles.

[PxTx]

I've seen a trend of rusty brake lines and gas tank straps on all of the domestics trucks from about 1999 to ? At least 2005, but time will tell where it stops. I think they probably had the same supplier. NE states probably are sei g it first. Thanks for the reminder.

[Xplantdad]

Wow...thanks for the heads up!!

[Salvatore]

did brake lines and other support straps on my 1998 GMC Sierra. My rust issues surfaced on the way back from BBBenny's mountain top home in Lehighton. What a roller coaster trip down. Good thing for double reservoirs. Other than that, it went 251,000 miles with no real or hardly any rust issues anywhere.

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

All three of my 40 plus year old cars have there original fuel and brake lines with no issues.My 05 Silverado on the other hand are all rusted, including the frame is getting bad.GM safing money on using cheaper materials?? I say...

[PxTx]

I'm not sure any 40 year old vehicle would hold up any better given the elements and road treatments they put on the roads. The issues I see don't seem to be happening in warmer climates. Before we blame GM for cheap steel, let's acknowledge a changing environment could be a contributing factor.

FYI, Toyota has had a major frame rot issue on trucks within the same vintage.

[Tommy]

I have 494,000 miles on my 95 silverado and the underside looks as good as the top side. I just don't drive it up North.... We don't salt our roads in Alabama, we use sand and in the last few years they started putting that messy spray on the roads in some areas. I used to work in Murray, KY around all the car rebuilders that were bringing cars back each week from auctions. I saw almost brand new trucks on lifts having all the fuel and brake lines replaced from rust. Tank straps were bad and the frames had patches welded in and undercoated to hide things. All these trucks and cars were coming from Northern States. Even the big car carriers trailers were falling apart and wouldn't pass DOT inspections from the rust in the frames. The few times I got caught up North in my truck in the winter it almost made me sick.


Tommy [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/[/img]

[Big Block Bill]

We replace rusted brake &amp; fuel lines all the time on anything over 5 years old. It doesn't matter if it is a GM, Ford, or Chrysler. I had a Tech leave me (Wife had health problems &amp; needed to live in a warmer climate) and go to a Palm Bay Florida Chevy dealer. He says they get 2 year old cars &amp; truck in all the time that are stored by the Ocean with rusted brake lines. GM says it is an &quot;Environmental Problem&quot; and NOT a design flaw, so they will not warranty the repairs. So its not just the &quot;Rust Belt&quot; vehicles that get rusty lines &amp; straps

Bill

[twertsy]

Very disheartening how they pawn off design flaws on owner / driver habits. When you have some spare time, read This thread on F-150 Raptor frames bending. CLEARLY a design flaw, but automakers won't step up.

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Never had these problems with my 80 Blazer or 85 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup.Both sat outside all the time, same as my 05 truck,and same climate.I started seeing the issues we are talking about with my 92 Silverado, which i owned for 13 yrs.