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2004 Hummer H1 - Restoration and bringing it back to life

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Howdy everyone!! I'm new to the H1 community. I've been a lurker for 10yrs. Long time listener, first time caller :)

I've been a Land Cruiser junkie for the last 20yrs. This is my first time in an H1. I always wanted an H1 since I was in highschool in the 90's. It was always on my bucket list.

I picked up this 2004 H1 at the beginning of September. Purchased it from a gentlemen in Louisiana (2nd owner I think). It had been sitting undriven for the most part of the last 8yrs (since 2014). Only around 4000 miles put on it since 2014 till now, and only around 1000 miles since 2018. I talked to the seller/owner at length over several weeks, did plenty of due diligence, made sure it was a solid truck with a good history. Main thing that the owner knew it needed to make a the 800 mile drive home if I drove it home was a set of new tires. I found a shop local to the owner that was well versed at installing tires on military run-flat/donut style wheels that come with the H1's. I had them install a brand new set of tires, balance them, and mount along with the runflats and all installed correctly.

I flew in to pick it up, and it was all going great until I was about 30-45 minutes into my drive. The PCM went into limp mode, stuck me in 2nd gear and threw various errors. The owner was gracious enough to meet me up and brought a PMD + extension cable along with him that another H1 friend of his gave him to bring along, just incase it was a PMD issue. We tried that, it got me about 20 minutes further down the road when the same thing happened. At that point I limped along at 35mph to the nearest hotel, found comfort at a Courtyard with a very nice attendant well into the midnight hours, and got some sleep. The next day I flew back home and tried to regroup from all the frustration, I found a great transport person out of the area that was familiar with transporting Hummers, he picked the truck up and had it to me the following day. Instead of bringing it to my house, I had him drop it with Ian Ward (hummer specialist mechanic) that is about 45 minutes from me.

IanW dug into everything and gave me a list of all the things that needed attention. The big dollar item was the injection pump and a possible PCM issue. William Anderson (has been a huge help) from the Hummer community was able to get me a diesel injection pump specific to the 2004. I got that ordered from William and in quickly.

While in Ian's' hands I had him go through getting a lot of baseline maintenance done. Here is the list:
* Diesel injection pump replaced + all gaskets
* Intake manifold gasket
* HD Gates Green Serpentine belt
* Coolant crossover tube gasket
* Top coolant hose
* Upgraded to mechanical wastegate controller
* CTIS Wheel valve quick disconnect for front two wheels
* CTIS Front wheel hub seals
* Engine oil and filter
* Transmission fluid and filter
* Transfer case fluid
* Front diff fluid
* Rear diff fluid
* All 4 portal axle geared hubs - drain and replace fluid
* Coolant flush
* Brake fluid flush
* Install two 180 degree thermostats
* Replace 4L80E transmission 1-2 shift solenoid (was sticking from lack of use)
* Replace 4L80E transmission 2-3 shift solenoid (was sticking from lack of use)
* One more CTIS spindle seal

During all this work I had Ian send the PCM out to GoECM, one of the main CAT ECM/PCM repair companies in the US. They were fantastic to work with, hooked it up to their systems, tested everything, and verified that it was all good to go. That was great news for me. They just billed me for a full diagnostic and shipping and were very fast too.

Once the truck was all back together I picked it up from Ian and drove it back home. After putting some miles on it daily for the last 2 weeks it seems to be running very strong. Starts up surprisingly quick with no hesitation, has lots of power with no hesitations, feels very healthy. The rear CTIS was leaking a little the first couple days, I removed the quick disconnect valves, cleaned them, and put them back, and since that I have lost maybe 3-5 psi in 7 days, so CTIS is working perfectly again and holding pressure as designed.

So far, a huge thanks goes out to William Anderson and Ian Ward !!! They have both been a tremendous help in getting this H1 back on the road and running like new again.

I love to document any project I have, whether its a daily driver, restoration, or one of our boats. I'll use this thread to document my little adventure with this 2004 H1 as I go, and share my experiences with you guys. And would love to learn from everyone here along the way!!

Here is one photo from the day I picked it up from the old owner and stopped for gas.

Screenshot 2022-11-17 at 2.54.50 PM.png
 

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
I like to make videos of most of what I do on my projects. So you'll see a lot of Youtube videos of what I am working on, even the little things
 

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Based on recommendation from a GM master tech and an H1 owner I bought a clone Tech2 scanner. Tested it out and it works perfectly on my H1, shows all the variables, details, and apparently can even be used to time the IP.

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Got the H1 to the neighborhood state inspection station. It passed just fine. I got tons of questions and lookers while I was there. A few people wanted to take photos with the H1. It was a fun experience to see the excitement.

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
I purchased a brand new OEM window regulator for the rear passenger side door. Got it installed and have 4 functioning power windows again. Here's the video to show step by step how to remove and install a new window regulator on the H1:

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
It took me a while to figure out what the "correct" windshield wiper blades are for the H1. There's some conflicting information on the internet on whether you should use 11", 12" or 13" wiper blades. I found the correct Michelin 12" blades and got them installed. I know it's just wiper blades, but I tend to over document things. Hopefully this video is helpful for others trying to replace their H1 wiper blades, because I couldn't find detailed info when I was looking.

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
When I picked up the H1 one of the glass sections on the right side mirror was loose and the adhesive was not holding it in place. I could have glued it back in place, but instead I got a new OEM replacement mirror glass. Install was easy, cleaned up the old surface, hooked up the wires for the heated mirror, and got it installed. Back to having good visibility out of this super wide H1 again

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Got the air filter out today. Snapped the bolt off the retainer ring (oops). Got a new filter and retainer ring ordered along with a new coolant cap. And also found out the filter is from 2011. Yup, 2011. Fun little surprise!!

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Tested the CTIS today, I was a little bored on this rainy day. All the way down to 0 psi and then back up to 40psi. Worked flawlessly.

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Kurt

Well-Known Member
Messages
955
Location
Orange County, CA
Welcome! Great truck, glad to hear the PCM doesn't have any issues. It's a problem with 2004s IF your ecm fails or has issues since it's a one off model year for that control system.

I Used to live in Cedar Park and Round Rock with my tan 1998, inspections were ... something. First time I had them look up the book because "jeeps" needed the 3rd brake light and my eyes rolled to the back of my head on that one. The TX DPS book said due to the GVW rating and width it's exempt from it. Second time they [Sticker Express in Cedar Park] ran it through a garage door by swinging too wide while driving it for 20 seconds. To the stores credit they did pay for everything to get fixed and replaced [new hood/brushguard, full service, swapped out front end parts just to be sure and paid to have the truck shipped out to California and back for the repair since I couldn't get anyone in central Texas to touch it or give a written estimate. After that I told the last few inspectors no one is driving it but me but if they need a brake check they can sit in the passenger seat. :)

And yes 11 or 12 inch blades assuming they are clocked/plugged in the right way depending on the type of arms you got. The older style is the old pin/ball type and the newer model years had the more conventional U loop.
 

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Kurt, I laughed a bit reading your response. "Jeeps". I have been surprised at the number of "jeep" comments from the younger community. Some kids at my son's school told him "your dad has a really cool Jeep". And my wife's friend asked her "what kind of Jeep" did your husband get. All they did for inspection for me is their safety checks. Tire tread, lights functioning, windshield wipers, functioning horn... WOW, they actually paid that little attention that they damaged it? That's nuts!!

It's been a fun adventure so far getting to learn the quirks with the H1. Coming from 25yrs of owning every generation of Land Cruiser, this is a little bit of learning curve. A lot of what I'm trying to get a hang of is what is "normal" and what is not normal. Sounds, whines, vibrations, ride quality, fitment of interior parts, wiring, etc... This truck is mostly stock and unmolested other than a few bolt on Predator parts. But it has been sitting for much of the last 8-10 years with very few miles and even less maintenance. But even with that considered my OCD is kicking in with all the little things I see that I want to fix :)
 

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Took a bit of time to figure out how to properly remove the upper dash pad in the H1 Alpha interior in the 2004. Here's a video of what I did and where all the fasteners were in my upper dashboard incase anyone else needs to remove theirs in the future and needs a visual:

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Got all 3 sections of the headliner in the wagon removed today and dropped them off with the upholstery shop. I thought I was going to go with the OEM light tan/cream color, but my guy at the upholstery shop convinced me to go jet black. I know black will look really nice, I just hope it doesn't get too dark. I'm going switch to brighter interior lights later down the line, so hopefully that will help. My old man eyes just don't do well in the dark anymore :)

here's the full step by step video on how to remove all three sections of the headliner in the 2004/2006 Hummer H1 Wagon incase you ever need to do yours.

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nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Picked up the freshly redone headliners today. The pictures don't do them justice, they look awesome in person. I was going to go with the factory ivory/bone color, but my upholstery guy convinced me to go with black. He called it "jet black", but at a glance it has that suede-like softness to the way it looks, but doesn't have that weird problem of suede showing streaks and hand marks everytime someone touches it. Next I have to decide whether to re-do the pillar trim pieces and rear barn door trim pieces or to leave them the factory ivory/bone color.

1669508627563.png
 

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Have to see it when you finish but I liked the original colors a lot.
Agreed. I liked the factory light ivory color too. But Looking forward to seeing the all black done to see how it looks. I got the front section on last night (photo below).

I also got 4x black grab handles ordered to replace the factory ones so they match the new black headliner. I was pointed to these by another H1 member. Apparently they're the same bolt pattern as the OEM H1 grab handles and should bolt right in!!

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Screenshot 2022-11-28 at 9.16.09 AM.png
 

nkpgarage

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Austin, TX
Both of my Alphas were the Gen 1 interior. I really liked the two tone look. For some reason the market seems to favor the all dark interior.
I'm not a fan of the all black on the 2006 either. Doesn't show as well in my opinion. I am tossing around the idea of doing the remaining ivory pieces in a saddle brown to match the two tone theme if I can find a color that matches. I just ordered some various color samples to see if I can get close.
 
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