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On 10/15/2017 at 7:40 PM, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

I will look around for a diagnostic tool. I picked up some door pins for my Chevy (to fix the saggy doors), a jack, some jack stands, a belt for the GM, new air filter for the GM, and will be getting oil and gear oil soon. 

 

I pulled the ABS fuse. Doesn't quite fix the issue. 

 

The truck still has some very slight, very fast, consistent "stutter" under acceleration. It's incredibly faint, and really does feel like the brakes grabbing once ever second or so. I'm thinking it might be the ignition. 

 

But I have a leak coming from the oil pan and the radiator that I'll probably fix before that. The plugs are a year and a half old. May have to replace distributor cap. 

 

 

OBDII tools are getting to be very cheap. I bought what was HF's top of the line (heh)  for ~$50.00.

Their current "top of theline" will handle ABS cycling, and can be had for ~$60.00 if you play the coupon game right. 

 

The stutter is likely a plug/plug wire. 

I forget if that year Chevy has the DIS /Coil Block ignition, so it COULD be a coilplack getting weak. 

 

Tin oilpans can sometimes be "fixed" with a length of hardwood and a hammer. Just "tap" the pan near the leak, and it will often go away.

 

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13 minutes ago, Meplat said:

 

 

OBDII tools are getting to be very cheap. I bought what was HF's top of the line (heh)  for ~$50.00.

Their current "top of theline" will handle ABS cycling, and can be had for ~$60.00 if you play the coupon game right. 

 

The stutter is likely a plug/plug wire. 

I forget if that year Chevy has the DIS /Coil Block ignition, so it COULD be a coilplack getting weak. 

 

Tin oilpans can sometimes be "fixed" with a length of hardwood and a hammer. Just "tap" the pan near the leak, and it will often go away.

 

I swapped the distributor cap and rotor, and some new plug cables are en route to my house. The actual plugs are apparently just a year old. The coil and ignition control module are 120 dollars so I'm holding off in hopes that the new plug cables fix the issue. 

 

I'll look up that oil pan remedy. Mostly because dropping an oilpan on A 4x4 requires moving the front drive shaft and unhooking heads and shit apparently for my truck. 

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7 hours ago, Ulric said:

That sucks. Dropping the pan on my Rover just involved lifting the front end to get enough clearance around the front axle.

It would be nice to have a solid front axle like on the rover. Sadly, not the case. I've got IFS up front on torsion bars. 

 

Today's work got started after I ran my dog a bit. Swapped the serpentine belt and changed the engine oil and filter. Then looked around the rear differential to figure out where the fill hole is. I have a gasket on order. There's some surface rust on the frame and bumper near the rear of the truck. I'll eventually sand that out and spray it. 

 

Also, @Meplat, the spare tire mechanism works great. I dropped the tire today without an issue. Rolled it away to save for later. I'm basically completely stripping the truck of anything useful before I make the swap. 

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Fuel filter replaced.Transmission fluid replaced. 

 

Then I turned the key. 

 

Solenoid clicking nonstop. Try again. Try a third time. 

 

Nothing. Check the power windows and locks. Super weak. 

 

Go to jump the truck, my cable heat up VERY fast. And they aren't cheap. That tells me it's pulling a huge amperage. 

 

Went back to the truck. Power locks are hardly moving. No more solenoid clicking. 

 

Looks like my battery is toast. 

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I'm a huge moron. 

 

When I took the glovebox out of the cab, I didn't unscrew the glovebox light. 

 

That little light drained the battery over the course of a week and a half. 

 

Oh well. I've got a way better battery in the truck now. Pulled the fuse to the interior lights so that wouldn't happen again. I was going to buy a better battery for the truck anyway.

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23 hours ago, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

I'm a huge moron. 

 

When I took the glovebox out of the cab, I didn't unscrew the glovebox light. 

 

That little light drained the battery over the course of a week and a half. 

 

Oh well. I've got a way better battery in the truck now. Pulled the fuse to the interior lights so that wouldn't happen again. I was going to buy a better battery for the truck anyway.

 

You'd be amazed how many times I've dealt with nonsense like glovebox/trunk/underhood lamps killing batteries. 

 

Also- modern batteries for the most part are not at all durable. Unless you buy a very very good one, you're getting junk, that at best will last ~3 years.

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2 minutes ago, Meplat said:

 

You'd be amazed how many times I've dealt with nonsense like glovebox/trunk/underhood lamps killing batteries. 

 

Also- modern batteries for the most part are not at all durable. Unless you buy a very very good one, you're getting junk, that at best will last ~3 years.

Swapped it with a duralast Gold. I'll eventually put an Optima in it. But yeah, I felt dumb. 

 

I swapped the radiator out today. Old one had a leak, so I pulled it out and tracked a new one down locally. Wasn't too bad, except I now know why I had oil on the right hand side of the engine bay. The hot oil line going into the radiator was a bit loose. 

Still waiting on my spark plug cables. Fed ex is being slow today.

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"Deka", and "Interstate" were my go-to's. 

Optimas are quite good, but intolerant of bad charging systems and hop-boxes. You can kill one fast if you install it in something that forces you to hit it with a high amp hop box more than once or twice in it's life. 

 

Radiators are another one of those products that for the most part, have gotten crappy.  Lots of aftermarket junk out there.

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This specific radiator was made by "spectra".

 

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sgt-cu730/overview/make/gmc

 

Only issue was the original radiator (which went for 280k miles) had reliefs cut in the top for the steel and rubber brackets holding it in place. This one did not. So it doesn't fit perfectly, but I got my fan shroud over it just fine.

 

Next will be cleaning out the throttle body, replacing the throttle body gasket, and replacing the rear differential fluid and gasket. And the plug wires if they ever come in. I'm going from 7mm to 8.5mm diameter wires.

 

I spoke with a shop that is willing to do the body swap for me. I'm anxious to have it done. 

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Not a fan of plastic header tanks, but that is the  direction things are headed. 

Seen too many of them crumble.

 

At least the one you got seems decent.  Also, good going on putting the shroud back in. You don't know how many vehicles I've seen with serious cooling issues, and the doofus left the shroud off. 

 

Plug wire diameter differences is usually just a thicker outer jacket, unless you're going nuts and fitting shielded leads and plugs.

Silicone grease is your friend here.. Keeps thing from sticking, and shorting when doused.

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My original radiator had the plastic header tanks. They make them pretty well these days. The plug wires are original on the GM that I bought. Anything is going to be an upgrade, I think.

 

People probably don't realize how much the shroud helps with the airflow. 

 

I'll take the silicone grease idea into consideration when I swap them out. 

 

So far, I've done to the truck...

 

Fuel Filter.

Oil.

Oil filter. 

Transmission fluid. 

Air filter. 

Radiator. 

PCV valve. 

Distributor cap. 

Distributor rotor. 

Battery. 

Radiator. 

Serpentine belt. 

 

Got some more work to do until I drive it to the body shop and make them strip the cab and bed and ready it for my swap. 

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2 hours ago, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

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"Being perpetually in debt to have a new car every few years" seems to be making a major comeback. 

 

I've worked with people who'd buy a new car when the tires were bald on their old one.   

People in increasing number, also have little to no clue as to what really goes on under the hood, beyond parroting figures and ad blurbs. 

 

One of my co-workers has a kid who is basically destroying a nice 2010 Silverado. The less than a year old tires he bought are now down to the wear bars. 

Not because the tires were bad, but because the kid drives like a dipshit.  No sense of power moderation, no sense of energy control. Everything is V/max.

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My dad tends to run vehicles into the ground. Ends up buying a new used truck every 6 or 7 years. Has done that his whole life. I didn't learn maintenance from him, other than changing oil. 

 

One of the last times I was home, I watched him try to change the lower hose for a radiator in my truck. Except he didn't have it sized right. And he was attempting to take the old one off and put the new one on with coolant in the truck. 

 

So he's just getting splashed, cursing, and trying to wrestle with a too-long hose. 

 

He also, for some reason, kept adding coolant every time he got somewhere with the hose. So more would leak out when he tried to reposition. It made very little sense to me. 

 

Regardless, I learned that the GM can do burnouts this weekend while I was on a test drive.  I won't be doing that normally, since the tires are fairly new Yokohama Geolanders. 

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2 hours ago, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

My dad tends to run vehicles into the ground. Ends up buying a new truck every 6 or 7 years. Has done that his whole life. I didn't learn maintenance from him, other than changing oil. 

 

One of the last times I was home, I watched him try to change the lower hose for a radiator in my truck. Except he didn't have it sized right. And he was attempting to take the old one off and put the new one on with coolant in the truck. 

 

So he's just getting splashed, cursing, and trying to wrestle with a too-long hose. 

 

He also, for some reason, kept adding coolant every time he got somewhere with the hose. So more would leak out when he tried to reposition. It made very little sense to me. 

 

Regardless, I learned that the GM can do burnouts this weekend while I was on a test drive.  I won't be doing that normally, since the tires are fairly new Yokohama Geolanders. 

Meanwhile I drive a 2003 Dakota I sold to my Father before he got posted to England. Bought it back for what he paid for it, $1900 dollars. 

 

And dear god did those limey fucks dick up the lighting.  Brits for the most part cannot do vehicle wiring. 

 

That aside the salt air rusted it a bit.  I keep it soaked in concrete form release oil. Changing the O2 sensors, fitting a high volume fuelpump, injectors and ECU  gave it a bit more "oomph"   hacking und chopping the  exhaust cat-back to resemble a MGA delivered a wonderful note.  Not obnoxious in the least. 

 

Eventually I will delete the cats, and bypass the quad O2 sensors.

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Also, @Meplat, Quick question. At a constant speed (not accelerating) my truck feels a bit stuttery. Not entirely consistent. Like the revs drop a bit at highway speed intermittently. 

 

Would a speed sensor going bad on the transmission cause this issue? I've seen a few threads where that's the case. 

 

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/need-figure-out-stutter-while-driving-676766/

 

I may buy one anyway and put it in just to see. It's a cheap part. I am really hoping it's not actually something wrong with my transmission.

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20 hours ago, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

Seat of the pants, mainly. I haven't focused on the tach during it, I've mainly been listening and feeling it out. 

 

Currently, I have no engine light on so it's not throwing a code through that. 

Check the driveline.  You may have a slip joint getting sloppy, a worn U-joint, or the carriers for the T-case output flanges getting sloppy.

 

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