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1989 K5 - Gradual Learning

First 4x4 - learning basic maintenance / upkeep and maybe some small mods.
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Ant parts store should have the air cleaner wing nut,look in the "HELP" brand aisle..if they dont have one in stock it can be ordered..
Any wing nut from a hardware store will work as well,you'll just need to know if the stud is metric or not and what pitch thread you need (as Hank just said while I was typing!)...
The original style has a washer made onto it,but you can buy a fender washer and use J-B weld or RTV to attach it to the wing nut if you go with the hardware store type..personally I go to a pick & pull junkyard for those types of things..you get the factory part and know it'll fit..
I have been known to pull fuses and other "trinkets" from junkers too,and the guy in the office usually just says "no charge" as long as I show him my empty pockets!..but if you get caught sneaking anything out,even a bulb,you'll be banned forever !..Parts stores want $5 for a stupid box of fuses now,so its worth shopping at boneyards !.

Oh yeah--if you heard what my 6.2 diesel sounds like IF it starts at 22 degrees,you'd probably never start it again till spring!..it sounds like it has oversize rod bearings on a standard sized crankshaft,and loose pistons,everything rattles and clatters until oil pressure builds up..takes a good 5 minutes before it sounds "good" again..:eek:..
 
Yup the help section at O'Reilly or AutoZone should have the wing nut.

Iirc tbi is 6mm x 1.0 pitch
 
Don't beat yourself up too much; although from the sounds of your story I'm too late on the warning - literally. :rotfl: Big reason a lot of us know what we know now is going thru the same thing you did. I've learned most everything I know from other people and it was sometimes embarrassing. All part of the process. Like others said, it's cool that you had someone that could actually help.

What would be really embarrassing is if you didn't learn anything and repeated the same mistake twice. :D

Sounds like maybe the ground wire had been working itself loose for a while causing the fuel pump to not operate well.
 
Well, got another somewhat funny story for you all. When it rains it pours.

My girlfriend Aimee has a 2005 Ford Focus. She called me from the Home Depot parking lot yesterday saying her car wouldn't start. I went out there and it ended up being a bad battery. A nice guy offered a jump and we took him up on it. She drove home without any problems.

Today, we pull her battery and hop in the Blazer. Before hitting the parts store for a new battery I insisted we stop by a hardware store so that I could get replacement nuts for my upper kingpin on the K30. I tore mine up real bad when taking them off. Anyhow, after picking up those nuts we're on Broadway heading south toward the parts store and the Blazer dies at a stop light. Can't get it to fire up again. Sure enough... blown fuel pump fuse. A nice guy in a Grand Cherokee pulled us with a big metal chain to the nearest gas station. Called AAA again and got it towed home. I would have thought that the AAA guys would carry fuses, but he didn't have any on-hand.

So now I have to figure out what is blowing the fuses. The fuse is rated at 10A. I bought a bunch of 10A and some 15A and some 20A. Just now, I tried the 10A... blew immediately. Then I tried the 15A. The engine turned over but then died immediately. So it killed the 15A too. I was going to try the 20A fuse but then thought I might cause some damage if I did that... so I held off. Next I looked at the ground wire. It seemed fine, but I am so ignorant when it comes to electrical diagnosis. After the ground wire I took a look at the other wires coming from the gas tank. They seemed okay - I traced them all the way to the engine bay. No visible damage.

I am going to do some Google research to see what the next step might be. If anyone has tips, let me know. I own a meter but barely know how to use it... like I said, I am just about the worst when it comes to electrical.

EDIT: You know I am referring to this thing as the "fuel pump fuse"... that's probably not the right way of saying it. The fuse that keeps blowing is the 10A "ECM I" fuse.
 
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so a short to chassis on the ground side will not blow a fuse. On the power side, wire from fuse to load in this case I believe you are working with the fuel pump relay signal, if it shorted to another circuit or ground you blow fuses. It sound like you have an intermittent short. If you supply 12 volt to test wire at relay the pump should run. Please inspect the loom from firewall to relay and firewall to fuse block, look for melty wire rubbing wires. I thought the 10 amp fuse ran the gauge, it could be the ECM fuse.

fpcirciut.jpg
 
So that circuit controls power to most the sensor and actuators the ecm controls, gonna be a lot of checking with an ohm meter
 
I went out and took a good look at the engine bay. I found the fuel pump relay, and traced the wires coming from it - didn't see any damage. Next I found the fuse box on the firewall, and looked at the looms coming out of that. Traced them as far as I could - didn't find any noticeable damage.

@Wes Harden thanks for your help man. I need to watch some videos on how to use a multimeter. I'm that stupid when it comes to electrical. Worst case scenario there is an auto shop two blocks away. I could push it there.
 
I am thinking one of the actuators has bad resistance. Try disconnecting the EGR solidi and see if the engine runs or fuse stays good
 
If the schematic is right the ECM 1 fuse provides power to the ECM itself, both injectors, EGR solenoid and the EVRV (electric vacuum regulating valve, for the EGR). I'd unplug the EGR and the EVRV, one at a time and see if the fuse continues to pop. There is a chance that there is just a wire pinched to ground, and if so the fuse will continue to pop if the component is unplugged.

Keep this in mind, fuses blow because there is more current (amps) than the circuit is designed for. That load could be a straight short to ground prior to the load device (sensor or solenoid) or the load device is shorted and drawing more current than it was designed for. You did the right thing by not just slamming a 20 amp fuse in there as it may not have blown, but the circuit itself was not capable of handling 20 amps of current and could melt the circuit itself.

IF either the EVRV or EGR solenoid was pulling too much current, the draw would go away if they were unplugged. Do that test one at a time to isolate which one might be the cause. If the fuse continues to pop with both of them disconnected, you have a short to ground on that circuit somewhere. At that point you have to start inspecting the circuit for the short.
 
It seems like it. That cylinder that wraps around was pinching the wire against the metal tooth by my finger in the photo.

This was my first real electrical issue, and I definitely suck at it. But I learned a lot the last two nights. It was almost fun sitting in the engine bay probing stuff with the multimeter.

I gotta give credit to an old user named FormulaGT because it was this thread that gave me the idea to inspect the injectors wires closer:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/ecm-i-fuse-blowing.207486/

It looks like he had the exact same issue!
 
Hey all, just wanted to provide an update and ask a question on the K5...

Overall the truck has been driving well since I fixed up the short. I went camping a while back and my serpentine belt blew up on highway 285. Big thanks to @Justin V for taking a somewhat frantic phone call and helping me out. We had to drive about 40 minutes back to Conifer to get a replacement belt and a set of tools to do the swap. Everything went great after that point and the swap was pretty straightforward. I'm thankful that it was an easy fix all things considered. Other than that I've just been driving it around town. I use it fairly regularly to go hiking with my dog or to take her to the river.

Recently, I've been having a small problem that I'm hoping to ask about. When slowing to a stop, the K5 doesn't seem to want to shift down into first gear. When it does finally shift into first, you can hear the RPMs rise up HIGH and it also jerks you around a bit in the driver's seat. It's not smooth. In addition to that it has a pretty rough idle once warmed up. You feel it the most when sitting at a stop light. Feels like the whole truck is shaking and it sounds real bad. I have a Hayne's TBI manual at home and it says an uneven idle once warm could be an intake leak. That is my best guess right now because it sort of explains the truck not wanting to shift down into first - too much air coming in (?)

Let me know if anyone has any guesses, and THANK YOU as always.
 
Hey all, quick update on the K5.

As shown above and in this thread, I thought I had an intake leak:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/350-tbi-possible-intake-leak.340885/

Turns out that I caused it myself by messing with the throttle linkage :doah:. You live and learn I guess. So now, I am adjusting it about a half turn every couple of trips. Taking notes on how the truck feels at each setting. I have loosened it 1.5 turns from where it was when I made the post. Feels pretty good, but I'm going to keep loosening it a half turn at a time until I get to the point where it is obviously wrong. Then I'll go back and tighten it a half turn at a time.

I'm also buying a replacement for the rubber piece inside the door that the window rides through. LMC has it listed as "DOOR GLASS RUN" on their website. Hopefully that's not too bad to install, haven't cracked open a door yet. Gotta do it on the K30 too soon anyhow.
 
Throttle cable got stuck tonight or something, scarier than all hell. Truck just kept accelerating with my foot off the gas. Hit the brake and it seemed to calm down. Got it home and parked it, RPMs shot up like crazy like the throttle cable was stuck again.

Gonna do some reading on the forum to try and figure out what happened and how to fix it.

Also my new window seals came in from LMC. Don't know how to install them but it can't be too bad. Hoping I don't have to take the door apart to put them in.
 
Despite loosening this cable about 2 full turns, I still don't think my throttle plates are closing fully. 15989314399209120966462112880144.jpg 1598931477431518936977156455772.jpg 15989315419552856307804132814789.jpg
 
At rest should the throttle plates be fully closed? I had to loosen it another 1.5 turns to get it there.
 
Ok cruise control rod can be loose you should be able to shake it back and forth 1/16" should be fine.
The spark plugs wire look like they could be interfering with the throttle cable.
I would like to them either go behind and the throttle cable bracket then follow the valve cover for 1 and 3.
Does the cruise control work?
 
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