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1989 K5 - Gradual Learning

First 4x4 - learning basic maintenance / upkeep and maybe some small mods.
Overview Gallery Discussion
I was gonna get ask if had to add a lot of atf to trans. This is symptom of bad seal between tans and t case. Along with way over full t case.
Didn't want to get to many subjects in 1 post.
 
One test for fire off and dying. Turn the key to the on position 2x then then crank. If starts and runs, no dying, then your injectors are loosing the prime. Either dripping at the injector or the check valve in the tank is leaking
 
Got 'er cleaned up a bit. First wash in ages.

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@ZooMad75 I would have sworn that the ATF level checked out okay. I remember checking it not too long ago but will do it again. Will make sure I do it according to the manual and all that too.

@Wes Harden that key on/off procedure made it so that the truck barely had to crank at all before firing off but then it still died immediately after firing off. I think this IAC is slowly figuring itself out but the issue still is here as of this drive.
 
In regards to your fuel delivery concerns, when was the last time you change the fuel filter on the frame? That could be causing some fuel starvation if it's getting plugged.
 
mrk5 said:
In regards to your fuel delivery concerns, when was the last time you change the fuel filter on the frame? That could be causing some fuel starvation if it's getting plugged.
Click to expand...

It has been a while time-wise. Last replaced in August 2019 @ 151k miles. The K5 has 161k miles on it now.
 
It has been a while since I've worked on the Blazer. I've been fussing with the K30 and for the most part the K5 is driving fine.

One of the problems I've been discussing in the thread recently is that when starting up the K5, it will crank --> fire off --> die immediately. I've always had to have my foot on the throttle a little bit for it to start without dying.

Well on Wednesday I started it up without my foot on the throttle and it fired off just fine. It did not die like it normally does. The weather here in Denver on Wednesday was really nice, we got up to 70 degrees in the afternoon. When I started the truck it was probably still 60+ degrees out.

This is obviously a major clue. I had always thought that the K5 wasn't getting enough air because I knew that I had to open the throttle a little bit for it to start without dying. But it being able to start on a 70 degree day tells me that not enough fuel is being delivered during those cold starts.

On a separate note... I bought a cable that will allow me to connect my laptop to the diagnostic port (ALDL to USB). I am going to download TunerPro RT and try to do some data logging. I am so curious to see whether I can learn anything from it. @mrk5 I found an old thread where you were asking about using the correct ECM via WinALDL. In that thread I saw that you were eventually going to go with TunerPro RT. Let me know if you have any tips for me because I am guessing that we have the same ECM.
 
shima said:
It has been a while since I've worked on the Blazer. I've been fussing with the K30 and for the most part the K5 is driving fine.

One of the problems I've been discussing in the thread recently is that when starting up the K5, it will crank --> fire off --> die immediately. I've always had to have my foot on the throttle a little bit for it to start without dying.

Well on Wednesday I started it up without my foot on the throttle and it fired off just fine. It did not die like it normally does. The weather here in Denver on Wednesday was really nice, we got up to 70 degrees in the afternoon. When I started the truck it was probably still 60+ degrees out.

This is obviously a major clue. I had always thought that the K5 wasn't getting enough air because I knew that I had to open the throttle a little bit for it to start without dying. But it being able to start on a 70 degree day tells me that not enough fuel is being delivered during those cold starts.

On a separate note... I bought a cable that will allow me to connect my laptop to the diagnostic port (ALDL to USB). I am going to download TunerPro RT and try to do some data logging. I am so curious to see whether I can learn anything from it. @mrk5 I found an old thread where you were asking about using the correct ECM via WinALDL. In that thread I saw that you were eventually going to go with TunerPro RT. Let me know if you have any tips for me because I am guessing that we have the same ECM.
Click to expand...
I don't think I ever did anything with it, I'm afraid. Or if I did, I've completely forgotten.

Funny tho I was just thinking about the winaldl cable yesterday because I was driving the Sledgehammer which runs a tired old tbi 350. It had a check engine light for a while but apparently self repaired because it eventually went away. I don't remember now if I kept that cable.
 
It has been a long time since I've checked-in with you all!

I haven't done a whole lot with the Blazer, but it does have some shiny new stuff under the hood now. My girlfriend's '93 XJ needed to be converted to R134a. I got referred to a place that does those conversions by my local shop. The guy did a great job on her Jeep and I asked him about whether he'd peek at my Blazer. I brought it in on the Thursday after Memorial Day and he gave me a ring with a quote. It was a bit expensive, but after some thought I decided to go for it. I had read a bunch of AC threads on CK5 and I just decided that it was something I didn't care to fuss with.

It turns out that my Blazer already had R134a fittings on it, but the system was 100% bone dry of refridgerant. He replaced the compressor, accumulator, and condenser. He replaced the orifice tube and showed me the old one. It was clogged with crap. He repaired the high-side service port and put on some new hoses and fittings. Everything works great and I'm stoked.

Here are some pics:

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Outside of that, @Capt Ron and @ZooMad75 asked me whether I was going to make it to BB this year...

I am definitely interested in it but I feel woefully unprepared and I am not sure whether I can make it happen.

Please forgive the dumb questions:
  • I'm on a 4" lift (spring front / block rear) with 35" tires. The Blazer is otherwise bone stock. I know that I can do some trails there, but where would I want to limit myself (I don't mind some minor body damage so long as I can make it through the whole trail)??
  • Do you guys bring a ton of spare fluids / tools / etc?
  • I don't have:
    • A high-lift jack...
    • A full-size spare...
    • A CB radio setup...
    • Etc... do you think I should get all that stuff before going?
  • What do you do if you break down on the trail and cannot get off of it?
  • Would there be a chance that I could get stranded there, or do they have offroad rescue type services that would get me to the nearest shop if needed?
Thanks for your guys' input. I want to go to BB, but I just have a lot going on in my life right now and I don't feel like I'm well-prepared. I know there is a fair amount of time between now and BB but I also know that I won't get a ton of time with the Blazer most likely between now and then.
 
You don’t need to have a full tilt rock crawler to enjoy trails in Moab. The most important thing is that your truck is mechanically sound. Which if you are driving it regularly it should be. You can bring it over and we can check it out further but I expect it to be ok.

You should have basic hand tools. Spares like a belt would be handy but not a deal breaker. Getting a spare that matches is just smart on the trail and on the road. That won’t be a huge investment either.

CB is pretty much dead. Don’t bother. Being in a group many will have a radio to talk on but you don’t have to get one. Many have jumped to rugged radios or full ham radios. Though a cheap one can be picked up for under $30 if you want to have one. I can go more in depth in person or you can borrow my handheld.


As far as breaking goes you will not be left behind. I’m proof of that. Broken t-case, huh lockout, debeaded tire and bent tie rod. Three guys stuck with me and got me out. I was a bad case because it couldn’t make the drive home. At least three offered up a ride home on a trailer if I needed it.

I’d suggest you take the easy trails with me and you’ll not be in danger of body damage or mechanical unless something crazy happens. You’ll do fine.
 
Drew I am going in my burb on 33's around 4" lift. I do not want body damage, going to use all chicken by passes. Am going for the views, the back country adventure, and most of hang out with a bunch of cool peps that have the same interest I do.
Also I will probably have enough spare parts for more than my self.
Hight lift jack not required. You may want to invest in a bottle jack and get yourself a full size spare. After you recover from the ac update bill
 
I've never had a highlift, always have a bottle jack and a few 2x4s in the tool box tho.
Get an action packer style tote and start a box that stays in the truck.
Jack, and wrench that fits your lugs and wheel.
Spare belt
A basic set of sockets and hand tools.
A bit of fuel line and clamps, and a bit of heater hose.
@ktmoutfront made me a believer on a spare upper radiator hose.
Extra oil, for engine and axles, a gallon of water and a gallon of straight coolant.
A few plug wires (I save a few good ones after a tune up)
A few electrical connectors, and some wire.

Plus anything else that is a common problem, a good spare is invaluable any time your on the road imo.
 
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

I am going to start prepping and shopping. I don't know how I'm going to store the 35" spare yet, but I'll do some research on the forum while I'm looking around for the tire itself.

@ZooMad75 I'd love to swing by just to catch up anyhow... but having you look over the Blazer would be a nice peace of mind step for me...

@83ChevyK5Blazer thanks for the list, I really appreciate that. A lot of those items I would have missed.
 
Last week, I read through this entire thread. Okay, I skimmed through it.

I was looking for things that I have asked for help on that I still haven't resolved. Some of these things I asked about multiple times. The CK5 community always gave me guidance... I just never did anything with it.

I came up with quite the list. The 6/28/23 items were just added and the legacy items were already on my list.

6/28/23:
  1. Fuel delivery issue
  2. T-case output leak
  3. Tighten rear u-bolts
  4. Replace cat / full exhaust...
    1. 2.5" y-pipe + high flow cat + new muffler
  5. Fix trans crossmember spacers...
  6. Go through EGR diagnostic chart from Zoo...
  7. Check fuse box for correct amperage fuses...
  8. Buy a new tie rod...
    1. Worth it for ORD TREs? Worth it for 1.5"?
  9. Check steering box bolts again
  10. Check for steering box frame cracks
  11. Check ball joints - pull at 6 and 12 o'clock on the tire. Look at knuckle while doing it

Legacy Items:
  1. Cooling system service
  2. Replace brake shoes and hardware
  3. Replace oxygen sensors (N/A if exhaust changed)
  4. Drive axle service
  5. Starter wire tube installation
  6. Shackle flip installation
  7. Fix antenna
One of the easy items that I found in the thread was separating my spark plug wires. Years ago, @82355 suggested that you can use zipties to separate them. I went for that last week and got it done.

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I am not sure how many of the other to do list I will tackle before BB, but I am going to pull the Blazer into the garage and dig into it quite a bit over the next couple of months.

First up is a fuel delivery issue. The issue has been around a long time, and I have been ignoring it and/or not addressing it properly because it hasn't been much of a pain point until recently.

I took the Blazer camping this past weekend up at Pinewood Reservoir. On the way there, I felt the Blazer stumble when I let my foot off the gas. Like I said, this is nothing new - I've actually mentioned it a few times in this thread already. It seems like when the Blazer is at operating temp, it stumbles or shudders when I don't have my foot down. On the way to the campground, I was cruising at about 70 mph headed north on I-25. I looked at my temp gauge and it was showing 155 (the tick mark midway between 100 and 210). I thought that was pretty damn low because I had been driving for about an hour straight at this point. I also realized that I had never seen the temp gauge get higher than that. I called @ZooMad75 and he suggested that I hit the engine with a point-and-shoot thermometer when I get home. We also chatted about whether the stumble could be because the ECM could be pumping in excess fuel into the engine if it really thinks it is at 155 degrees.

On the way home, I was at a stoplight and the Blazer was shuddering terribly. It died on me. I managed to get it home without issue, but I had to slow down way in advance of stoplights in order to buy myself time. Sitting in drive with my foot on the brake was about the worst thing I could do. The issue seemed to go away if I put it into park, but I didn't test that until I got home.

Technically, I don't know whether I am running lean or rich. I can only think of these clues...
  • When starting the Blazer, it will fire off and then immediately die if it is cold outside. I must push the gas pedal down a little bit if I want to keep it alive. Afterward I can let my foot off and it will idle fine.
  • It seems to idle better when it is cold. When it is hot, it will stumble/shudder and eventually die if I have my foot on the brake while in drive. This does not seem to be a problem when I am in park, and the idle jumps way up when I put it into park.
SO with all of that written out, I am going to do these things today:
  1. Pull the plugs to try and determine whether I'm running rich or lean.
  2. Get it up to operating temp and hit it with the point-and-shoot thermometer to see whether the temp gauge is accurate or not.
  3. Test my fuel pressure.
As always, I'll keep you guys posted. This fuel delivery issue is hands-down the most worrying thing I have in front of me before BB.

Thanks for everything you guys have done to support me over the last six(!) years. Here is a pic from the drive up to Pinewood Reservoir. It is beautiful out there.

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the deceleration stumble maybe egr related. Ie hanging open and causing a vacuum leak. After checking the temp at t stat, you really need to use a scan tool and see what ecm thinks the temp is. They use 2 different sensors. Scan tool will tell if the ecm is adding or removing fuel, also o2 readings. very handy tool. Prob get an obsolete obd 1 used pretty cheap.
Test for egr would be to remove vac line and plug. Or while it running crappy tap it with a dead blow, don't bend it, if starts to idle better it was stuck open. Harder to do esp if you don't have a helper.
 
I got updates...

I just drove to AutoZone to return some door lock cylinders that I bought for the K30. Probably a 10 minute drive each way. Probably didn't get above 40mph. I'm in my garage now and am testing. I am thinking that my EGR is closed because I didn't get fast enough for it to open.

Lazer thermometer shows 184 at the intake where the rad hose connects (water neck?). Temp gauge still pinned at 155. So that confirms something is off there.

A while back someone (I think it was @Wes Harden) said that if my EGR is being held open, it could be because my cat isn't flowing. I shot that for fun with the lazer and it reads over 300 degrees!!

I just dropped it from Park into Drive and it is stumbling... but not nearly as bad as it did earlier. I.e. it isn't going to die on me.
 
If you have high back pressure in the exhaust it should make any power at higher rpms.
 
I know we talked earlier on the phone but after reading this I do have some thoughts.

The stumble like Wes indicated could be a vacuum leak. Check at the egr if it’s stuck open but also a vacuum leak could be from the brake booster. Though a leak at the booster should give a hard brake pedal that be tough to ignore. But the description being worse when stopped with your foot on the brake made me think of that.

My offer still stands about using my tech 1 scan tool. Come get it tomorrow and I’ll show you the ropes with it. You won’t get more detail from any other generic scanner without spending a ton of money on a shop level unit. I don’t have a car that uses that tool so you can use it as long as you need.

That tool will answer many questions including the mismatch that may be there from the temp sensor for the temp gauge and the other one for the ecm.

A plugged cat in my experience will typically get worse with engine rpm. The higher you go the restrictions limits flow and the engine looses power. But it may idle all day long because the restriction isn’t bad enough to stop the lesser exhaust volume at idle. Your temp gun would help confirm an issue there. The cat temp is pretty hot regardless but it would be even hotter if it’s restricted. But you don’t need to focus on cat temp as much as what the inlet temp and outlet temp is. If everything is ok you’ll have higher temp on the inlet than outlet but they will be closer to each other. Not equal but inlet will be hotter. A plugged cat would have a bigger difference from inlet to outlet temp. You also notice a loss of exhaust volume out of the tailpipe at the same time. There isn’t a post cat o2 sensor on that truck so you can’t compare the o2 values like a later truck. But the temps will get you close.

Fuel pressure is good to know but it’s a pain to check on Tbi trucks. My bet it’s the system is probably in spec at 12-15 psi. I’d be curious if the pressure drops after the pumps is off. You could have a regulator or injector leak.

Hit me up tomorrow as I’ll be around most of the day. We can take some readings while you are here and we can check some stuff out pretty quickly.
 
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