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Did I Kill It?

BerettaMato

BerettaMato

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Jun 11, 2011
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Location
Broomfield, CO
I just flew out to CA and picked up my 89 3/4 350 T400 Burban after weeks of fighting the shipping idiots. She drove great the whole way till I got to east side of Eisenhower tunnel. It would just start slowing down to 40mph on the step grade. I put it in 2nd and she did fine climbing at 45-50mph. I had maybe three or four grades that I had to do this. When I got to Denver she was hard shifting and has no get up and go. I drove the 1300 miles strait and checked the tranny fluid at every stop. I did have to add a little at a few stops. Think she was just super hot or did I kill her. I am going to do a major tune up today and change the tanny fluid and filter. any thing else I should do.
 
details on the truck will help to determine whats going on.



My guess, elevation and a heavy truck.

You say California so I am assuming it came from a lower elevation and now at 5280 it will lack oxygen to make the same power.
 
"89 3/4 350 T400 Burban" not sure what other info you need. It had great power at 9k elevation in mountains in NV and CO. It is TBI so should be fine.
 
bradshawtech was probably looking for gearing and tire size. too tall a tire with a high gear (35"/3.73s) will definitely hurt a trans. take a look at the trans fluid that you drain out of it, the color and smell specifically. if it smells/looks burnt and has a gritty texture to it, you might have hurt it. transmission temp gauges are one of the most important upgrades you can possibly add to any automatic truck.
 
At that elevation the v10 dodge I was driving last time I hauled a truck back had no power. I had a lq9 silverado and it ran OK up there. Get it down and it will run much better. The old trick was flipping the air cleaner lid over.
 
Mud I am ahead of you on the cooler and temp gauge. I am doing a temp for Tran, Dif and Oil. I have 35" 4:10 gears. If I killed the TH-400 how hard is it to upgrade to a 4L80-4L80e or is there a better HD option. buy the way I got 11.25mph running 70-75 of 21hrs strait. I was blow away by that and beat my 17hr strait record. Slept like a baby for six hours best sleep I have gotten in a while LOL.
 
skip the differential and engine oil temps, you don't need another gauge to look at :) Run a bung in the trans pan, near the pickup (will need to remove pan), and put the temp sensor there. My Autometer is set up like this. The bung doubles as a drain plug. :)
 
Last time I had a problem like that in the mountains, it was the cat. Does the burb still have the stock cat on it?

And I think that was the same area that my truck started messing up.
 
K85 Octane said:
skip the differential and engine oil temps, you don't need another gauge to look at :) Run a bung in the trans pan, near the pickup (will need to remove pan), and put the temp sensor there. My Autometer is set up like this. The bung doubles as a drain plug. :)
Click to expand...
What do you hook that up to, a dash light, existing or new? Do you have photos? This sounds like a great idea.
 
I moved to Reno for a few years with my 89 burn and it was a little tired to start with but I remember driving over the pass at heavenly resort and she would only go 30mph at 10k elevation.
 
Hopefully your tune-up will help. Get a new air filter, fuel filter, plugs and wires, rotor and cap, and recondition your TBI.
 
Jessie James said:
What do you hook that up to, a dash light, existing or new? Do you have photos? This sounds like a great idea.
Click to expand...

Without taking another picture, this is all I have. You can see the green wire and a small probe going into the trans pan from the side. It's only wired to a gauge, no light. If I ever worried about a light, it would be engine oil pressure. EDIT: just thought about wrapping the exhaust that goes past the sensor. I don't think I'm having any issues, but just might get around to trying that.


Picture116.jpg
 
Well it checked out all good the tran does have a shift kit so that's why it shifts hard. There is a small leak in the transfer case. So i will have it rebuild soon. I will find out tomorrow if she will pass emissions.
 
Anybody have pics of were the step down switch wire goes into the fuse box. I am going to try to set it up next weekend.
 
My 1989 K5 was crawling by the time I made it to the Eisenhower tunnel when I drove it back from California.

Martin
 
I heated up a th400 towing over Santiam pass in Oregon. It blew the dipstick out and blew a good 2 quarts of atf all over my hot engine. I Drove it like that another 30 miles or so to the nearest gas station and topped it off and kept truckin. Drove if for several more months before swapping to a manual. The th400s are tuff. :D

Used to drive Eisenhower a lot. Altitude is a killer
 
I pulled a k1500 with my avalanche through the tunnel at 25 in first at 5500 rpm. No problem after I returned to normal elevation.
 
most likely an elevation thing. if you have the means to do it. find out what map is supposed to read and have a look? :dunno: I know with my 94 G3500 van, I had to stop and reset the computer (shut off restart) so I could get overdrive back. weird this altitude stuff...
 
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