CK5
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The Green Grendel
- Thread starter campfire
- Start date
Really? It should eliminate the ~3" of spacer that I had to add to the middle, and the later ones hump upward on the driver side, so the T-case skid plate should be the only part hanging down. Right? Seems like it's better for 2 of the 3 segments.
I need to take a picture of mine under my '85 K20 after Tuttle. I had to use John's winch to pull it back far enough to drive it home.
Martin
Don't worry about the oil leak, it's an automatic rust proofer 
Don't worry about the oil leak, it's an automatic rust proofer
We've gone from zero oil loss and a clean engine compartment to oil everywhere and a puddle. And since it's just one puddle, I presume it has been happening for less than one day. I can't lose half a quart in <10 miles and call it mere rustproofing. That's more like trying to set up an oil slick behind me on the road.
Go go gadget oil slick!
Didn't get to this yesterday, so I carpooled today instead of driving it. Today's blizzard brought a warm front with it. So a little bit of snow melted off. Lo and behold, I found 2 more oil piles that had been covered up. So it's not a one-day oil loss. I fired it up after work today and watched oil slowly drip out of the upper radiator tank coupling (a drip every 3 or 4 seconds). I gave it 3/4ths of a turn and now I don't see any dripping.
Kinda anti-climatic, but at least it all makes sense now. Mostly. I don't quite understand how 1/2 a quart makes such a large mess, but the visible leak is now gone. So I'll be able to drive it through the 7-13" of snow we're expecting over the next day or two. Should be fun, assuming I don't locker-steer my way right into the ditch.
Kinda anti-climatic, but at least it all makes sense now. Mostly. I don't quite understand how 1/2 a quart makes such a large mess, but the visible leak is now gone. So I'll be able to drive it through the 7-13" of snow we're expecting over the next day or two. Should be fun, assuming I don't locker-steer my way right into the ditch.
Now I have an oddity with the dual alternators. When I turn the key on I get 2 alternator lights illuminated. When running the lights extinguish. But the auxiliary alternator (GEN2) light doesn't completely extinguish. I didn't notice this until I started driving at night. It almost extinguishes, but there is current trickling through it. The grounded alternator (GEN1) light completely extinguishes. But when I turn off the key, that light illuminates briefly as the engine winds down. The GEN2 light does not illuminate.
How should alternator lights behave? I understand volt meters, but I'm a mite confused by both of these "idiot lights."
How should alternator lights behave? I understand volt meters, but I'm a mite confused by both of these "idiot lights."
I had a oil cooler line develop a pinhole leak. The post mortem after showed a small area of the aluminum line that looked like it had been stray arced with a stick welder. still not sure what happened originally...but that's where the pinhole was. The leak started on a wheeling trip. I had my 13 year old daughter with me, and with no warning I had big orange flames trying to squeeze through the gap between the pass fender and the hood. Things were very exciting for 30 seconds or so until I shut it off...
We spent about 45 minutes patching the line up so i could get it home. JB weld and electrical shrink tube did the trick. I guess the pinhole was aimed directly at the alternator and a spark lit the oil mist.
That's a weird sequence of events.
On Big Blue I melted through the upper radiator hose clamp. Looked like it was arced through. There is the main battery crossover line running right there, but not before or since have I been able to find any cracks in the line, nor would the clamp have been grounded anyway. It was bizarre. I replaced the clamp and haven't had any problems since.
Nobody has an answer for the idiot light question?
Yes. After a month of driving it to work (10 miles / day), I have put approximately 220 miles on it. Still haven't bothered to measure a correction factor for the speedometer. Down to 5/8ths of a tank now. My only mechanical issue was tightening that oil coupling a few days ago. The steering looseness appears to be entirely inside the steering column. My blinker switch won't activate the headlights (I'm stuck in high beams
), so I'll prolly pull the column out and fix both problems when the weather warms up again.I need a blower motor switch, a warm day to reattach the rearview mirror and redo the leaky injector return line, and a few seconds of welder time to fix the shifter & clutch rod.
But things are going pretty well so far. That first test drive was over an hour of driving around, and it's had no problems. So I'm starting to think about using it for the next 100-mile trip.
Yes, it won't fire right off like a modern rig. It takes a certain song-and-dance routine to get it started at sub-zero temperatures. Even with the 500W block heater, it will still take 10 seconds of glow plug to fire off at -10. And without the heater it will be over a minute before it's running. But every morning it starts with a predictable routine, so I'm happy. It hasn't acted up since I shot that film clip, I'll say it just doesn't like getting filmed.
Or I wasn't able to run the plugs and the camera simultaneously, which sounds more plausible.If I had a colder region, or if I was building from scratch, I would install a 1000W inline heater like @beags86 was talking about. That will warm the head (which is what matters) instead of just warming the block.
It's a 6.2 oil burner. My foot rarely comes off of the throttle, that's just the nature of having a low-output engine.
Joking aside, the front steering bothers me more than the rear steering.
Great report Campy. DD duty is great for shaking down a rig. Drove mine for two weeks before Christmas, not one issue. Took it on our snow run, again no issues. Last weekend got a call from my Wrecker driver who got the truck stuck near where we went snow wheeling. Hopped in mine to go pull him out. Got a half hour away from my house and the sob stalled like I hit the key. No stumble no warning. A guy following me stopped and pulled me to the top of the hill I was on.
It would crank, not start. No fuel pump. Used a chunk of wire to the test lead on the fuel pump relay, pump would work but it still wouldn't start. Checked for spark, none. Suspect the ECM is offline. After talking with Larry on the phone I rechecked the fuses by pulling them and not just checking for power with a test light. Found the 10 amp ECM b fuse popped. Didn't have any spares, so I swapped in my radio fuse. Fired right up. Still not sure what caused it to pop, but I'll need to drive it more to see if I can make it happen. Don't need this on the trail in the desert.
It would crank, not start. No fuel pump. Used a chunk of wire to the test lead on the fuel pump relay, pump would work but it still wouldn't start. Checked for spark, none. Suspect the ECM is offline. After talking with Larry on the phone I rechecked the fuses by pulling them and not just checking for power with a test light. Found the 10 amp ECM b fuse popped. Didn't have any spares, so I swapped in my radio fuse. Fired right up. Still not sure what caused it to pop, but I'll need to drive it more to see if I can make it happen. Don't need this on the trail in the desert.
Pictures of the oil leak.
Not much green on the underside of the hood anymore.
Not much green on the underside of the hood anymore.
And the annual salt bath has started. Soon everyone will be driving white vehicles.
Do you travel with a multimeter? It'd be worth measuring the current draw under normal conditions. Just to see if it's close to the threshold.
Do you travel with a multimeter? It'd be worth measuring the current draw under normal conditions. Just to see if it's close to the threshold.
I don't ordinarily run with a meter in the truck. Testing current requires putting the meter in line on the circuit. Kind of hard to do on the roadside. I might need to pick up a fuse buddy that I can plug into the fuse spot and be able to monitor current draw without the meter.
I found another square buddy at work.
