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"WTF do I do now" THE SAGA CONTINUES

T

THEMCGUIRE

1/2 ton status
Joined
Jan 15, 2009
Posts
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Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
Hello all, It has been awhile. You may remember me, Tom McGuire, as the poster of the "WTF do I do now" thread where I was replacing the sheet metal on my 1988 Full size Blazer.

Since my last posts I have moved to Las Vegas, NV. The journey from NJ was grueling because I broke down 3 times and it cost me over $6,000 in repair and hotel bills while waiting for repairs.

The trans blew 658 miles into the trip, in Roanoke, VA. Even though I had it rebuilt in NJ only 15 days before. I was towing a uhaul tandom axel trailer. I stayed in 3rd gear because my research said only tow in overdrive when traveling at high speed (65mph etc) on level or downhill terrain.

The trans guy in NJ said it was my fault. I should have been in OD because the trans lock on my trans only happens in OD. However, others tell me that the trans locks in both 3rd and OD. He would not help me financially. It was basically uphill most of the way from Lyndhurst, NJ to Roanoke.

Since I did not know any local trans repair shops I went to AAMCO. Cost me $2,100.00 for the repair. They said I had to replace the case as well as some of the guts and another new torque converter because my case was damaged where the servo attaches. I don't know anything about transmissions so I just said "fix it all".

I am pretty sure that I lost the stage one upgrade I had done in New Jersey. (Had that done because I was going to be towing...) It took a few days because they had to order the case. All that time we sat in the hotel afraid to spend money because of this extra expense. We left Roanoke 6 days later, including a weekend when the shop was closed.

We made it as far as Okemah, Oklahome when both head gaskets blew. This happened on Friday night. I sent my wife and kids in our other 2 cars on ahead so they would be there when the moving truck arrived. Then I spent the weekend in Okemah only to find that the only repair shop in town would not work on my truck.

I had to get towed to Henryetta, Ok. The owner and driver of Eastside Wreckers, named Freddie, was wonderful. When we, Freddie and I, went to pick up the truck to tow to Henryetta they could not find the keys. They had put the keys on the counter and a gentleman with either dementia or Alzheimer's had stood there sorting his money. They believe he picked them up by mistake. After getting his wife to search his pockets, their house and car the keys could not be found. We had to wait 3 hours for a locksmith to come from Henryetta to make new keys. Freddie waited with me patiently all that time.

When he dropped me off he told me to call him if I need a ride anywhere in town while I waited. He also stored my trailer in his yard while my truck was being fixed. FOR FREE!!!!

When we got to Henryetta Freddie recommended "Jim's Auto Service" It took 4 days, Jim is an older gentleman who did not work overtime. But, the heads were flat, no cracks so I just needed the head gaskets.

BTW If your near Henryetta, Ok I recommend the buffet at the restaurant formerly known as Chair Crushers on Old US Highway 62 and Dewey Bartlette Road. (Google maps still shows the old name, fyi) I forgot the new name but I had the BEST fried chicken that I EVER HAD in my life there. It is even better than my wife's and I told her so, that is how good it was.

Next my muffler came loose, slid to the side and melted my gas gauge wire. I did not know this till I ran out of gas at 4 AM in New Mexico. I could not fix it, so I just filled up every 150 miles thereafter. Somewhere along the way I lost my Air Pump belt. I only found out about that when I went to got the smog test in Las Vegas. I was only getting about 6 mpg which is why I filled up every 150 miles.

Finally, I lost my universal joint somewhere in western Arizona. Was able to get that fixed in a couple of hours and finally made it to Vegas later that day.

OMG driving the hills in Arizona was both awe inspiring and terrifying when towing a trailer. The roads twist and turn in the mountains with their beautiful vistas but towing, with every passing truck blowing me to the right, on a 7% downgrade was scary. OK story done. LOL.



So, I am posting today for advise because all the belts came off my truck yesterday. My son was giving a friend a ride from Vegas to Creech AFB in Indian Springs. It started to overheat so he pulled over.

All the fan belts were just hanging there. None were broken at all. When I got there with tools we put all the belts back. In the process we noticed a bolt was loose behind the pulley on the power steering pump, it was sticking out about 1/2" but not touching the pulley. We tightened that down.

We got all the belts back on and started it up when I noticed that the pulley on the power steering pump wobbled. But the belts were staying on and with fingers crossed we started heading back to my home in Vegas.

btw his friend got picked up by another airmen heading to Creech in the meantime.

As I followed my son, about a mile down the road, I saw smoke coming from under the truck. I had him pull over. He was overheating again. As he started to pull over a belt dropped from the truck. It was the air pump belt. It looks undamaged.

When we opened the hood all the belts except for the serpertine belt had come off again. However, the serpentine belt now appeared frayed. Not wanting to have this happen again, I attached my tow bar and towed it home.


The first thing I do not understand is how the air pump belt could come off the truck undamaged. It, like all the belts, except for the power steering belt, is around the fan pulley. It had to come loose, and work it's way over the fan blades to come out. The air pump does not move so it did not come loose that way.

Next thing I do not understand is how all the belts came loose if only the the power steering pulley is bad ? i.e. wobbly. The air pump is on the passenger side of the fan and the serpentine belt is not attached to the power steering pump pulley.

Before I install a new power steering pump I want to make sure that there is not some other reason ALL the belts came off. When all belts were on, the engine sound ok to me. It did not smoke when we started off, but a mile down the road it was overheating again. Despite the serpentine belt still on and tight.

If the water pump is bad could that cause all the belts to come off ?

I just went and removed the serpentine belt and tried to wobble the fan. No front to back or left to right movement which to me means the water pump is still good, right???

I also spun the power steering pulley and found a V indentation on the rear of the back pulley. I suspect that this deep V might cause the pulley to slide off. Could one belt coming off cause all the others to come off?

Please review and advise if I should just replace the power steering pump and pullies and move on or

if I should be looking deeper. Would appreciate suggestions on what to check if I have to look

deeper.

Thanks for your time, looking forward to some answers.

Regards,


Tom McGuire
 
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If one belt comes off, it could take other belts wit it. Replace the power steering pully, then remove the smog pump all together, check all the belt alignments, and see if this solves anything. Welcome to Las Vegas.
 
If you can find one, I'd suggest pulling ALL the pulleys off another donor rig, just make sure its the same setup as yours. I'd make sure to compare a donor with yours to make sure you aren't missing some brackets or bolts. IIRC the rebuilt power steering pumps don't come with pulleys (too many variations) so you'll have to reuse what you have if you get a pump. Autozone loans pulley pullers BTW. Don't try to do it another way.

Your pulley/belt story is much more odd than mine, but came home from work one day and parked my 80's Olds Cutlass in the driveway. I created all sorts of problems on that car, but at that very instant it was working fine. Came out the next morning, started the car up, and instantaneous belt squeel as loud as is possible. I tried belt dressing, cleaning pulley off, you name it, finally replaced the belt. Same problem. For whatever reason I decided to swap the crank pulley. Can't remember if I noticed it tweaked or not, but somehow, something had happened to that pulley just sitting overnight, that had caused it to go bad. Problem never came back. So random crazy stuff does happen.

For your trip. A) This is why I don't do automatics anymore B) Had the same thing happen to me moving back out West. Well, actually I lost the transfercase in North Carolina 10 miles into the trip, then lost the transmission in Arizona. If it helps you feel better, AAMCO did both repairs/rebuilds, and both repairs held for years of driving, and apparently after I sold the truck too.
 
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I thought I had a similar problem on my first 1000 mile trip out to blazer bash back in 2006. Driving down the freeway at 45mph, the engine is screaming high rpm only a couple miles into the trip. Took it to a repair shop in the next town and he checked it over for a few hours and doesn't find anything wrong with it. We get back on the freeway and it's doing the same thing. My wife says, this lever on the transmission looks maybe in the wrong position? I tell her "no way", it's always like that. After a few more miles I finally learned what 4-low was on the transfer case. :)
 
Be sure to check the pully itself to see if it is bent or the axle on the pump is bent.

Josh
 
bp71k5 said:
I thought I had a similar problem on my first 1000 mile trip out to blazer bash back in 2006. Driving down the freeway at 45mph, the engine is screaming high rpm only a couple miles into the trip. Took it to a repair shop in the next town and he checked it over for a few hours and doesn't find anything wrong with it. We get back on the freeway and it's doing the same thing. My wife says, this lever on the transmission looks maybe in the wrong position? I tell her "no way", it's always like that. After a few more miles I finally learned what 4-low was on the transfer case. :)
Click to expand...

This is hilarious... :haha:

Thanks for sharing! :thumb:
 
Did you change the belt setup on that engine or what, could have sworn they were all flat ribbed belts except for the AC belt.

My 87 burb was that way.
 
Lost fan belts

Was going to reply earlier but system would not let me checking back just now and all of a sudden I can post replies again.

First off thanks for all for the help and the laughs.

to 4xcrazy:

I have not changed anything. All belts except the serpentine, which is flat ribbed, are almost V shaped with the bottom of the V flattened.

To One Ton:

I liked your answer most that "sometimes when one belt comes off the others do also". I am very hopeful that this is so.

Since I failed the smog test with the air pump belt missing but passed when I put the belt on I do not feel comfortable removing the air pump and that belt is still in good shape. Thanks for the welcome to your city. I love it here so far and I am broke recovering from my move. Cannot wait to enjoy the city when I get to keep some of my money.

to dyeager535:

The shaft of the power steering pulley wiggles around in all directions when the belt is off. I looked for replacement of the two pulleys on the power steering but only found one. I hope you just stack 2 of the same. I have a puller I inherited from my brother in law. I have invested thousands in this truck. Whenever I fix something I go all the way so I will be replacing the pump, pulleys, shaft and both low and high pressure hoses when I do this.

to JoshHefnerX:

The pulley closest to the power steering pump has a deep V in the back wall. This definitely has to be replaced.

to bp71k5: Thanks for the laugh. I hope my problem is that simple. :D

My income is monthy, VA disability, so I cannot fix this truck until after the first of the month. I will report back after the repair to let you know the results.

Thanks again for the help.

Regards,

Tom McGuire
 
WTF do I do now... The saga continues

So I found out why this all happened. Last summer when I finally got this truck back on the road the steering pump belt squealed a lot. I could not figure it out myself so I took it to a "trusted mechanic".

He found that one of the bolts for the power steering pump had snapped off and was not holding the pump securely. He removed the pump and extracted the bolt. Reassembled all and the squeal went away.

When all the belts fell off and I found that the dent in the pulley was the cause I decided to replace the pulley. Cost me $85.00 for replacement pulley as these are not made any longer. I got a free used pump with it. :))...

When I removed the pulley from the pump I found another pump bracket bolt wedged inside the pulley. So what I believe happened is that when that "trusted mechanic" (not so much any longer)... re-assembled the pump to the bracket he did not use any bolt lock. Over my 2700 mile trip to vegas the bolts vibrated out and damaged the pulley.

Since I was replacing the pump I decided to put new hoses as well. When attempting to put the new hoses in I found that the hose for the pressure side would not go into the steering gear. Upon inspection, which I should have done before, I found that the old hose and now the new hose were stripped. Apparently when that "trusted mechanic" re-assembled the pump he stripped the pressure intake.

Thinking I could save it I ordered a 11/16" tap and die $22.00 delivered. Only to find that the tap could not repair the damage because it could not get deep enough to get to the damaged threads at the bottom.

$160.00 for a new steering gear and a second pressure hose.

I topped off all the fluids, You may remember when the belts fell off my son was driving and he does not look at the gauges very often. So the truck overheated.

Anyway, refilled all fluids and started her up. Took her around the block and coolant was blowing everywhere. Temp gauge maxed out. It was coming from the seam of the radiator.

OMFG..... I ordered a new radiator since I have so many other new parts. Got a 100% aluminum one for only 107 bucks. It arrived in only 3 days. Installed it right away. Flushed the cooling system, installed new coolant, 50/50 mix. Started her up and white smoke coming from the exhaust that will not stop. Checked the new coolant and found it was contaminated with a small amount of oil.

How long did he drive it without any coolant, he says "when I saw smoke I pulled over." But since he NEVER F...ing looks at the gauges I guess he either blew the head gaskets or cracked the block.

Since the head gaskets were just put in when I got stuck in Oklahoma in February I suspect he cracked the block. I put in a bottle of that block crack repair. (25 bucks) and ran it for 45 minutes. Coolant was leaking out of the catalytic converter for about 20 minutes that that stopped. After 45 min of running the white smoke was down to about 10% of when I started.

I let the engine cool and the next day I started it up. No coolant from the cat but the amount of white smoke from the exhaust was right back where it was when I started the day before.

I believe I am now into this truck to the tune of almost $20,000. The following is it's current state:

I have replaced:

All floors, inner fenders, outer fenders, floor support metal,
tailgate
door skins which knocked over and re-dented before reinstalling on the truck.
poly body mounts
all window guides and gaskets
all glass except triangle windows
Entire AC system replaced including high flow condenser and evaporator.
Master cylinder and front disk brake calipers and rotors.
Power steering pump, power steering gear and hoses.
Aluminum radiator
Steering shaft replaced with one from a jeep.
Added transmission cooler
Trans rebuilt (3rd time) 3k miles ago
Universal joint
tie rods about 5000 miles ago
ratchet shifter
Upgraded lights and windows to run off of relays.
Fuel Injectors
Adjustable fuel pressure spring installed.
Last summer - new plugs, wires, distributor cap.


So 3 questions:

first: should I assume it is a cracked block ?

second: should I replace the engine and if not should I part the truck out or sell it as one piece.

third: If i should sell the truck how much should I ask for it.


I am close to giving up.

Looking forward to some advise.

Thanks all and regards from beautiful Las Vegas....

Tom McGuire
 
Cars, especially old ones, are not an "investment", but a fiscal liability. They are money pits and depreciate faster than they rust. They are, in sum, a sure-fire way to lose money. If you're concerned about how much more you'll lose, you should consider cutting your losses and selling now. Note that no matter what you've done to it, with a blown motor you'll be lucky to get a couple of grand for it, parts or whole. It hurts; I know, I've done it. I sold my (running!) crewcab for less than two grand, having put into the same kind of money you did into yours. There's just no market for old fuel hog trucks.

That said, replacing the motor isn't exorbitantly spendy if you do it yourself. A crate motor for these trucks isn't but a coupla grand even when you count in all the accessories (see below for further detail.) Paying somebody to do it will of course cost more.

If this is your only or primary vehicle, however, I hate to say it, but you should look closely at dumping the truck and getting something more modern. Even with a new motor in it, an old truck is still old and will give you trouble. If you want reliability, get a late-model Toyota or something.

As long as this is a project vehicle, then take a look at the last few pages of Colby's engine swap discussion in his build thread. You can get a *brand new*, not rebuilt, crate motor from your local Chevy dealer, and do the swap in your driveway in a long weekend if you're mechanically inclined and/or have buddies to help.

Only you can judge your mechanical skills and desire to keep the thing vs your need for a reliable vehicle. It sounds to me like your skill set is such that you're paying other people to do the work, and so that Corolla might be more your speed.

-- A
 
Likely you just took out the head gaskets again. It's pretty hard to crack a block...

Take a deep breath, then pull the heads and clean everything up. Add new head gaskets etc and you should finally be back to square one.
 
small block or something crack prone like the 6.2?

SBC's take an astounding amount of punishment before blocks crack IME.
 
tRustyK5 said:
small block or something crack prone like the 6.2?

SBC's take an astounding amount of punishment before blocks crack IME.
Click to expand...

It was a 6.5TD.

I just remember the overwhelming discouragement when we turned the key for the first time afterwards... :doah:

Glad to hear that small blocks don't typically do that.
 
You'll never get CLOSE to what you have into the truck, out of it. If it's in as good a shape as it should be now (outside of the coolant issue) I say bite the bullet and invest a bit more money into it, and maybe, if you are lucky, that will keep you from having to invest, no, dump any more money into it for awhile.

I think there are autozones down there, right? Go borrow their cooling system pressure tester. Pull all plugs, fill the radiator to the top, pressurize the system to about the max the tester will go, and if the needle doesn't start dropping quickly/coolant isn't spewing let it sit for about 45 minutes, checking periodically. If pressure has dropped a noticeable amount in that period, look on the ground for leaks. Works best if parked on flat concrete. If no leaks, have someone crank the engine over and see which, if any, cylinders coolant is blown out of.

What year is your truck, did I miss that info somewhere?
 
dyeager535 said:
You'll never get CLOSE to what you have into the truck, out of it. If it's in as good a shape as it should be now (outside of the coolant issue) I say bite the bullet and invest a bit more money into it, and maybe, if you are lucky, that will keep you from having to invest, no, dump any more money into it for awhile.
Click to expand...

I agree. Why start on another vehicle with an unknown list of issues to discover, when you already know there's a lot of solid stuff on this one. You should get to enjoy the benefits of your "investments", not some stranger.

Yes, you've had a remarkably bad streak on this one, but it should end soon. When you get them right, they can be quite reliable. I'm in the camp of fixing stuff before you sell it, anyway. You really lose your money selling a non-runner.
 
Kinda sounds like my project. Had a new goodwrench 350 in it w/ about 2k miles on it. Valves stuck from sitting before I got it and started pulling rocker studs from the head. Rather than put money into rebuilding cheap ass heads, bought some new heads... then had to reseal the trans. Then got a leak in the intake manifold.... and on it goes..

However, I don't know that even if it turns out to be a leaky head gasket, that I'd trust the bearings in it. That oil gets diluted and those bearings go quick.

If you have a cherry picker and a few buddies you can drop in a crate engine in a weekend... Cheapest ones are the goodwrench 350's about $1500 now.

Oh, I'm not 100% on this but in general the threads on pipes like that are usually npt type - tapered. When you tried to tap that gearbox, hopefully you tried that.

Josh
 
I think new head gaskets were put onto an engine with cracked heads, and the gaskets blew out again. you need a new engine. A 2-Bolt GM Goodwrench TBI engine goes for around $1800 at Jegs with free shipping.
 
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