What did you do to your GMT today? [Part II]

[Blckshdw]

Time to dive into the dash again! Took things apart, and mostly disconnected the old Pioneed HU that's in there. Realized I didn't have any of the 6 RCA cables labelled, so couldn't take the old unit completely out. Need to keep it in place for when I put the Android one in. So all the other connections are unplugged and it's resting in place.

Since testing the old Android HU for the jacked up display, I had rigged up a lil test bench out of some connectors, pigtails and my battery booster. So fired it up, tested some things, and did a bunch of the initial setup from the comfort of my couch, rather than in the truck, and either draining the battery, or loading up the garage with exhaust fumes.



Will get this installed tomorrow, and do the final tweaks, then I'll be a happy camper.

 

[BrianF]

I aired up the tires and did a quick vacuum of the Trailblazer. She was filthy and other than pulling the post pounder and dragging bales, it has sat since early spring. I also ripped off the center console lid in efforts to fix the latch. We are putting plates back on her for the winter. We miss the old girl.

 

[azswiss]

Replaced the sway bar bushings on the front (replaced ACDelco OE with ACDelco OE). They gave out much, much sooner than expected, only 5K miles!!! Inspected and then cleaned up the mounting brackets and made sure to torque the bolts back to spec. Inspected the sway bar links and their bushings, all look good. Cannot figure out why they went out so fast.

 

[Blckshdw]

While out running some errands today, took the time to test out the new HU. While the model is the same as the one I busted, there were definitely a bunch of software updates. Few new steering wheel button options than before. Also having the short/long press availability again was a huge improvement over the last Android HU I had, and the Pioneer couldn't even change the music tracks on my phone

Had great timing, as my needy kid sister called while I was driving, so got to make sure the mic was working properly, and the sound quality on the other end was clear. While the mic plugged into the old Pioneer, it didn't work at all, and I'd have to disconnect the BT when receiving calls, which was annoying. Glad to see it was just a compatibility issue.

Did run into one strange issue, after setting the EQ, decided to move the fader and check each speaker. The rear doors have no output, but when I do set the fader to the rear, I can hear just a faint hint of non bass frequencies coming from the subs. Something tells me I flip flopped the rear & sub RCA plugs Will have to open things back up tomorrow to test...

 

[Mooseman]

I also ripped off the center console lid in efforts to fix the latch.

If you cut off the spring, you don't even need a latch. No more lid with a hard on

 

[2001ZR2]

I changed out the rear shocks in the wife's 06 Envoy Denali over the weekend . The back bounces once now but the front is now very bouncy by comparison. Maybe next week to change the front struts out. Used the 4600 Bilsteins which are noticeably bigger diamater tubes than the stockers.

 

[BrianF]

Well just had to add, we are happy to have the Trailblazer back on the road. Did a wicked job of back road cruising during our big windy but not so snowy storm. My wife was super happy to be behind the wheel as opposed to the Dodge Grand Mormon van

 

[aaserv]

Found out awhile back that the front seat wouldnt move forward. I keep it back as far as it will go but when I loaned it to my daughter she quickly brought it back saying she couldnt drive it like that.
I could see the cables coming off the motor twisting when I pushed the button so I knew the motor was good and getting power.
Taking the 2 rear bolts out with the seat right on top of them was fun but got em out. Seat came right out without much of a fight. Got it on the ground wrestled it around in a few different positions and couldnt find a dang thing wrong.
End up removing the 2 T35 screws on both sides that keep the tracks in place. Once I did that I found the 1 side was a little tight. Never did see anything actually come out of it but after some liberal application of gun oil on both sides they mover back and forth easily. Went ahead and lubed every thing else I could see that moved, slid or hinged while I was under there. Slapped it back in, hooked up the wires.....(WTH does the yellow plug do? there is no wires coming out of it...weird)
Works like a champ. Took about 30 mins including 10 mins with the vac hitting places that hadnt been cleaned in almost 20 years !!

Productive day for me....lol

 

[Mooseman]

Yellow plugs are always for airbags. Probably for a side seat airbag which yours didn't get as an option.

 

[Reprise]

Drove mine into the city proper on Saturday (a little over 120 miles, both ways).
On the way back, as I'm about to get onto the interstate, I hear a nasty sound from the front wheelwell (almost like when there's 'air in your heater core' kind of thing). Pull over into a lot, pop the hood, turn the wheel lock to lock, etc. -- all is quiet and looks good, no binding, etc.

Got the thing home w/ just the noise. I figure it's either the front hub (no grinding noise, like you usually hear), or maybe something in the front diff (I run 2WD > 99% of the time, so it's not like the front axle was engaged). Will put her in the garage in the next day or two and see what's up. Right now, I have something to do on the Accord that takes precedence, and I'm waiting on that part to arrive, first.

The annoying thing is that there was no warning -- it wasn't like I hit a big pothole, etc., etc. So it'll be interesting to find out what the issue is. Haven't noticed any new leaks, so I don't think it's a lubrication issue on the diff, etc.

 

[coolride]

Lots of rust removal. Prepped for paint.

 

[Mooseman]

And on the kitchen stove no less. The wife must love you!

Installed the dash cam that used to be in the Avy.

 

[coolride]

And on the kitchen stove no less. The wife must love you!

Installed the dash cam that used to be in the Avy.

The GF is reluctant to eat here...

 

[coolride]

Topped off the steering pump reservoir with fresh fluid, and pumped it through the system. It drained into the white container, and it looked like turkey gravy. I'll buy more fluid and continue flushing until it clears up.

 

[2001ZR2]

Replaced the front struts on the wife's 2006 Envoy but have to start the replacement of thermostat and sensor on my son's 2005 TB next.

 

[xavierny25]

Finally had a moment today to have a look at what oil the catch can has collected over the last 1yr (maybe year and a half can't remember to be honest)
Little oil coming through at the bottom sight glass fitting.
Then this.....

Definitely oil but it almost made me want to do an oil change. I checked the dip stick and it was good aswell as the oil cap no funky froth. Cleaned everything up and put it back together. Think I'll consider a better catch can kit.

 

[coolride]

Today I am thankful for finding an open store, that also sells power steering fluid.

 

[flyboy2610]

Drove it to and from Omaha to spend Thanksgiving with my brother-in-law(s) and their family. Had a great time. The new (7-21) Firestone Destination A/T2's are pretty quiet even at 75mph.
Now if I don't eat anything until Monday my daily calorie count should come out just about even.
Remember, it's not what we eat between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day that makes us fat, it's what we eat between New Year's Day and Thanksgiving!

 

[Beacon]

@xavierny25 that's most likely just condensation, the oil fill cap on my liberty gets some yellow funk on it, as well. Scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it.

Hauled pellet stove today. Got a good deal at tractor supply.

 

[Mooseman]

Took the Sierra on its first long'ish drive to and from Montreal to pick up a Murphy bed for a friend. About 500km round trip mostly highway between 120-125 km/h (75-78 MPH). Kinda disappointed with the 22.4 calculated MPG but that was a high'ish speed, I mostly let the cruise control do the work and we were 3 people with a 200 lbs load on the return trip. Also had a strong headwind coming back. Still pretty good for a 1500 truck.

 

[BrianF]

I bet you are also on winter blend now. It will be garbage. Although to be fair, unloaded i was not seeing much difference between summer and winter blend. Winter was just under 18mpg and summer just over. Give or take.

I have to check but I think mine got better mileage the faster we went. Needed to hit that engine sweet spot.

 

[Blckshdw]

Popped the hood to start eyeballing the aux tranny cooler upgrade project that's been on the back burner for a pretty long time. Due to the dimensions (7.5" tall x 23" wide x 1.25" thick) there will be some modding to the header panel involved. The section that covers the hood latch support arms will need to be trimmed where those dots line up. The latch supports angle inwards at the top of the condenser, so the cooler may need to be set a bit lower in the opening to clear them.




Currently, I have the ports on the cooler facing upwards, so I didn't trap any air. From what I've seen with some of the TBSS guys that run this cooler, they run them ports down and haven't had any problems. That would allow me to shorten the lines running to it, going under the radiator.

I'm also currently mounted to the top of the header panel, with bent brackets to set it back in the opening. Also thinking of multi purposing the condenser to radiator mounting points up top. Thought about getting longer bolts, and making standoffs out of PVC tubing... But since I'll have to do something about the lower mounts, likely to where the bumper cover bolts onto the top of the bumper support, I'll probably just buy some perforated aluminum strips since those are much easier to bend than the steel strips provided.




Will most likely wait until the end of December to do this, as I'll have lots of time off, and can leave the front end taken apart for days at a time so I can tinker with it.

 

[Sparky]

Still chugging along at 233k miles. Due to supply constraints in the vehicle market I may be looking at having to do some more work to the old truck. The front left lower ball joint has gotten angry lately, and it is about due for another full fluid change.

 

[flyboy2610]

This was actually Saturday, the 27th.
I hooked Snowball up to Frankie, the trailer I built out of a 1968 F-100 pickup. Frankie is short for Frankentruck, so named because I counted parts from 4 different models years on that pickup!
Anyway, we hauled 21 full bags of leaves to the landfill. This was actually the second trip. We only took 19 bags the first trip a couple of weeks ago.

 

[TollKeeper]

Gave my wives GMT a oil change. Probably the last one. Going to be selling it in the next few months. I am hoping to find the perfect 9-7x or Rainier for her. But I imagine I am going to be buying a Volvo XC90 V8.

 

[Mektek]

I considered the Saablazer project before, but could only get 3 of 4 wheels, so that was a bust. How about this mutant:

Introducing the new TRAILWAGEN!!!!!!

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Bought an 08 Yukon XL with a hurt motor to play with and be able to keep the family mobile in the winter.

 

[aaserv]

Got a lil break in the weather so decided to try to install the new rear springs. Almost 2 easy...thought sure I must have been doing something wrong. Popped them right out and the new ones right in. Maybe 35-45 mins total and most of that was fooling with jacks and tires. New ones were a tad longer although the factory specs showed them to be the same length. Guess the old ones had collapsed a lil in 18 years. The new 1's are for an 08 Tahoe. Variable rate and wound tighter. If the pics come through you can see the old ones had about 7 turns and the new springs 8 in the same length. So somewhat stiffer but in the little driving Ive done in it afterwards feels great. Definitely sits 3/4" to an 1" higher. Havent had a chance to get it out on the highway to see if it cures the "floating" feeling I was getting but I think it will .
Only question I have is could the rear sitting higher effected the front end...ughh geometry i guess is the word? Felt like it steered a little different. Could be just me but almost felt like I should have the alignment ckd again. Was going to ck the air in the tires when I got back to see if maybe 1 was low or something but forgot about it till now.

ACDELCO 45H2165 from Rock Auto $61.00 for the set if anyone is interested.

 

[xavierny25]

Wish me well guy! Here's what I'm about to start doing once the Voy rolls into the driveway.
Hopefully I can knock it all out before it get to dark out.

 

[TollKeeper]

Hopefully, the corrosion gods are with you, and all the manifold studs play nice!

 

[xavierny25]

Success! Although I did have to run out and grab a down stream o2 sensor. Got it all buttoned up before 7pm started at 10-10:30 this morning.

 

[Blckshdw]

Sadly, success isn't contagious. Took apart the face of the EXT to see how I wanted to mount the new tranny cooler, and ran into a clearance problem right away. The top area of the hood latch mechanism arms were hitting the top of the cooler, even when it was sunk down. I forgot to take a pic due to the frustration, but I had the cooler resting on the wire loom that runs right behind the lower brace where the bumper cover screws into from the top. A good few inches lower than I actually planned to mount it.




I considered trying to bend the arms on the latch, but then the lower bolt wouldn't be able to reach its home. And if I tried to mount the cooler that low, then there wouldn't be any room to fit that bolt back in place. Lose lose situation. I had seen pics of the SS guys running this cooler in this location without issue, so my only assumption is there's enough difference between the V8 and I6 that allows for maybe 1/2" - 3/4" between the condenser and hood latch.

When I moved the existing cooler out of the way, I did notice a decent amount of bugs and debris, so blasted that junk out. I'm going to consider changing the mount on the current cooler. Right now it fits tight to the condenser, which allows the hoses to feed to it behind the header panel. I may notch the header panel, and flip the cooler around so the mounting plates are in the back instead of the front, which would put a 1/2" gap between them. Improved airflow maybe?

In addition to that, since things were kinda grimey. Since I had things so disassembled, sprayed and wiped down a bunch of the surfaces just for the hell of it. Mod bug is still sad though. Good news is, the Amazon return window is 60 days instead of 30, so I've got some time. Threw out the shipping box though...

 

[xavierny25]

Success! Although I did have to run out and grab a down stream o2 sensor. Got it all buttoned up before 7pm started at 10-10:30 this morning.View attachment 102425View attachment 102426View attachment 102427View attachment 102428View attachment 102429View attachment 102430View attachment 102431

Just want to tag this onto my previous post. My oem cat at just shy of 230k miles, if you ask me thats pretty plugged up.

After a few days of enjoying all the work I did and to see and fell the power difference and flow of my new complete exhaust. Gas mileage even went up from the 14-15mpg I was getting to 16-18mpg (and that's with me driving like I have a lead foot). Here's the surprise
For f**ks sake! I've never seen this code even with the clogged up cat. Granted the pre cat o2 wasn't replaced it no more then 3yrs old.

I'm happy about the new found power in the Voy and how good it sounds so I just cleared the codes and hopefully it won't come back. Who am I kidding! I will most likely have to monitor the up and down stream o2's and see whats going on. It may also be time for a whole new tune to just dump the o2's altogether.

 

[Eric04]

Just want to tag this onto my previous post. My oem cat at just shy of 230k miles, if you ask me thats pretty plugged up. View attachment 102443View attachment 102444View attachment 102445

After a few days of enjoying all the work I did and to see and fell the power difference and flow of my new complete exhaust. Gas mileage even went up from the 14-15mpg I was getting to 16-18mpg (and that's with me driving like I have a lead foot). Here's the surprise View attachment 102446
For f**ks sake! I've never seen this could even with the clogged up cat. Granted the pre cat o2 wasn't replaced it no more then 3yrs old.

I'm happy about the new found power in the Voy and how good it sounds so I just cleared the codes and hopefully it won't come back. Who am I kidding! I will most likely have to monitor the up and down stream o2's and see whats going on. It may also be time for a whole new tune to just dump the o2's altogether.

I think if you watch your downstream 02 sensor you'll find it doesn't hold steady as it should. Aftermarket cats rarely seem to hit the mark on efficiency, but who the F is going to buy OEM? For a few bucks you can get a pair of bushings that screw into the sensor well and boost the 02 out of the stream enough to quiet it down. Not that you want to crawl back underneath but that's my guess.

Nice work you did BTW. I'll plan a drive to NY when mine needs all that because I hate exhaust work.

 

[xavierny25]

I think if you watch your downstream 02 sensor you'll find it doesn't hold steady as it should. Aftermarket cats rarely seem to hit the mark on efficiency, but who the F is going to buy OEM? For a few bucks you can get a pair of bushings that screw into the sensor well and boost the 02 out of the stream enough to quiet it down. Not that you want to crawl back underneath but that's my guess.

Nice work you did BTW. I'll plan a drive to NY when mine needs all that because I hate exhaust work.

I appreciate the info and its inline with what I've read up on a short while ago and is probably the cheapest fix too.

Everyone I talk to is surprised I was able to get done in under 10hrs but I did and have Ring door bell video to prove it . Getting to the o2's isn't bad at all actually, for the pre cat all I do is turn the wheel and it easy to get at. The other 1 I would have to jack it up and get under to get at.

 

[Mooseman]

Installed the winter tires on the TB. No problem there, however, while checking things over, the front wheels rocked very noticeably left to right. The Inner tie-rods, both of them, are f#cked! They had about 1/4" or more of play. If you recall, I had replaced both of them when I replaced the rack in June and then had it aligned a second time on Nov 9. I can't believe that in a month's time since the alignment and not really being driven that much that they wore out that fast. Maybe this can explain it. Those inner tie-rods I had bought many years ago for the old 02 TB however it never needed them. Guess the brand? My favourite... MEVOTECH! And no, it's not their TTX line, it didn't even exist then.

I ordered a pair of ACDelcos from RA, should be here on Friday. And then I'll have to get another alignment.

 

[northcreek]

My favourite... MEVOTECH!

I put Mevotech sway bar links on my wife's Nox and they failed within one year, next I put Moog links on there and I'm on 3 years with those.
The Mevotech links looked every bit like quality parts but, failed as quick as the originals, always had good luck with Moog stuff...

 

[Mooseman]

Moog has been going down for the past few years and have seen their parts fail. Maybe not as quick as Mevojunk but still within a couple of years. I just don't trust most of the mainstream aftermarket stuff anymore.

 

[flyboy2610]

Did an oil change and tire rotation on the wife's '06 TB yesterday. It was in the 50's and we aren't likely to see those temps (at least on a weekend) for a few months at least. Also found that the left rear sway bar link upper nut had come loose and disappeared, buggering up the threads in the process. Replaced the link.
Greased the suspension components that had a grease zerk, discovered that both inner tie rod boots had come loose, the passenger side one is all ripped up. The shop that did the alignment used zip ties on the boots, I guess they didn't get them tight enough. Going to try and find real metal clamps to use in there. I've read of people using worm drive hose clamps. I can see where that would work as the boots don't rotate, just expand and contract.
As that eminent philosopher of days gone by, Roseanne Roseannadanna, used to say "It just goes to show ya it's always something. If it's not one thing it's another."

 

[Reprise]

Going to try and find real metal clamps to use in there. I've read of people using worm drive hose clamps. I can see where that would work as the boots don't rotate, just expand and contract.

The problem is that most of the 'standard' / cheaper worm gear clamps loosen up over time. I've experienced it enough to start preferring the OEM spring clamps, tbh.

I dunno if this would work, as half of the gear / thread tends to be exposed, but perhaps a couple of drops of threadlocker (blue or orange, not red) would help keep the clamp from loosening. You don't want to gorilla the clamp on, because you'll risk: a) stripping the head (if using a screwdriver), or
b) potentially splitting the boot, if you get it tight enough (many are hex-sided and will accommodate a 6-8mm socket)

Alternately, perhaps a shop would remove the worm clamp and fasten a band clamp in place (although you may pay as much as just buying the clamping tool, for them to do it)