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

[Blckshdw]

Well the drive home was pretty normal and quiet, so at least the noise part seems to be solved. The 1st time I changed the brakes on the EXT, I greased the pad guides. When it was time to change them again, there was a ton of dirt and grit in there, so I've skipped it ever since.

I've used that brake quiet goo on the last change. It was maybe a couple years into them when they started to squeal, but still had a lot of meat left. Helped quite a bit, still had a couple of squeaks here and there, but it was bearable.

 

[TollKeeper]

More of a vent here...

so as mentioned above in post #914..

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

Do you have 4x4 transfer case pulling requirements on that operation too? The front diff has to be lowered in order to remove the pan. Not technically complex but it does involve a little wrangling. Key learning: by cutting the steering all the way to the left I could get another 1"or so of...

gmtnation.com

Firestone says I needed brakes, front and rear. This was 2 weeks ago, and the Envoy has been parked since.

I ordered parts to do the brake job, and tackled this, as well as putting new struts in, last night...

However... When I took the rear wheels off, I cant find anything wrong. I checked my receipts, and I just did the front and rear brake pads, and rotors, 5000 miles ago. The rear rotors had no grooves, no heat checks, nothing. Pads looked near new.

And to top off Firestone being inept at seeing my rear brakes are in near perfect condition, they completely missed the blown wheel seal, and the possible rear axle bearing... Or that the front stabilizer bar bushings are completely wasted.. Freaking idiots!

Went up to the front end, got the wheels off. The drivers side, although near new, had some considerable grooves in it, pads are near new. Passenger side had no grooves, rotor and pads looks both near new.

I went ahead and replaced the front brake pads and rotors since the drivers side had some bad grooves, and I had the parts sitting right next to me.

Will be returning the Rear Brake Pads (Bendix) and rear rotors (ACDelco)

As mentioned in this thread..

Checking my brain logic

So back in 2020, I replaced the front Bilstein struts on my Envoy with Carquest Strut 18-813331.. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-premium-suspension-strut-and-coil-spring-assembly-18-813331/12219772-P?navigationPath=L1*14921%7CL2*15010%7CL3*15732 Ever since, every time I hit a...

gmtnation.com

While I was in there, I was replacing the "suspected" bad struts assemblies, that are only 2 years old.

I learned something.. Dont ever trust a spring from a aftermarket mass producer. It likely is not the right one for your truck!

New struts are in, brakes are "broke in", and she drives great, until 57mph+ when I get this vibration I cant figure out.

Dropping it off at a Transmission shop on Monday, and seeing what they can find. It may be the aforementioned wheel bearing/wheel seal.

 

[sashainwy]

What will I do to my gmt today? Unbury it.

 

[TollKeeper]

A trucker buddy of mine was trying to get to Salt Lake.. He got shut down in Laramie WY for 10 days..

He finally convinced his company to let him take the Southern route... No not thru Colorado. He had to go all the way down to Albuquerque.

 

[Blckshdw]

And the dark cloud over the EXT continues to follow me. Halfway through the morning stop and go commute, it felt a little sluggish as traffic pulled away from a light, and then the engine seemed to kick in. Strange, and then the CEL started a slow blink. As I slowed to idle, it began to run rough, so we all know what that means.

At the next light, opened Torque on the HU, pulled up a blank page and added all the misfire counters. Guess we know what I'll be doing when I get home this evening... I've got a couple of spare coils, hopefully that's all it is.

Well... On the commute to work, about a mile out, the CEL came on in stopped traffic, and began the slow blink when I let off the brake. Little bit of chugging at low speed, along with a rough idle. Quick scan gave me the expected P0300. Pulled up the Torque dashboard on the drive home, and sure enough cylinder 5 was the culprit again.



I think it's highly unlikely that the new (looking) OEM coil I put in 4 months ago has gone bad on its own already. I've got an old spark plug I kept from my previous change. None of them were "bad" but it was the scheduled time to swap out. Gonna swap that in, along with an aftermarket coil after the engine cools down and see how it behaves.

 

[flyboy2610]

I have had to replace two coils on my wife's '06 TB, and 1 on my '04 TB EXT, both with the 4.2 I6 engine. I used Standard Ignition Blue Streak coils, and have not had any issues. This one is for my '04, the '06 coils are different:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/blue-streak/ignition---tune-up/ignition-coil/bcbc445c20d7/standard-ignition-blue-streak-coil-on-plug/std2/uf303/v/a/127821/automotive-suv-2004-chevrolet-trailblazer-ext?pos=0

 

[TollKeeper]

Just heard from the shop.. They are thinking the front differential needs rebuilt, or replaced, to get rid of vibration.

f|_|c|{! Got a feeling XUV is going 2wd for the remainder of this year.

 

[TollKeeper]

Just heard from the shop.. They are thinking the front differential needs rebuilt, or replaced, to get rid of vibration.

f|_|c|{! Got a feeling XUV is going 2wd for the remainder of this year.

hmmmmmmmmm....

There is a Envoy XL 4.2 in my local yard with a G80/GT5... I already have the front GT5 diff....

This has me thinking seriously!

 

[Blckshdw]

Swapped in the old plug, which looked marginally better than the one I pulled out. The aftermarket coil was clearly used, but went ahead and put that in too. Fired it up, and idle was butter smooth (again) May go for a little drive this evening to stretch its legs.

Recent plug on the left, older one on the right. Both said Assembled in USA, from parts from Japan

hmmmmmmmmm....

There is a Envoy XL 4.2 in my local yard with a G80/GT5... I already have the front GT5 diff....

This has me thinking seriously!

You know you want to!

 

[TollKeeper]

You know you want to!

I know I want to, but my GMT360 road is coming to an end next year... Its hard to justify the expense..

 

[brad_]

Found some black leather heated seats out of a higher trim 2007 Trailblazer, I swapped out with my cloth seats and installed them in my 04 TB LS. The seat electronics work, I also got the window switches with the seat heat controls, but I haven't installed those yet, a friend of mine told me I will need to perform a master window switch relearn. My interior is gonna be tri color for a bit now :/

 

[TollKeeper]

Found some black leather heated seats out of a higher trim 2007 Trailblazer, I swapped out with my cloth seats and installed them in my 04 TB LS. The seat electronics work, I also got the window switches with the seat heat controls, but I haven't installed those yet, a friend of mine told me I will need to perform a master window switch relearn. My interior is gonna be tri color for a bit now :/

Did your cloth seats have the side mounted air bags?

 

[brad_]

Did your cloth seats have the side mounted air bags?

No~I dont think. The seats were out of a VERY base model 04 LS. The seats I took out of the car didnt have weight sensors, so the airbags were unplugged anyway.

 

[TollKeeper]

No~I dont think. The seats were out of a VERY base model 04 LS. The seats I took out of the car didnt have weight sensors, so the airbags were unplugged anyway.

That will work then, without throwing any SRS codes. I was gonna ask how you got around it.. But you didnt, really, you didnt have to!

 

[brad_]

That will work then, without throwing any SRS codes. I was gonna ask how you got around it.. But you didnt, really, you didnt have to!

Last time I had the dash off I took the clear plastic shield off the gauge cluster and obscured the airbag light with a small piece of electrical tape... I didnt even plug the new seats in and they have the sensors. Old airbags are far more scary than wearing my seatbelt.

 

[Blckshdw]

Set of replacement end links arrived after work. Truck was already up on ramps, so it wasn't too difficult getting them swapped. Had noticed the way I had them in seemed backwards compared to what's in GMSI, so tried to put the new ones in "correctly". Immediately realized why I had flipped them around last time, as the joints seemed to be at their limits before the nuts even went on. Maybe it's a Moog thing? Flipped em around, and the joints were near centered going in, felt much better about that.



I prefer the Moogs because they have the metal flats on the joint side, so I can use a wrench to hold the joint and spin the nuts on. They also did away with the flange nuts, and now use a slightly larger Nylock nut, although I never had an issue with them backing off before.

 

[Mooseman]

Finally replaced the Mevocrap TTX right outer tie-rod with a Dorman. Just about the only brand I haven't tried. Got the alignment pretty close with the number of turns. Then swapped out the winter tires and rims for the summers. My Autel TS401 TPMS tool was dead so had to charge it up a bit before I could use it to relearn the sensors.

Then checked the fluid levels, oil was a bit low and I didn't have any oil on hand so used some Dex VI tranny fluid instead. It's at 35% OLM so it will be due soon (I usually change it at 25%) and it will give it a nice little cleaning before the oil change. The oil was still a nice light brown colour so it's still good in my opinion. The coolant was also a bit low so brought that back up to level. No idea where it's going though. Brake fluid will soon need a flush. Tranny and PS fluid was good. Will also need to replace the PS cooler that is currently bypassed. Already have a replacement I got from the U-pull (a Dorman aluminum replacement).

Then tonight drove the Sierra to bring my eldest son back home and noticed that the tranny temps was above 200f. I know it's a warm running tranny but it wasn't that warm out and not overly being worked. I'd like to replace the factory cooler with this one but holy crap, $530USD? ($708CAD). I may try to add a couple of fans to the stock cooler. That and the thermal bypass valve I may mod.

 

[northcreek]

Took the motor home for it's annual inspection after supper to leave in lot for Monday morning. Timing couldn't have been worst, caught the storm just as it was rolling in and the motorhome was rocking like a hurricane and did you ever notice how slow wipers were in the 90s ?

 

[Blckshdw]

Still chasing down my intermittent HVAC blower problem, and have narrowed it down to a broken wire between the fuse block and the control module. Was hoping to get easy access to the full wire bundle running along the transmission tunnel once I got the seat out, but the carpet is held down by something around the gear shift, so that's gonna have to get dealt with as well.




Best case scenario, when I get the radio stack taken out, I can turn the key on, turn the blower to 5, then jiggle sections of the bundle and close the break, so I know where the problem is. Unfortunately I know there's a number of solid brown wires, so it will be a bit of a challenge to identify the right one.

Worst case scenario, I have to de-pin the HVAC and fuse block connectors, take the whole bundle apart to remove the bad wire, and replace it. Already have the appropriate terminals in a wish list if needed. At least I can still run the rear AC system to cool the cabin down a bit in the meantime when needed.

 

[mrrsm]

THIS Tool Kit is probably every Mechanic's VBF (affordable at under $30.00 on Amazon) for Finding Broken Wire - Open Circuits in Automotive Settings:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H70U690/?tag=gmtnation-20

 

[northcreek]

Removed the Gearvendors OD unit from my MH today, going back to stock which means altering the drive shaft again. I installed it in 2005 but, it creates more problems than solves them. Should get a good $ for it on FeeBay.

 

[xavierny25]

Brakes and rotors on the SS. Went with R1 concepts kit as they seem to be the best bang for your buck out there now. Brakemotive on ebay is no longer available.
Rears pads definitely grinding as we can all see from this pic.

 

[Matt]

Brakemotive on ebay is no longer available.

My understanding is that they were a part of Powerstop and were consolidated into the brand.

 

[Blckshdw]

I'm still on my R1 Concepts slotted rotors, and their pads held up quite well before recently switching to the Adaptive One pads.

Took advantage of a cool morning to give the EXT a bath. Got tagged pretty badly by some birds mid week, so had to clean that off.

 

[flyboy2610]

I'm still on my R1 Concepts slotted rotors, and their pads held up quite well before recently switching to the Adaptive One pads.

Took advantage of a cool morning to give the EXT a bath. Got tagged pretty badly by some birds mid week, so had to clean that off.

View attachment 107957

An old Red Skelton joke (for you young'uns that don't know who he was, Google the name):
There were these two seagulls, Gertrude and Heathcliffe.
Gertrude says "Hey, Heathcliffe, did you see Farmer Brown got a new car?"
Heathcliffe says "Yeah, I spotted it yesterday."

 

[azswiss]

Trying to determine what's causing oil consumption (currently around 1Qt per 1000 miles, maybe fewer miles even!!) Replacing the driver's side valve cover with the modified PCV drain/valve layout had little/no impact. So, today I inspected the front & rear mains (no leaks), the PCV valve (clean, no oil), the valve cover gaskets (no leaks) and the oil pan (very minor seepage).

The engine has 180K miles on it. Went back through my records (I am very OCD when it comes to recording data!) and plotted out how often I added a quart of oil. Sure enough, replacement timing has been decreasing (fairly) linearly for several years now.



Since this looks like a classic wear-out phenomenon I decided to run compression tests on all cylinders; all 160+/- 5 psi. Spark plugs showed minimal carbon, none oil wet.

My conclusion, this would seem to indicate leaking valve seals, even though no blue smoke at startup.

 

[northcreek]

Replacing the driver's side valve cover with the modified PCV drain/valve layout had little/no impact.

My son did the top end cleaner thing at the dealer and he said that it helped his oil consumption problem.

 

[mrrsm]

@azswiss... Sorry...But... Nope... @northcreek is DEAD RIGHT! Perhaps these ideas will help us to figure this out WHY and give a better explanation as to "Where is all that Motor Oil is Going?":

(1) You will NEVER see the Classic Signs of "Blue Smoke" trailing from the Exhaust Pipe due to having Badly Worn Valve Guides because in 1990's Vehicles and onward, the Catalytic Converters in said Vehicles BURN UP all of the Residual, Un-Combusted Motor Gas and Motor Oil Vapors inside of a 900 Degree Hot S/S OVEN-LIKE CAN, so none of the Tell-Tale indications will EVER Exit the Tail Pipe.

(2) The poorly designed notion of a "PCV" Pipe in the Very TOP of the Valve Cover allows High Mileage Engines to wind up vacuuming Motor Oil through that Dinky Rubber Elbow Hose and convey the Oil along with Combustion By-Pass Vapors to be drawn UP and into the Air Intake Stream, passing through the Throttle Body and Intake Manifold, thence back into the Combustion Chamber in such a quantity as to preclude THAT Motor Oil from EVER returning to the Crank Case.

The ACCELERATING FORCE driving this phenomena is probably being caused from having Excess Blow-By Gas Pressure from Trapped Upper Piston Compression Rings! There is No Other Place for those Gasses to Go once they Squeeze past the Piston Rings and enter & Pressurize the Sealed Up Crank-Case-Oil-Pan!!!

(3) If you can Pull Off the Air Plenum and POUR OUT LIQUID MOTOR OIL... then you'll have Proof that THIS is what is actually occurring and the only reason that ALL of the Collected Motor Oil was NOT inhaled by the Vacuum at the Throttle Body was because it was just too damned thick and heavy.

(4) Historically...once the Intake Manifolds on High Mileage LL8 Engines are removed ... you WILL find the vestiges of Wet, Gooey, Dirty, Black Mung Motor Oil stuck just inside of the the spaces just in front of the Three Figure 8 "O" Rings around the Intake Ports in the Aluminum Engine Head... and after that, it just gets washed clean where the EFIs spray atomized straight fuel over the Intake Valves to get inhaled down inside of the cylinders.

(5) There should NEVER be ANY Motor Oil or Dirt there since the only thing supposed to be getting vacuumed in through those Black Plastic Runners...is PURE, FILTERED AIR. THIS is what THAT phenomena actually looks like... Just LOOK at how the Thick, Dirty Motor Oil is literally DRIPPING Down the Block at the moment the Intake Manifold was Un-Bolted from this Motor:



(6) SO... WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? @northcreek has it NAILED! De-Carbonize the Combustion Chambers, Valve Seats and Carbon Stuck, Gas-Gum Trapped Compression Rings using the ACDelco Top Engine Cleaner Procedure:

A.C. Delco Foaming Top End Cleaner....

Good Evening All, I've read about this procedure here on the forum. I'm wondering if it would be OK to do, regardless of if I have carbon build up or oil consumption. I have noticed a small amount of oil accumulated in the intake plenum. I do have a little piston "slap" that goes away upon...

gmtnation.com

Amazon.com : acdelco top engine cleaner 19355198

www.amazon.com

 

[azswiss]

Good inputs Gents, thanks!

 

[northcreek]

Replacing the driver's side valve cover with the modified PCV drain/valve layout had little/no impact.

Not to but, I never bought that valve cover breather relocation fix. I think GM was shooting from the hip on that one....

 

[azswiss]

In retrospect, I have to agree. It appears to have been more oriented towards the Gen IV's with AFM.

 

[christo829]

Throttle body cleaning...how exciting... I noticed that when we had some of these warmer days, I was getting an intermittent response lag from stop. All clean again, so hopefully it'll behave better off a stop now.

Now I get to order a new gasket for my SAIS block off plate, as I noticed a bit of a sooty smudge at one corner when I was taking the resonator box and hoses off. Took a closer look at the spot, and sure enough, there's a small crack in the gasket.

Not gonna complain about the easy fixes! 🥹

 

[mrrsm]

@christo829 ... Hey Chris... If you like this idea... Please... Do a Write-Up on that SAIS Block Off Gasket Repair... It seems like this is an excellent ..and rare... but very important observation you've made here that may not occur to most of us having any sketchy Upstream O2 Sensor readings to look for it and fix it ASAP.

 

[azswiss]

Based on my observations yesterday (What Came In Your Mail Today, post #2,236) about the challenges posed by the V8 configuration with the deep soak process and with temps already in the mid to upper 90's I decided to move ahead along the path of lesser resistance (for now, will re-evaluate this winter). I ran AC Delco TEC thru the throttle body per the instructions on the can. No small amount of smoke comes out during the burn-it-and-blow-it-out-the-back step.

Based on additional research & inputs from buddies with the Gen III 5.3L, I will be moving forward with replacing the valve stem seals. All parts on order (& already shipped!!) from RA.

 

[flyboy2610]

Based on additional research & inputs from buddies with the Gen III 5.3L, I will be moving forward with replacing the valve stem seals. All parts on order (& already shipped!!) from RA.

That sounds like fun.

 

[flyboy2610]

I ordered a new rear wiper motor for the '04 TB EXT. Should be here by next weekend.

 

[TollKeeper]

Since the new U-Joint I just installed on the Envoy 3 weeks ago failed (or whenever it was), I get to do that tonight.

I also let the cap fall off the front U-Joint when I was taking out the front drive shaft, so I likely get to replace that today as well.... And front upper ball joints from Detroit Axle under warranty..

I am definetly done with Detroit Axle. Yea they have a 10 year warranty, but you got to pay shipping. Which was 1/2 the cost of buying them with free shipping. It was cheaper, but not worth the headache, and wait, to get them. New UBJ from them are 26 with free shipping. New UBJ under warranty, and you pay the shipping was 14.

Gonna be a busy night when I get off work.

 

[christo829]

@christo829 ... Hey Chris... If you like this idea... Please... Do a Write-Up on that SAIS Block Off Gasket Repair... It seems like this is an excellent ..and rare... but very important observation you've made here that may not occur to most of us having any sketchy Upstream O2 Sensor readings to look for it and fix it ASAP.

I like the idea, but I had already wiped off the telltale exhaust smudge and did a temporary seal on the cracked gasket with some high temp sealant until the new gasket arrives. Been a bit busy with the last bit of cleanout on my aunt's house before closing and getting all the funds dumped back in to her care account, so I've been doing things a bit "on the fly", so to speak. If my patch fails and the smudge appears again, I'll get images of it before I swap gaskets.

Cheers-

Chris

 

[brad_]

Towed with the TB for the first time, it did great. Brought a boat and trailer home about 50 miles.

 

[flyboy2610]

It is said that two of the happiest days in a man's life are the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it.
Boat: a hole in the water that you throw money into.
JK! Enjoy your boat!