Useless Information

[PG01]

James, cant you just drill it out larger, taking threads and all then tap it and put a larger bolt in...

It doesn’t have to be exact size as others ones, only you will know.

 

[swathdiver]

That's the problem Pete, I will know that there's a different bolt in there that doesn't match the others! I'm crazy, I know, my wife reminds me all the time.

But maybe if I can get a bigger bolt with the same size head, I think my feeble brain can handle that one! LOL

 

[PG01]

I get it, completely understand the ocd-ness

 

[swathdiver]

One of the headlamps burned out the other night. Went looking for a replacement and all I could find were these fancy extreme this or hi-vis that foo foo bulbs that all say they don't last as long as the originals. I wanted some plain old AC Delcos or Phillips 9008s, that's it. Amazon couldn't get the ACs to me in time so I cancelled the order which it seems they were happy to do. Cryptically somehow, I found plain old Phillip 9008s at Amazon too a couple days later and ordered up a pair. My daughter and I put them in the long way, loosening the bumper/grill and removing the screw in front of the wheels. Took about an hour.

Took the girls out for ice cream after dark and a CTS was flashing his hi-beams at me, no knuckle, these are just new! Turns out the bulbs had been replaced before and were Sylvanias. They never lasted in my other cars and the new ones are brighter it seems.

I've read from time to time fellas losing gas mileage and attributing it to a K&N air filter contaminating the MAF or restricting the air flow. Just for grins I purchased an original high capacity paper AC Delco filter and we put that in and cleaned the MAF again with the special CRC cleaner.

The instant gas mileage (running 93 octane) from 35 to 52 mph was always in the 20s and often the mid twenties. An hours worth of driving including an idling session while the girls ran into a shopping store and for the ice cream and the mileage crept up from 12 to 12.5. Then we took her back out for some data logging for another hour which included some WOT runs and it came up to 12.9 mpg when we pulled into the filling station. Put her back on E85 and drove home. The point here is that the mileage is better but by how much we do not know yet.

Bought the proper bits to fix that stabilizer bolt I broke, picked up some other tools so I can re-torque the intake and exhaust manifold bolts to spec and bought new AC Delco upstream O2 sensors. Picked up some other things but this is the week my daughters are going to become aunts and my wife and I grand-parents so things may have to wait. Maybe.

The Fuel Trims are all over the place. From zero to -13 to +3 short and long, left and right, I cannot make heads or tails of it. So we took a Snapshot last night with the Tech2 and video taped it and as soon as time allows on this, the Lord's Day, we'll get it posted to Youtube for y'all to look at and see if you see anything amiss. Also going to transfer that Snapshot to my laptop which has the software on it for viewing stuff from the Tech2.

 

[swathdiver]

Oh, one more observation. My truck's fuel pressure has always been commanded by the FPCM to be 43.5 psi. Never seen it command anything else. The pump always delivers 43-44 psi and tonight we watched it under a WOT from idle to 50 and later from 40 to 70. Pressure never dropped below 42 psi and the duty cycle of the pump never got higher than 70%.

Have seen people writing about fuel pressures in the 50s and 60s as factory settings but not this rig. Anyone know why?

 

[swathdiver]

RJ45 to serial adapter is female as is my laptop's serial port. Recently tossed out boxes and boxes of old computer parts I'd been hanging onto since the early 1990s when I started building machines. Amazon to the rescue and a male to male serial port adapter is on the way.

 

[PG01]

RJ45 to serial adapter is female as is my laptop's serial port. Recently tossed out boxes and boxes of old computer parts I'd been hanging onto since the early 1990s when I started building machines. Amazon to the rescue and a male to male serial port adapter is on the way.

Prob had one laying around i would have sent you james....

 

[swathdiver]

Thanks, it was less then $6 for a pair of them. They used to be a $1 or less thirty years ago. They're pretty much obsolete with regards to home computers but I reckon businesses still have uses for the serial port.

 

[swathdiver]

Switched over to E85 the other day after resetting fuel trims (has to be done on regular gasoline). Running errands close to each other afterwards had my mileage down into the high 9s and then we ran down West Palm to pick up my FIL which was a 120 mile or so round trip. Average came back up to 13 but instant on the trip on level ground was between 14 and 16.

For 2009, the GMC Yukon does not have any published MPG figures, the original window sticker is blank. However, the year prior with the 4-speed transmission and the year after with the 6-speed like mine but with VVT (mine does not) both had the same published MPG figures on E85 which are 11 City and 14 Highway. Curious that this truck can meet its MPG rating on E85 but not on pump gas???

Pump gas ratings for 2008 were 14 City and 19 Highway and for 2010 are 15 City and 21 Highway. Presumably, the increased efficiency for the 2010+ is attributed to 6-Speed and VVT.

 

[swathdiver]

Switched over to E85 the other day after resetting fuel trims (has to be done on regular gasoline). Running errands close to each other afterwards had my mileage down into the high 9s and then we ran down West Palm to pick up my FIL which was a 120 mile or so round trip. Average came back up to 13 but instant on the trip on level ground was between 14 and 16.

For 2009, the GMC Yukon does not have any published MPG figures, the original window sticker is blank. However, the year prior with the 4-speed transmission and the year after with the 6-speed like mine but with VVT (mine does not) both had the same published MPG figures on E85 which are 11 City and 14 Highway. Curious that this truck can meet its MPG rating on E85 but not on pump gas???

Pump gas ratings for 2008 were 14 City and 19 Highway and for 2010 are 15 City and 21 Highway. Presumably, the increased efficiency for the 2010+ is attributed to 6-Speed and VVT.

Well we burned off another tank of E85 yesterday and never bothered to determine its alcohol content. Truck went 300 miles on it, all but about sixty was city driving and idling and she averaged 11.8 mpg. Left for Grandma's house with a range of 56 miles showing on the DIC and arrived with a range of 41 miles on the DIC after a sixty mile or so drive and the idiot light came on close to wear the ham and turkey and all the fixin's were awaiting us.

Left well after dark and took on 27 gallons at a Chevron with 93 octane, hit the road doing 65 for a spell, then 70 and then mostly 75 for the longest leg and pulled into the driveway with the DIC showing 17.5 mpg. Haven't seen that since I bought it! Finally a step in the right direction! Didn't bring the Tech2 or anything. Still need to put those new O2 sensors in and check for vacuum and exhaust leaks.

 

[swathdiver]

Still on the same tank. Pulled out the Tech2 today to check the alcohol content, it's 20%. Fuel Trims at zero while cruising and at other times -5 to +5. City mileage is hovering between 15.5 and 15.0 mpg, lots of slow traffic, drive thru errands, rarely get to 45 mph and all stop and go. Huge difference and should only improve with next tank of fuel with lower alcohol content. It's getting hot out now too!

Still have much to do on that list; including that busted bolt!

 

[randeez]

I think they way it determines ethanol content on mine is fugged up with the headers and no cats just a fyi...last probably 5-7 fills ups show as crap 46-60% ethanol. Seems to change if I fill up and drive like an ******* right after it'll show high % but "trying" to conserve it drops way down if I take it easy after filling

Sensor will be programmed over this week I'll see if it's just me.

****Was bugging me, so I dropped by tuner just to have him switch it over to actual sensor. Virtual showed 48% actual shows 80

 

[swathdiver]

The alcohol content on mine would move around too and then settle down after fueling. I do believe it had to do with the fuel remaining not having fully mixed in with that just taken on; sounds good anyway! Weren't you running E85? Same station or different ones? I seem to remember the alcohol content being different between stations and of course when switching over to gasoline.

Well, another round of errands here on the Treasure Coast through school zones and construction delays and now the mileage sits at 14.7 mpg. Still a huge improvement. Boy is it getting hot out! I thank God for cold AC in the truck, cools off in seconds!

Air Lift Springs were waiting at the door.

 

[swathdiver]

So you're on E85 @ 80%? My highest was 71% but you have the more accurate sensor added now too right? That's going to mess up peak performance I would think. The book says we're only to reset Fuel Trims and Alcohol content while on gasoline below 10% alcohol content. Wonder if there's a way for your tuner to get around that?

 

[randeez]

I think he cleared them while setting it up....I'm sure they were all messed up cause I've been running ethanol for a while with it not knowing the correct %

 

[swathdiver]

Got a call early Sunday morning and instead of being in church on the Lord's Day, sorry Lord, I wound up driving my folks and my children down to the Florida Keys for the day. Picked them up sixty miles from home, topped off the tank and headed south. MPG briefly went over 18 mpg! At the end of the day, with all the varied driving, I pulled back into my driveway near empty with the DIC showing 17.5 mpg.

Now let's see if we can get some work done on this thing before the much needed rains come!

 

[swathdiver]

Last two tanks after E85 was with Chevron 93 and the percentages were 20% and then 11%. It was that latter tank that we ran down to the Keys on and back averaging over 17 mpg over 350 miles of varied driving and fully loaded. The previous tank averaged 17.5 mpg @ 75 mph and that was at 20% alcohol content. So last night another last minute trip came up and the closest filling station was Mobil @ $3.33 a gallon or Chevron @ $3.55 a gallon. We chose Mobil. Alcohol content after seven miles settled down to 5% and at 70 mph she barely eaked out 17.1 mpg and on the way back we were turning about 75 mph and pulled into the driveway with 16.4 mpg.

So Mobil is certainly not the king of fuel efficiency now; have to find a more reasonably priced Chevron. The last two fill ups were near my folks' home, sixty miles away and they are less expensive than that Mobil down the street.

I spent $60 on special bits to drill through that busted bolt and bent every one of them within seconds. The bracket is really jacked now and I've given up. Need to find someone trustworthy to get it out. Once the bracket and swaybar bushing is out of the way, the bolt sits proud. A nut could be threaded or welded on and then heated to break it loose. I have a torch but liable to set the truck on fire with my luck. I've been defeated!

 

[randeez]

i think i missed something....what bolt on the sway bar? rear axle?

 

[swathdiver]

i think i missed something....what bolt on the sway bar? rear axle?

We were having trouble removing the original cats so I went to remove the front swaybar bracket and busted the head off one of the bolts. We've busted off an extractor and now several specialty bits trying to get it out. I was having some high school youngsters help me and did not see that the bolt was proud with threads exposed else I might have taken a different tact. Any experience with this?

 

[randeez]

next time i crawl under mine i'll take a look n see if anything comes to mind

If youre trying to drill out the extractor good fuggin luck man you need to try and get it out first, try some reverse twist drill bits maybe.
I've got a stud on a turbo at the moment that broke off flush. i've drilled into it a few times but can't get it to budge either, need to grab another set of good drill bits to finish up