Growing up doesn't have to suck
- Thread starter iamdub
- Start date
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George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
pwtr02ss
Full Access Member
I don't like licorice
George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Cake gives some girls the farts…
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iamdub
Full Access Member
alpha_omega
Full Access Member
I wonder how far you were from burning up the pump. A lot of people don’t realize that “normally” other than instances like yours, the only reason a fuel pump goes bad is from people driving their vehicles with low/no gas in them. Otherwise if the fuel pump is submerged it will keep on keeping on. My 02’ has 360k+ miles and never has had the fuel pump replaced. I changed the fuel filter quite often and tried my
best to not let it fall under 1/4 tank.
Nice work on the Big 3 cables. Did you wrap your starter cable as well? Mine was getting pretty hot, so I used a heat shield and wrapped not only the starter but also the harness running into it and the battery cable as well.
Hows the new rad holding up? Did you end up changing out the fan(s) yet or still running stock?
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iamdub
Full Access Member
Having 200K on it, I'd have to say that its days were numbered being treated like that. As I always have before, I have no problem running the tank to 1/8 or below, now that I know it's actually at that level and not on fumes. Even when on "E", the pump is still submerged in the bucket.
Thanks! I transferred the foil heat shield from the factory starter wire. It's kinda crappy so I'd like to add something more substantial and effective. But, I'm not seeing any issues with any of it at the moment.
The new rad, apparently, is doing great. I've never had a problem with the coolant or trans temps with the stock components, and they may be a degree or two lower since the new rad. I'm still running the stock fans. They're fine.
I'm one of the naysayers when it comes to making the engine run as cool as possible. When it comes to "upgrading" the system, I like a few degrees cooler than stock just to know I have the capacity to control it more. But I still prefer to keep it near its designed operating temps.
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iamdub
Full Access Member
Haven't updated this in a while. Lemme see if I can catch it up...
Jenn's been driving the Tahoe since her car is still in surgery. A month ago, she wanted to do something nice and wash it, so she went through the automatic wash next to her work. She didn't think about the automatic wipers. I think I was out of state at the time when she sent me a pic of the wiper arms with the blade mounts still attached, but no blades. Mine has the oddball pinch tab blade mounts that aren't as easily found as the much more common J-hook style. My arms were needing paint, so I was waiting for when the (relatively expensive) blades were spent to get arms from a newer truck to swap on. Now it HAD to be done because I didn't wanna invest $50+ on another set of the oddball type and it had been raining almost every single day. I told Jenn to coat the windshield with Rain-X until I could get home.
At that time, I had been searching for a GMT900 SUV being parted out to look for parts for my neighbor's wrecked Tahoe. I happened by a 2013 Tahoe being parted out, so I grabbed him some pieces as well as the wiper arms (with nice Bosch Icon wipers) and the headlight switch assembly. I got all the parts so cheaply that my neighbor bought my parts (he insisted) as payment for me finding and retrieving his parts. So, free wiper arm upgrade with expensive wipers and free headlight switch repair/upgrade!
I swapped the headlight switch assembly cuz mine was down to one or two operating backlights:
All lights on the new one work. Also, they added "DOME OFF" to the dome override switch:
One thing that bothers me is the dimmer knob appears to not have any color filter on it. It's just the ugly yellow incandescent light color. Is this how they are or is mine missing a filter?
Jenn's been driving the Tahoe since her car is still in surgery. A month ago, she wanted to do something nice and wash it, so she went through the automatic wash next to her work. She didn't think about the automatic wipers. I think I was out of state at the time when she sent me a pic of the wiper arms with the blade mounts still attached, but no blades. Mine has the oddball pinch tab blade mounts that aren't as easily found as the much more common J-hook style. My arms were needing paint, so I was waiting for when the (relatively expensive) blades were spent to get arms from a newer truck to swap on. Now it HAD to be done because I didn't wanna invest $50+ on another set of the oddball type and it had been raining almost every single day. I told Jenn to coat the windshield with Rain-X until I could get home.
At that time, I had been searching for a GMT900 SUV being parted out to look for parts for my neighbor's wrecked Tahoe. I happened by a 2013 Tahoe being parted out, so I grabbed him some pieces as well as the wiper arms (with nice Bosch Icon wipers) and the headlight switch assembly. I got all the parts so cheaply that my neighbor bought my parts (he insisted) as payment for me finding and retrieving his parts. So, free wiper arm upgrade with expensive wipers and free headlight switch repair/upgrade!
I swapped the headlight switch assembly cuz mine was down to one or two operating backlights:
All lights on the new one work. Also, they added "DOME OFF" to the dome override switch:
One thing that bothers me is the dimmer knob appears to not have any color filter on it. It's just the ugly yellow incandescent light color. Is this how they are or is mine missing a filter?
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iamdub
Full Access Member
Also, since I took the Tahoe to New Orleans to haul back that car, took it to Texas and Mississippi and Jenn's been driving it daily, it hit the 5,000-mile service interval about eight months earlier than expected. Half a quart low after 5,000 miles- not bad! I actually felt wasteful for changing the oil when it was still this clean:
My oil plug magnet had about the same amount of metal on it as last time. Nothing alarming. I'll just continue to monitor it:
I never really gave it much thought, but I wanted to find a quality filter that had the larger case like the K&N I've been running, but with no bypass valve. I couldn't find one with no bypass, but this WIX had twice the bypass pressure rating (22psi vs. the K&N's 11psi), so I went with it:
Catch can drained right at two ounces- same as last time:
My oil plug magnet had about the same amount of metal on it as last time. Nothing alarming. I'll just continue to monitor it:
I never really gave it much thought, but I wanted to find a quality filter that had the larger case like the K&N I've been running, but with no bypass valve. I couldn't find one with no bypass, but this WIX had twice the bypass pressure rating (22psi vs. the K&N's 11psi), so I went with it:
Catch can drained right at two ounces- same as last time:
Just Fishing
Can't fix stupid
I have been running those 22psi bypass, i like them very much 
On a side note; i won't run the Mobil one filters any longer.
they bypass sucks from the bottom, and with the filter hanging straight down...
Wix filters bypass from the top, my new go-to.
also my filter opening tool is awesome, i'm learning so much.
and every wix filter i open, i get a little surprise inside!
What you might ask?
A coil spring that goes into my "might need it later for something" bin.
On a side note; i won't run the Mobil one filters any longer.
they bypass sucks from the bottom, and with the filter hanging straight down...
Wix filters bypass from the top, my new go-to.
also my filter opening tool is awesome, i'm learning so much.
and every wix filter i open, i get a little surprise inside!
What you might ask?
A coil spring that goes into my "might need it later for something" bin.
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iamdub
Full Access Member
When I fired it up in the garage to move it to the shop for the service, it had what sounded like a minor exhaust leak. Once in the shop, I popped the hood and inspected the manifold bolts- all there. Then I noticed the flange was missing a bolt:
Under it, I realized it was actually missing TWO of the three bolts:
These must seal really well cuz the tick wasn't very loud at all.
Since Doug Thorley sent two bags of hardware, gaskets, etc. with the headers, I had extra bolts to replace them. The exhaust pipe was also bumping the crossmember again even though I had adjusted the hanger at the last service. I now realize it was just sagging from all the extra slack. I raised the exhaust more by adjusting the hanger and supported the pipe even further with a wedge on top of the crossmember. When I tightened the bolts, the wedge fell out. It should be good from now on.
Under it, I realized it was actually missing TWO of the three bolts:
These must seal really well cuz the tick wasn't very loud at all.
Since Doug Thorley sent two bags of hardware, gaskets, etc. with the headers, I had extra bolts to replace them. The exhaust pipe was also bumping the crossmember again even though I had adjusted the hanger at the last service. I now realize it was just sagging from all the extra slack. I raised the exhaust more by adjusting the hanger and supported the pipe even further with a wedge on top of the crossmember. When I tightened the bolts, the wedge fell out. It should be good from now on.
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iamdub
Full Access Member
I have been running those 22psi bypass, i like them very much
On a side note; i won't run the Mobil one filters any longer.
they bypass sucks from the bottom, and with the filter hanging straight down...
Wix filters bypass from the top, my new go-to.
also my filter opening tool is awesome, i'm learning so much.
and every wix filter i open, i get a little surprise inside!
What you might ask?
A coil spring that goes into my "might need it later for something" bin.
It's like a grease monkey's Cräcker Jack prize!
That's good to know about the WIX's bypass setup.
Thankfully the one bolt sealed enough that false air was not being sucked in for the sensor to read and mess with fuel mixture.
Been using WIX for over 30 years and I have cut them open too. Cut open a FRAM at the time and the filter element had string tied around it at the middle to control the filter element bulge and if I remember right it had a very weak coiled flat steel spring that could easily be compressed fully with your thumb and two fingers. Many shops had displays of the comparisons of the filter quality. It was a no brainer for the vehicle customers in my shops.
Just Fishing
Can't fix stupid
Yeah, i had an old fram filter on my shelf.
I cut it open to take a look...
Like i have seen videos of the filters opened, but to see how cheezy that filter is on person... lol
And the mobil 1 filters are built extremely well.
Hard to cut open, metal housing is much beefier than the wix.
The filter element is also harder to slice.
The spring on the bottom is a flat leaf type spring.
Pretty good overall imo.
I'll use mobile 1 on the wifes car moving forward.
Her filter sits on its side.
So with the wix, the bypass opens up at the lowest point.
The mobil 1, it opens at the bottom.
So at the middle of where crap might sit.
alpha_omega
Full Access Member
I thought the K&N were better all around (psi and micron)?
Nevermind…I just answered my own question. Be quiet, be humble, admit when you’re wrong and learn something new. Damnit!
How did ACD, M1 and K&N lose out to Wix? Probably because they are all now manufactured in China?
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iamdub
Full Access Member
According to that chart, the K&N has a much better micron rating. I didn't even notice this when I was focused on finding a no-bypass or high-psi bypass filter.
There are some conflicting perspectives here. Assuming these figures are factual, which would you prefer? The filter that catches smaller particles but could more easily allow bypass (no filtration at all) or a filter that can't catch as small of particles, but still keeps the oil going through the filter?
How easily and/or often does a filter go into bypass? How small of particle is still okay to circulate through the engine?
BTW, according to the labels, the K&N HP-2011 filters I was using were made in USA.
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In the scheme of things and considering the possible damage of a by-pass problem, WIX IMO, wins hands down. For me it has served me well all those years and were on my Harley's as well. I still say also, that the time frame between changes is very important and should be less than any of the oil companies say. I consider all my driving as severe and still stick to a low mileage and short time between changes. It is, IMO, the cheapest insurance I can recommend to take care of the engine.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
What's the importance of the oil filter bypass? And about the psi that the bypass opens?
Instead of a long typed response, here is the jest of it:
"The bypass valve – otherwise known as a pressure relief valve – is an integral part of the oil filter. The valve is designed to open when the oil filter becomes clogged or when the oil is too thick. This allows the oil to bypass the filter through a center tube. The oil then goes straight to the engine to prevent starvation and damage.
If the bypass valve doesn’t open when needed, the filter will swell and eventually burst. When this happens, the engine looses all oil pressure. The end result is either extensive engine damage, or complete engine failure. Choosing a high-quality oil filter for your vehicle helps to prevent this from happening."
But remember, if it does open and it does bypass, the filtration is lost but if the filter is clogged enough to allow bypass, it is not filtering anyway.
