a few general questions about my truck.

[97blueyuk]

Okay before I get elbows deep in this truck I am looking for some suggestions.

The fuel gauge does not work at all although randomly the needle will start spinning sometimes full circle (unless the oil pressure needle stops it). Should I look at sending unit or electrical?

Some gas is collecting on the frame below the tank I am thinking this is a loose clamp.

Where the front driveshaft comes out of the tcase I am getting fluid leakage, looks like a yellowish fluid. Could be a bad seal or wrong fluid maybe both or more. Any ideas?

4wd buttons not lighting up and not always engaging/disengaging 4wd. Bad switch?/ bad actuator or could it be more serious?

and the back door windows only go down about 5 inches, could this be a safety system?

before I start throwing money and parts at this I would like to get some direction

thanks all

 

[95escahoe]

The fuel guage issue is pretty common usually an issue in the cluster, theres a place you can send it to and have it fixed and they will look the whole cluster over, and the rear window thats how they are cause the wheel well is in the way of them going down anymore

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[SunlitComet]

remove tank and see if the fuel is coming from the pump unit while it is done measure resistance on the terminals that the purple and black/white wires in the harness attach to.
fluid should not even look yellow only red flush it out of there. and while you at it check the color and level of tranny as well.

for tcase check for loose, missing or blown fuses #2, 4 and 24.

 

[97blueyuk]

thanks for the answers so far. about the pump unit resistance what range should it be in? Will def be flushing the tcase this week, I was thinking it didn't look right

 

[SunlitComet]

empty tank should give you about near 0Ω and full tank should give about 90Ω.

 

[97blueyuk]

had the cel scanned yesterday, came up with a bunch of codes. 1 for each bank o2 sensor, 1 for each bank catalyst (hopefully related to o2), coolant temp loop, and a miss cyl 6 and a general miss. time to do some shopping i guess.

 

[SunlitComet]

how about posting the codes and email me your email thru my profile page so i can get you testing sheets for each code before you start buying thing you may not really need just yet. if you killed each o2 sensor and a temp circuit and have cylinders dropping out i seriously doubt at this point that they are all individually broken.

 

[zzSKITzz]

Im in the same boat as 97blueyuk. I just got a 96 4wd 4 door and its my first 'hoe. I know I need front end parts but how common is a center link replacement? Any and all help is greatly appreciated because most of my chevy knowledge is all 2wd and pre-'72.

 

[SunlitComet]

center link is only needed if the holes in it are corroded or otherwise damaged.

 

[97blueyuk]

thanks sunlitcomet, I will go get it scanned again and get the codes, and get them too you.

 

[97blueyuk]

okay just got back from getting truck scanned the codes are as followed

p0125 p0141 p0155 p0300 p0430 p0141 p0306 the o2 sensor and cat codes there are 2 of each

I cannot send pms yet not enough posts I will get there soon though

 

[SunlitComet]

p0125 says that it is taking the coolant temp sensor used by computer is taking to long to get warm enough to enter closed loop. is your coolant topped off? do you see the seperate but similar temp monitoring system in your cluster take nine minute to warm up?

p0141 and p0155 are heater circuits in 2 diagonally separated mounted o2 sensors. leave them for now.

p0430 is for the catalytic converter for the right engine bank no longer chemically working properly. replacement is required. but wait... if you act now we may be able to delay that repair.

p0300 & p0306 is a engine misfire general condition but p0306 is specifically calling out a massive rate of misfire from cylinder #6. read the spark plug with pics posted here with it on a white piece off paper at different angles to get the best view for further diagnosis. inspect the wire for physical damage and signs of arcing or burning. if nothing inspect the inside of your dizzy cap for signs of cross firing of the terminals.

at this time your primary concern should be the coolant temp sensor circuit for the computer and the misfire issue. ignore the others for the moment.

let me know what you find. i take it you had to go somewhere to get it scanned, you don't have one yourself that reads live data?

 

[97blueyuk]

yes i had to take it somewhere. I will try to check it out today or tomorrow weather depending.

 

[97blueyuk]

I was able to take it for a ride this afternoon. I checked the rad, it was quite low couldn't see anything. I added about 3/4 gallon of water. I drove about 5 mins then had to go into the store. I rode around a lil bit after leaving. It took about 4-5 mins for the temp gauge to get to 3/4 then it dropped to just below half. I didn't want to put antifreeze in it cause I don't want to mix 2 types, and not knowing what is in there I didn't want to risk it. I will be flushing the system and filling the beginning of next week when I'm off of work.

While I was checking the fluid, I figured I would look at the plug wires and just take another general look around, I noticed the 3rd plug wire on the cap (from front of vehicle) looked like it was not on all the way, I pulled it off and the inside of the boot had some rust on it. I wiped it off and put it all the way on. Nothing changed in the way it ran but was only a few mins. Other than that the wires appear to be old but in good shape.

 

[SunlitComet]

flush out your coolant with all water, drain replace thermostat and refill with dexcool and burp of trapped air. it will do a final settle after a few hot/cold cycles. the wires may not be sitting on completely seated because of trapped air when installing. what side of the cap was this on? and did you inspect the number six plug?

 

[rolfsent]

Unless you have a Suburban that's as far as these back windows go down. So your back windows are perfectly normal.

 

[97blueyuk]

i plan on starting to mess with some of these issues today or tomorrow. The #6 plug is on the pass side of engine 3rd one back correct? I will pull it and get the pic up as the first thing I do.

The plug wire that was barely on was on the d/s of the cap.

any specific flush recommendation? or just a water back flush?

 

[SunlitComet]

it is possible but not very likely that you might have been given false data if the crank variation relearn was a tad off as the one you said was loose (#3) was just behind #6 in the firing order.

1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2

when i flush out i install the prestone back flush kit on the heater hose system. i use their chemical cleaners and coolant as well. when cleaning and flushing i use tap water but when done i purge the left over water in the suv using the kit and distilled water. takes some help when you do it by gravity but you purge the tap water out which can have all kinds of anomalies in it. i use prestone's coolant and distilled water to make the final mix of 50/50 for use in the engine. you could use there premix too. but for me unless i am final flushing with it i can not ensure a 50/50 mix ends up in there. i also don't know about the water used in their premix but i do know the quality of arrowhead's waters(nestle water companies- they are all over but any distilled should do fine for cooling. for me arrowhead makes a difference in battery use.. i can work on some pretty massive batteries.) so i buy the concentrate and distilled water separately and make my own. makes for easy mixtures adjustments. and gallon for gallon it is cheaper to do that the buying the premix here.

 

[97blueyuk]

here are 2 pics of the #6 plug. wire looks good. also pulled the dist cap, generally it looks pretty good, the electrode tips inside are kinda white though. Also when I pulled the rotor, the distr underneath looked sorta chalky white also. Pic of the rotor below plugs. Coolant flush will be tomorrow

this is what it looked like under the rotor.

 

[SunlitComet]

well the plug looks fine. in fact is does not look like it has had problems at all. from this point on tho use acdelco or delphi parts only tho. tho you can use autolite plugs. does the spotting the the rotor wipe off an do you have a full view and inside pic of the dizzy cap? i want to see the inside terminals and body surface look inside and the center button. how about the plug where you found the loose spark wire? i take it the white stuff on dizzy rotor wipes right off?