'03 S-10 Build
Thoughts?
One other issue - gas gauge is pegged way past the full mark. Is this a wiring thing? I do have to add some fuel as it is really low (low fuel light). Hoping this will show a reading and won't have to pull off the box.
As far as the gas gauge, I can't remember what year your working on, but if you have it wired throught the pcm, there is a setting in HP Tuners that adjusts the size of the tank, so it knows how much fuel is actually in it.
On my 94, it wasn't wired like that. Mine just uses the factory sender unit, directly to the cluster.
Need to crawl under and see if the cable connection has slipped. If not that, then drain the oil and drop the pan to look at the selector connection. If not that, then some will have failed internally. If this happened, there will be material in the pan & oil. I guess then it's rebuild time (hope this isn't the case).
My thought is still that something is loose and causing this issue.
The trans guys was already gone when I got home last night, so that was a bust. Fuel gauge is still reading funny. My harness guy thought a good bump in the road will jar it and the reading will come back (his wife's Bravada did the same).
Goal for the weekend is to (get a bunch of house work done, yes dear) try and finish up the front sheet metal, grille and bumper on, kinky alignment with all the suspension points tighten and the adjuster sleeves tightened up. possibly get this on the ground and at least rolled out of the shop on the driveway.
Major shop clean-up is coming. Getting a dumpster to declutter the house, so tons of crap is going in the bin. Huge bonfire of old scrap wood. Looks like lots of ebay listings of Buick, Chevy and misc Motocross stuff. If anyone is looking for Big Block Buick parts, let me know. (455 heads, block, crank, TH400 and on and on...)
Other odds & ends taken care of too. I did note that the trans issue is a bit more involved. I can feel it go into gear, as the engine loads when shifted. But still no rear wheel movement. I verified that the drums were not seized on the drums and the e-brake was disengaged. My trans guy was gone all weekend, so I only made progress on non-driveline things.
To-Do still: Rear bumper is painted but needs the brackets bolted on then installed to the truck. Box needs to get bolted down & aligned to the cab. Looks like I won't get to the paint work before I sell the house (that sux).
Also need to figure out the upper radiator hose. Sitting in the truck wrong and the hood won't close. I latches on the safety hook, but hangs up on the hose.
Symptoms say "Front Pump fail". So tonight I started the truck after checking the oil level on the stick (way above full hot). With the truck running I puled the stick and had a level of full cold. So, that would say that the pump is working. So my next step was to drop the pan (and make a mess on the floor) to look for anything out of place, junk in the pan.
Pan looked fine, a little bit of gray in the bottom (not bad at all), magnet had a little gray material, again not bad.
I also ran the fluid through paint strainers found some crap in it, but could have come from the outside of the pan when I dropped it.
I checked the selector and it moved fine into all gears. No linkage in the pan, everything appears as it should. So what is going on?!?!?!?
I really don't want to tear it out again.
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
So this week Jimmy tears it all back down, and swaps the bell and converter, elongates the mounting holes in the flex plate and puts it all back together. Picked up a filter kit last night and am looking for a T-50IP bit to change out the bell. Have all the parts on hand, but just finished up getting everything else back together.
Tonight's plan is to do all the connections and install the D-shaft. Before I hang all the sheet metal (again) I will get it started and verify that I have motion at the rear wheels. With a bit of luck, this will all come together and go to the alignment shop so I can drive it. All this has cost me being able to get the box and cab painted. Guess I will live with a silver box on a black truck with a blue roof for a little while longer. Thinking that a nice rust free Colorado S-10 is going to be needed to do this right.
It is running a bit rough, but.............it now goes into gear!
I know that the is a bunch of routing to be done and sheet metal to hang (again) but the truck will now move under its own power. I did get a coil code which is contributing to the rough running (plug is not firing, porcelain is still white) but I have an extra set of coils that I can swap out the offending unit.
Guess I can work through the last of the issues and get this truck back on the road again.
With the big azz radiator in it, it doesn't heat up much. Got it to 192* and opened the thermostat, but not hot enough to kick on the fan(s). I also have a radio that says it is "locked". Was working, and now???? Guess that goes on the new punch list.
Only issue I see is a small water leak on the pass side. I will check the hoses and get some Barr's leak. Only dropping a teaspoon or so, but has not really been pressurized yet.
Today I will try and check the alignment to get it close enough to get to the shop. I did replace the entire front suspension, so this is a must. Just put in the original shims on the uppers to get close there. A tape measure and 12' 2x6 to get the front wheels at least going the same direction (place against the rear wheels and make sure that everything is in line front to rear).
Truck sounds great, just enough rumble to let you know there is something there.
Next was a coolant leak at the throttle body. I do need to T in the throttle body line to the overflow reservoir. That should get that fixed. Then the gas gauge is still not functioning correctly and the radio shows "LOCKED". I also cut a wire on the after market sunroof (oops)
Right now the truck is at the alignment shop. I got it close, still had a slight pull to the left, and the left hand turning was limited (internal bump stop). Having that all taken care of today. Hope to drive it to work Wednesday.
Still need the V-bands put into the Y-pipe. That will have to wait a couple weeks ($$$)
So, Tuesday nite I brought it home, ripped into it. Ended up spending about 6 hours total fixing the steering. But it now steers fully in both directions. Did end up buying a new idler arm. The other was pie cut and rewelded. That threw off the geometry big time (see page 3 of the build) all having to do with the clearance work for the a/c pump.
At this point I'll be in the market for a rust free S-10. Sounds like a trip to Colorado! Just doing a quik blow over with black paint to make it all one color.
Next is an annoying random SES light. P0134 and P0154 (both sides). No decline in drivability, came on after 20 miles of drive time (second time for this). Since I have to crawl under the truck anyway, I will put my spares in to see if that fixes it. Any other ideas on this?
Alignment was done yesterday, drives fine, but the Jeep steering shaft has the wheel 90* off. Have to pull the steering box to get the shaft turned. Hoping for an easy fix there.
Gas gauge - no input, says empty, low fuel (just filled the truck). Everything is pulled in correctly.
Still getting random O2 codes. SES light comes on after 25-30 miles. Dumb question, could the wires be grounding out? Turn off the SES and recheck, "No codes found", but after a bit of drive time, SES light is back, P0134 and P0154.
Anyone have the wiring diagrams for the radiator fans? I have them wired as follows: Hot side to the marked wire at the computer, black ground wire to the frame. Or is there another way to do this? About ready to run a toggle switch.
Last item: Overflow tank, can I run the TB steam line to the overflow tank, then the overflow to the radiator? Or do I need to do something else?





