gsjimmy

Worked with the harness builder tonight. Found that the ground on F7-E7 was actually in the F8-E8 position. should be vacant. Once switched to the correct position everything worked. I did pull a P0354 coil code. will look at that in the morning. Have to go over everything else.

gsjimmy

OK, got this fixed. No more light show/grounding issue. The gauges all work. Next question is regarding the transmission (4L60E). When I shift into gear, I get nothing. This is true in all gears. Being that this is an electronic trans, is it wiring or mechanical? The trans seems to be pumping oil as I have a presence of oil at the upper line at the radiator.

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.

rpturbo

iTrader: (47)

I replied via pm on the trans, and it isn't good news.

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.

gsjimmy

I was able to get the trans fully filled with DEX VI ($8 qt., ouch). No change. Now I will be over at the buddies trans shop to discuss what I did. Since the trans was working after the install (while the ground issue was going on), there are a couple things that may have happened.

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.

gsjimmy

Painting in the house took up most of my time last night. But I was able to get some wire harness routing done, air cleaner tube & filter on (needs a small bracket still), most of the driver's side is now finished up and looking "factory" (sort of).

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...)

gsjimmy

Got some time over the weekend on the truck. It now looks like a truck again. Went through the sheet metal and got it mostly aligned and bolted down, bumper, wheels and suspension in with a real basic alignment (I'm sure its wrong) to get to the shop for a real alignment. I also wired the fans in (high & low to the respective wires and common grounds to the frame)

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.

gsjimmy

I am having issues with the 4l60e. When first started I had movement through the trans to the rear wheels. Now nothing. Been fighting this all week, so I finally dropped the pan to check the internals.

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.

Karlw

iTrader: (5)

No movement forward and reverse? If you disconnect the harness from the trans you should have third and reverse only. Have you tried that? From what you're describing sounds like a seal or something let loose. The pump might be pumping but it might be going right into the pan.

gsjimmy

Karl, not it unfortunately. Spoke to a couple transmission guys. My combo is wrong. I used the LS1 converter and bell with the V6 trans. This allows the pump to engage, but won't drive the input shaft.

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.

gsjimmy

Well....front end is off, cab tilted back and ready to pull the trans.

gsjimmy

Pulled the trans out this morning. Ready to swap out the flex plate and bell. still have to get the other converter off the 4.3. Maybe later tonight.

gsjimmy

Tonight was the night. Swapped out the bell and converter, installed the SFI flex plate and converter support. Then wrestled the trans into the truck and bolted in the trans and converter. All in the space of 2 hours.

gsjimmy

Last night I swapped out everything and got the driveline assembled. I borrowed an input shaft and verified that the LS1 converter was not engaging the transmission. Then verified that the 4.3 converter was working. The B&M Flex plate went on without a hitch, converter aligned perfectly. Almost forgot the support spacer, but that too went in without any issues. I used the engine crane and a floor jack to lift up the trans, by far the longest part of the swap (but I didn't have to pull the engine!). After about 30-40 mins of farting around, everything lined up and was able to get it bolted down. All went together like it was made to be there.

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.

gsjimmy

Last night I was able to button up the loose connections, wiring, starter and so on. Tedious and time consuming, but then was able to get the battery in and the truck fired up.

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.

gsjimmy

Last night was a thrash. Did a lot of the final connections and got it ready to go to the alignment shop. Still needs more trans oil, down about a quart, but was able to back up out of the shop and put about 100 feet of drive time on it.

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.

gsjimmy

Well over the weekend I was finally able to get the truck moving! Found a couple issues. I have a random O2, bank 1&2, not working. P0154 and P0134 faults (from memory). Clear the codes, and they come back on restart after some driving.

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 ($$$)

rpturbo

iTrader: (47)

Glad to hear your getting the bugs worked out. It does take some time, as you can see, but it's worth it in the end. Make sure you get a good tune on it!

gsjimmy

Yeah, still has bugs in it! Took it to the alignment shop on Tuesday. Got a call that I screwed up the geometry on the steering. Took off Wed to fix it. The Center link was in backwards and the Idler & pitman arms pointed in. The CL was also not level. Wow.

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.

gsjimmy

Today I was able to make the first real drive in the truck. Noticed a small driveline vibration at 62-63 mph. This is most likely due to a failing trans mount. Quick fix there.

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.

gsjimmy

I now have about 300 miles on the driveline. Tires are all but shot and sitting for 6 months didn't help them. Getting new rubber to see if that helps. I was able to get the D-shaft straightened out (ran out of room when the exhaust made contact with the frame). It's not perfect, but much closer now. Still have some vibration, not coming through the steering wheel. Changes on different surfaces. That is why I attribute it to tires. They were a bit sketchy to begin with and wasn't happy with them from the beginning. Down to the wear bars, so I'll be swapping to 2016 Colorado wheels & tires (takeoff's).

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?