Post: #126

Changing the front calupers on both sides for peace of mind ,might as well since im changing one side. Parts aren't Expensive


Yea disc in front

Drums in the rear

Post: #127

I finally found the source of the noise on my truck, went to replace the belt tensioner to get rid of a squeal and rattle noise, but while I had the belt loose I went and grabbed the A/C pulley. Holy fuck it was loose as hell. Pulled the clutch plate off and saw a piece of metal from the bearing sheared off just floating around, plus the little ball bearings from it were visible too, the bearing had come almost completely apart in there.

Decided that it's so fucked that I purchased a complete clutch kit, with new coil, pulley w/bearing, and all the other goodies (snap ring, screws, spacers, etc.) only $55.

Is is likely there's permanent damage to the compressor? I remember the A/C still worked when it started making that noise, but it hasn't been turned on all winter and I've avoided driving it until I got a look under the hood after the noise started.

Post: #128

(03-15-2018 01:03 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  I finally found the source of the noise on my truck, went to replace the belt tensioner to get rid of a squeal and rattle noise, but while I had the belt loose I went and grabbed the A/C pulley. Holy fuck it was loose as hell. Pulled the clutch plate off and saw a piece of metal from the bearing sheared off just floating around, plus the little ball bearings from it were visible too, the bearing had come almost completely apart in there.

Decided that it's so fucked that I purchased a complete clutch kit, with new coil, pulley w/bearing, and all the other goodies (snap ring, screws, spacers, etc.) only $55.

Is is likely there's permanent damage to the compressor? I remember the A/C still worked when it started making that noise, but it hasn't been turned on all winter and I've avoided driving it until I got a look under the hood after the noise started.

If you changed the expansion valve and dryer then put oil back in compressor it may be okay. The only other thing I can think of is there may be metal shavings in the compressor itself before it cycles back through the expansion tube then dryer... That would suck.

Post: #129

(03-12-2018 11:54 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  I will report back once I have it all installed and go for a few test runs.

Got the Y-pipe re-installed with the new cats welded on. This job ended up being a nightmare because of seized fasteners. Had to take my swaybar off to fit up the new cats and ended up breaking all 4 sway bar support bracket bolts. These were hardened bolts and I tried everything in my personal arsenal to get them out. I'm talking welding nuts to them and trying to impact wrench them off (just keep breaking further down), Using a propane torch to heat them up (no good), and even tried drilling them out but didn't have a heavy duty enough drill or drill bits for the job and I was sick of buying tools so in the end I broke down and brought the truck to a garage to have them get the broken bolts out for me. They ended up torching and drilling them all out with a mag drill I think.

Anyway, the verdict: engine light is gone and truck is running great right now. Haven't taken any extra long trips with it but it has been running fine driving around town the past several days.

The oil burning thing will be the next issue to tackle, but that will likely be a straight up motor replacement...

Post: #130

(03-20-2018 11:39 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

(03-12-2018 11:54 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  I will report back once I have it all installed and go for a few test runs.

Got the Y-pipe re-installed with the new cats welded on. This job ended up being a nightmare because of seized fasteners. Had to take my swaybar off to fit up the new cats and ended up breaking all 4 sway bar support bracket bolts. These were hardened bolts and I tried everything in my personal arsenal to get them out. I'm talking welding nuts to them and trying to impact wrench them off (just keep breaking further down), Using a propane torch to heat them up (no good), and even tried drilling them out but didn't have a heavy duty enough drill or drill bits for the job and I was sick of buying tools so in the end I broke down and brought the truck to a garage to have them get the broken bolts out for me. They ended up torching and drilling them all out with a mag drill I think.

Anyway, the verdict: engine light is gone and truck is running great right now. Haven't taken any extra long trips with it but it has been running fine driving around town the past several days.

The oil burning thing will be the next issue to tackle, but that will likely be a straight up motor replacement...

Car mechanics can be fun until you are chasing broken bolts like that. Then its "fuck this! Off to the mechanics".

Nice thing is those 5.3 Vortecs can be had for $2400 brand new.

Post: #131

Or you can tear it down (the fun part,as long as you label each and every part)

Get it to a machine shop and have them cleaning it and machine it to your liking

Rebuild it and blow the doors off those soccer-mommobiles

Post: #132

Any mechanics specializing in Benz from the 80s?

Post: #133

Thanks to Dulce for the PM assistance with my truck, got it all fixed yesterday while it was warm. Bought a complete kit for the drive end of the A/C, new pulley and bearing, new clutch, new clutch coil, etc. After slapping all that on with a new belt and tensioner, no more squeak or rattle and the A/C still works, whew!

Post: #134

(03-20-2018 02:52 PM)Laner Wrote:  Nice thing is those 5.3 Vortecs can be had for $2400 brand new.

Too bad this truck has the 6.2 LS-based motor. Refurbished motors go for about $3500. Brand new around $5k.

(03-20-2018 05:29 PM)ShotgunUppercuts Wrote:  Or you can tear it down (the fun part,as long as you label each and every part)

Get it to a machine shop and have them cleaning it and machine it to your liking

Rebuild it and blow the doors off those soccer-mommobiles

This is my plan actually. Problem here is that this is also my daily driver so I can't exactly afford to have it off the road for a few weeks while I pull the motor, tear it down, send the heads and block out to a shop to be plained, bored, honed, sleeved, decked, ported, polished, etc. get all the rebuilt rotating assembly parts and gaskets then reassemble and reinstall.

I have two options:

1.) Try to find a junkyard with an 2007+ escalade, yukon denali, sierra denlali, or corvette and see about pulling the motor and rebuilding it.

2.) Just take my truck off the road for a few weeks and spend a few hundred bucks on a junker off of craigslist that I can sell once my truck is back on the road.

I've tried looking around salvage yards in my area for a motor and so far no luck. A few places have rebuilt ones they will happily sell me for $3500+ but not I can just pull myself out of a wrecked car.

Post: #135

Option two sounds the best

I dont know where you live but i can get a 5.3 or a 6.0 fot less than 400 at a local junkyard

Post: #136

U-pull yards around here will let you pull any motor you want for ~$200 flat price. There are tons of 5.3's and a few 6.0's but neither of those motors are what's in my truck, and I'm certainly not looking to downgrade.

Post: #137

Buick 2000-ish, kind of a piece, busted window regulators, gets me to work usually though. 200k+ miles.
It ran like shit for awhile (stopping/starting randomly) so I cleaned the MAF sensor (I think), new air filter and now it runs well. Technically not street legal because the ... 02 sensor I think got eaten through by squirrels so the small hose that connects to the gas tank and is supposed to be attached to some kind of filter and sensor just dangles there. Somebody might have tried fixing it drunk and accidentally snapped off the hose. I'm just not sure.

The problem is now that the cab seems to fill up with exhaust at idle, and occasionally on the road. I get pretty light headed after a 15 minute commute, and with the window regulators being broken so once opened, they stay open, you see my predicament here. Any ideas? I'm not sure what's going on.

Post: #138

Alright man

First take the door panel off.keep up with all screws and look all over the door panel before prying at it to take it off.some are hidden in the door handle itself


After you do that take a flat head to the side of the door panel thats closer the the front of the car an pry away at it then take your hand across the bottom of it and pop those clips also and work your way to the top

Once the panel is off take off the plastic covering so its not in the way this might go back on if the adhesive isnt dried up or you can tape it back up

Next take off the rubber seal of the bottom of the opening of the window.this makes it easier to get it out


Now hook the master switch that controls the window back up ,it might be able to pop out of the door panel itself or you have to connect it back up with it still on

Alright next lower the window till you see two 10mm bolts that hold the window itself onto the regulator,loosen or take them off (depends on the type of regulator

Lower the window all the way down and the clamps might come right off or the window will go down with it .either way ,grab the window from the edge of the door and tilt it verticaly and get it out the door.you might have to take the rubber that surrounds the window off to make it easier to take out


Now heres the real fun

Take that same 10mm socket and take off all the bolts that hold the regulator in place ,they are light grey and more than you think so look around first.

Once they are all loost it should just drop inside the door and you have to wrestle them out depending on how big of an opening you have. Best way to do that is crossing the the window channels and bringing em on out


To get em back in reverse the steps


You can find perfectly good ones at a junk yard thing is to get em out you have to use direct power from a drill because theres no battery in the car. to do it which is fairly simple after you get the door panel off theres a motor on the regulator that has to wires (blue and brown) cut those in half ,make sure you get some lengh on them too ,that makes it much easier and strip the to the wire

Take the battery of your drill off and tap the wire between the two terminals and the window should move up down .if it doesnt the shits fucked like the ones that you already have

Dealer ships usually charge 100-400 dollars for this kinda job but with some patience Nd the right tools its fairly easy and you can get it down quicker than you thing.save that miney and buy a 6'er

If you have any concerns let me know .

Post: #139

Oh I've replaced regulators a bunch of times on this very vehicle, that's why all the bracket mounts are screwed and epoxied back on for easier removal.
I'm not all that concerned with the window regulators, the rear (left?) one I just opened up recently (after replacing it once already) and just jammed a $2.99 mini vicegrips right into the cabling after disconecting the power to the regulator motor, because fuck replacing it eight hundred times.

The front left will get replaced with better non-chinese parts eventually.

I'm just not sure what to do about the exhaust in the cab since I crawled under there and didn't find a whole lot. There's not much undercarriage rust at all since this vehicle was from North Dakota, where cars might actually last longer than five years. This is also a new problem since replacing the air filter.

Post: #140

By air filter you do you mean the cabin air filter?

Post: #141

Changing my brake calipers and rotors soon . The shop i took it to was gonna charge me 530 to do it. Went to the junk yard to see how you take it apart and i had the rotor off in like 5 mins. Gonna orer the parts and get some axle grease and get it done.

Post: #142

Why you changing your calipers? They seized?

Should be able to do all 4 pads and rotors for a couple hundred if you do it yourself buying all the parts. Caliper prolly run you another couple hundred depending on your vehicle and how cheap of parts you get.

Post: #143

The one on the right front seized on me. Lucky for me parts are cheap brand new. I already have the brakes for the front and rear

Post: #144

Post: #145

Drill it off.

Post: #146

I had a stuck nut that I just sprayed with PB blaster and other penetrating oils, and kept hitting it with my dewalt electric impact and it came loose eventually!

Post: #147

I've fought a lot of rusted/seized nuts and bolts in my day. The order goes:

1.) Penetrating fluids then try to wrench off
2.) Heat (acetylene torch is best) then try to wrench off
3.) Cut/drill out nut/bolt. Retap hole of need be after

Drilling/cutting is the only 100% method. Physically destroying the material WILL get it out.

Methods get more intricate if you break studs or round off the head of a nut/bolt.

Post: #148

(03-20-2018 11:39 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

(03-12-2018 11:54 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  I will report back once I have it all installed and go for a few test runs.

Got the Y-pipe re-installed with the new cats welded on. This job ended up being a nightmare because of seized fasteners. Had to take my swaybar off to fit up the new cats and ended up breaking all 4 sway bar support bracket bolts. These were hardened bolts and I tried everything in my personal arsenal to get them out. I'm talking welding nuts to them and trying to impact wrench them off (just keep breaking further down), Using a propane torch to heat them up (no good), and even tried drilling them out but didn't have a heavy duty enough drill or drill bits for the job and I was sick of buying tools so in the end I broke down and brought the truck to a garage to have them get the broken bolts out for me. They ended up torching and drilling them all out with a mag drill I think.

Anyway, the verdict: engine light is gone and truck is running great right now. Haven't taken any extra long trips with it but it has been running fine driving around town the past several days.

The oil burning thing will be the next issue to tackle, but that will likely be a straight up motor replacement...

Good new and bad news:

Bad news is that replacing the cats apparently did NOT fix the problem dispite the fact I have taken the truck on two 2+ hour-long drives since then with zero issues - today I drove about 120 miles roundtrip with no problems then parked my truck at my girl's house to drop her off. Took a shit then get back in the truck to drive to my office and it started real shitty. Long sputtery crank, but it fires up. Drove about 5 minutes and it died waiting at a red light. The exact same way it died in the past. Sputtery and bogging at low rpm then stall. Put it in park and sat until light turned green then fired it back up and drive home (house was 2 blocks away). Parked in front of my house and it stalled as I was parking it.

Not sure what the problem is here.

But now the good news:

Found a junkyard right in town that just got a truck in that has my same motor. Going to pull it tomorrow. Depending on what kind of shape it is in I might just clean it up a bit and swap it directly into my truck, but that is TBD. If it needs work I'll rebuild it then swap it in when ready. If it doesn't then I'll swap it in right away and rebuild my current motor.

Post: #149

Sorry guys, didn't mean to waste your time. Thought you would know it was a joke with the picture of the women with skimpy clothing, blacked out eyes, and decimated metal.

Post: #150

I knew it was a joke, sometimes just like to answer questions no one asked