tune up from hell. now i need help
- Thread starter atomicmecha
- Start date
Jimmy
Banned
atomicmecha
I hate rust
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
Ah... 3 days later I finally got it. Ended up going to home depot and getting a set of tiny screws and wing nuts with some lock washers. Sucker aint going no where's now.
Turns out that the bain of my trouble was a broken rotor.
Seems when the cap was really loose it must have bumped and well plastic is weaker than metal. so the distributor shaft kept turning but the rotor did not. Explains why my timing was off by about 30+ degree's.
So new rotor. Bolted down cap. Triple checked the plug wires being in the right order. Fired her up and after a bit of clearing her throat everything sounded excellent.
And my oh my is she running good now. My ruff idle is gone. When I stomp on it it sounds so nice now. No spitting. No hiccups. No missing. Smooth all the way to 80 till i ran out of road. Shifting right at 4800 now instead of going past 5000. :tup:
Now on to my bigger problem... the smoke. :roll: Which i noticed today is coming out of the oil dip stick when i check the oil.
Ah... 3 days later I finally got it. Ended up going to home depot and getting a set of tiny screws and wing nuts with some lock washers. Sucker aint going no where's now.
Turns out that the bain of my trouble was a broken rotor.
Seems when the cap was really loose it must have bumped and well plastic is weaker than metal. so the distributor shaft kept turning but the rotor did not. Explains why my timing was off by about 30+ degree's.
So new rotor. Bolted down cap. Triple checked the plug wires being in the right order. Fired her up and after a bit of clearing her throat everything sounded excellent.
And my oh my is she running good now. My ruff idle is gone. When I stomp on it it sounds so nice now. No spitting. No hiccups. No missing. Smooth all the way to 80 till i ran out of road. Shifting right at 4800 now instead of going past 5000. :tup:
Now on to my bigger problem... the smoke. :roll: Which i noticed today is coming out of the oil dip stick when i check the oil.
atomicmecha
I hate rust
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
Was about to text you again, but looks like I'm alright for now. Thanks.
Was about to text you again, but looks like I'm alright for now. Thanks.
dgoodhue
BuSTeD 4.3
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
The smoke means a broken piston or ring 99.9% of the time.
Now on to my bigger problem... the smoke. :roll: Which i noticed today is coming out of the oil dip stick when i check the oil.
The smoke means a broken piston or ring 99.9% of the time.
atomicmecha
I hate rust
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
I'd put all my money on broken ring. It's already low on the compression on 3 of the 6. Ugh. I can get away with a top end rebuild where I live, but not a full rebuild. Guess I'm gonna need to find a garage to rent or a friend's driveway. :roll:
I'd put all my money on broken ring. It's already low on the compression on 3 of the 6. Ugh. I can get away with a top end rebuild where I live, but not a full rebuild. Guess I'm gonna need to find a garage to rent or a friend's driveway. :roll:
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
For the smoke, the water trick can work to free stuck rings too. I'm not saying it is likely the problem, but it might work and its free and harmless to try. Another good engine cleaner is Auto-RX. Fairly expensive but works wonders and well loved by bobistheoilguy.com. Again, it can't fix broken pieces but both it and the water could clean out some gunk if that's the problem.
Question. Was the smoke BLOWING out, or just smokey vapors? If its blowing out then exhaust gas is getting by the rings, if its just vapors it could be moisture burning off. But I'll say it again, a cleaning out is cheap and harmless to try and MIGHT work, tearing it down is long, fairly involved and quite expensive.
For the smoke, the water trick can work to free stuck rings too. I'm not saying it is likely the problem, but it might work and its free and harmless to try. Another good engine cleaner is Auto-RX. Fairly expensive but works wonders and well loved by bobistheoilguy.com. Again, it can't fix broken pieces but both it and the water could clean out some gunk if that's the problem.
Question. Was the smoke BLOWING out, or just smokey vapors? If its blowing out then exhaust gas is getting by the rings, if its just vapors it could be moisture burning off. But I'll say it again, a cleaning out is cheap and harmless to try and MIGHT work, tearing it down is long, fairly involved and quite expensive.
atomicmecha
I hate rust
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
The water trick is on the to-do list. Atm I'm just glad its running again and much smoother than before.
And the smoke was sorta just coming out like the smoke out of a dry-ice fog machine. Just a lot less smoke than a dry-ice machine. And it wasn't being puffed out in time with anything, just sorta flowing out. So guess it was just vapor. Guess a small bit of coolant is leaking into the oil. (i have oil in my coolant atm. going to replace the radiator and go from there in finding the leak.)
The water trick is on the to-do list. Atm I'm just glad its running again and much smoother than before.
And the smoke was sorta just coming out like the smoke out of a dry-ice fog machine. Just a lot less smoke than a dry-ice machine. And it wasn't being puffed out in time with anything, just sorta flowing out. So guess it was just vapor. Guess a small bit of coolant is leaking into the oil. (i have oil in my coolant atm. going to replace the radiator and go from there in finding the leak.)
atomicmecha
I hate rust
IpHoOnDyou
New member
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
Sir you have a very broken engine. Do not drive anymore unless you want parts that should be in the engine, out of the engine! You have way low compression, smoking on startup ie. valve seals. You have issues an need them sorted, what is your cylinder leakdown? What does your oil level look like? When your engine is warm where is your oil pressure guage sitting? Long story short you should be looking at a rebuild here really soon. Best advice.... Start trolling the for sale section an read alot of build threads
Steve
Sir you have a very broken engine. Do not drive anymore unless you want parts that should be in the engine, out of the engine! You have way low compression, smoking on startup ie. valve seals. You have issues an need them sorted, what is your cylinder leakdown? What does your oil level look like? When your engine is warm where is your oil pressure guage sitting? Long story short you should be looking at a rebuild here really soon. Best advice.... Start trolling the for sale section an read alot of build threads
Steve
atomicmecha
I hate rust
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
Damn.
Well... not sure about the leakdown. But oil level is spot on and it barely looses any between changes. Maybe just under a qt. Been changing it every 3000 miles or less. Oil does get very burnt between changes tho. Like blacker than what I'm used to seeing coming out of my blazer between it's oil changes. But I'm guessing that's cause its also feeding the turbo? And when the engine is warm, oil pressure sits about 40ish when idling. goes up to the 60's-70's when under acceleration.
It only smokes badly on the start up. Once it bellows out its small cloud its clear. But there is noticeable smoke coming out of the driver side valve cover where there's currently just an air filter.
Honestly... I'm not at all surprised. Considering what I've read about this truck on here after digging. And how it was running when i brought it. Not surprised. Rebuilding it might just be my winter project. :doh:
EDIT ADD...
just curious... would my blind ass be mistaking the color of the smoke for blue instead of white and its really coolant leaking in? My coolant is rather black atm...
Damn.
Well... not sure about the leakdown. But oil level is spot on and it barely looses any between changes. Maybe just under a qt. Been changing it every 3000 miles or less. Oil does get very burnt between changes tho. Like blacker than what I'm used to seeing coming out of my blazer between it's oil changes. But I'm guessing that's cause its also feeding the turbo? And when the engine is warm, oil pressure sits about 40ish when idling. goes up to the 60's-70's when under acceleration.
It only smokes badly on the start up. Once it bellows out its small cloud its clear. But there is noticeable smoke coming out of the driver side valve cover where there's currently just an air filter.
Honestly... I'm not at all surprised. Considering what I've read about this truck on here after digging. And how it was running when i brought it. Not surprised. Rebuilding it might just be my winter project. :doh:
EDIT ADD...
just curious... would my blind ass be mistaking the color of the smoke for blue instead of white and its really coolant leaking in? My coolant is rather black atm...
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
The oil will get black because of the blow by, the exhaust gasses are making it into the crankcase. Since you mention the filter on the valve cover I would try some engine cleaner and get a PCV valve on the thing. Its a long shot but gunked up rings can and do happen and IIRC running without a PCV can increase the likelyhood of this happening.
Your coolant looks like it has oil/ATF in it. It should bubble if its a bad head gasket iirc. You could try bypassing the oil and tranny coolers in the radiator, cleaning the radiator really well and seeing what happens. My guess is there is a leak between the oil or transmission cooler letting water and oil/atf mix and likely just represents a bad radiator. A head gasket isn't out of the question, and may be the cause of your low compression, that can be tested for too using a parts store rental tool (and some bought fluid).
Oil pressure sounds good to me, I've heard 10psi per 1000 rpm, but that's for the non-turbo 4.3.
Smoke on startup is valve seals, smoke out the filler is blow by. The valve seals require replacement (if it bothers you) but the blow by MIGHT not.
BTW, I'm not seeing anything that screams you need a rebuild, some strong signs you might, but I would do everything I could to make SURE it does first.
The oil will get black because of the blow by, the exhaust gasses are making it into the crankcase. Since you mention the filter on the valve cover I would try some engine cleaner and get a PCV valve on the thing. Its a long shot but gunked up rings can and do happen and IIRC running without a PCV can increase the likelyhood of this happening.
Your coolant looks like it has oil/ATF in it. It should bubble if its a bad head gasket iirc. You could try bypassing the oil and tranny coolers in the radiator, cleaning the radiator really well and seeing what happens. My guess is there is a leak between the oil or transmission cooler letting water and oil/atf mix and likely just represents a bad radiator. A head gasket isn't out of the question, and may be the cause of your low compression, that can be tested for too using a parts store rental tool (and some bought fluid).
Oil pressure sounds good to me, I've heard 10psi per 1000 rpm, but that's for the non-turbo 4.3.
Smoke on startup is valve seals, smoke out the filler is blow by. The valve seals require replacement (if it bothers you) but the blow by MIGHT not.
BTW, I'm not seeing anything that screams you need a rebuild, some strong signs you might, but I would do everything I could to make SURE it does first.
atomicmecha
I hate rust
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
Tried putting a pvc valve on it running to the air intake and it just blows the valve out.
And trans fluid is new and has been replaced twice now in the last 5000 miles. First was because one of the pre-bent steel lines rusted away and it sprayed trans fluid all over the underside of the thing. Thanks to that the cladding on the passenger door is stained badly. :roll: and then again when the trans pan gasket sprung a leak and had to be replaced. And as of today when i checked all the fluids after getting it running, the fluid is a nice health redish pink. no foam.
I'm going to flush the radiator and run some cleaner through it with a few gallons of water. dump that out and refill it with fresh 50/50 mix. And check on it every few days to see how it looks.
One day/issue at a time i guess...
Tried putting a pvc valve on it running to the air intake and it just blows the valve out.
And trans fluid is new and has been replaced twice now in the last 5000 miles. First was because one of the pre-bent steel lines rusted away and it sprayed trans fluid all over the underside of the thing. Thanks to that the cladding on the passenger door is stained badly. :roll: and then again when the trans pan gasket sprung a leak and had to be replaced. And as of today when i checked all the fluids after getting it running, the fluid is a nice health redish pink. no foam.
I'm going to flush the radiator and run some cleaner through it with a few gallons of water. dump that out and refill it with fresh 50/50 mix. And check on it every few days to see how it looks.
One day/issue at a time i guess...
Re: tune up from hell. now i need help
Be careful, if you even suspect that oil or atf is mixing with the antifreeze take every precaution to stop it, especially the oil. Water in the oil is a super fast way to destroy a bottom end. You have good oil pressure so little reason to suspect worn out bearings, don't risk them by allowing water in the oil. If that oil cooler is leaking it could suddenly leak worse thus taking out the bottom end, the cam journals, the cam and the turbo. On that note, rebuilding a transmission is no cheaper than a complete block rebuild.
Be careful, if you even suspect that oil or atf is mixing with the antifreeze take every precaution to stop it, especially the oil. Water in the oil is a super fast way to destroy a bottom end. You have good oil pressure so little reason to suspect worn out bearings, don't risk them by allowing water in the oil. If that oil cooler is leaking it could suddenly leak worse thus taking out the bottom end, the cam journals, the cam and the turbo. On that note, rebuilding a transmission is no cheaper than a complete block rebuild.