Doug_Scott

Trying to apply logic to how things are done in the business world is a waste of time. Why do they do something to save $5 per vehicle when they could just as easily raised the price by $10 and earn $5 more profit per vehicle? If a car company sells a quarter million vehicles per year, how hard is it to not slip a $4 rise in dealer cost on every vehicle and earn a cool million dollars more that year? I am by no means even remotely intelligent in business, I must be missing something, it just seems so easy to me. What am I not understanding? A long time ago I was told that a business can never recover the profit lost due to theft. I fell asleep while the guy explained it.

Is GM allowing anyone to get a new bin file(or whatever they call it) for your ECM? For example, when I changed the rear axle gear set 10 years ago GM would not send the dealer a new updated ECM file to correct the issues created when going to 4:10 from 3:23. Whats the price for one of those boxes?

I think you will find that the part numbers are not created with regards to the number it is replacing. When the technician calls the tech line to get an updated firmware it will include the newest version of each module.

How are you testing the starter motor? Watch the dome light while trying to start the truck, it should only dim slightly. If it is going out completely, then you have a bad battery or battery cable. Take a good look at both battery cables where the lug is crimped on. If the insulation is bulging there pull on the cable to stress the crimp connector to see if white powder comes out.

I think you will find it wasn't dropped because the media made it into a news item, that was about the time that CAFE came into being, and that 40 gallons of fuel was double the weight of the standard fuel load. It was an easy way lose some weight. That was back when Volkswagen used to advertise the Beetle had 13 pounds of paint on it, and their favorite slogan was "Volkswagens will definitely float, but they won't float indefinitely". I know, off topic, it was just one of those things that pops into your head when you think back in time.

Something like 7.3 pounds a gallon, that would be a real gallon, not the little ones you have in the states.

From your description it sounds like the truck is not notifying you of these error codes, you are going looking for them. If it is not setting the CEL, maybe ignore it until it does. The ECM is the last place to look, and if you cannot say for certain(as in the truck is dead and has visible damage to the ECM) then keep looking at traditional causes. Its been a while, aren't some codes stored as historical and will only clear themselves after so many starts? Don't think that just because something is new it can't be defective. Parts have warranty just for that reason. With that being said, have you checked the valve springs?

I would contact both Lear and ARE directly and ask them. If they are different they will know for sure. If they are the same, the current catalog won't show that model year yet.

Back in the 70's when I was doing PDI's and then squeaks and rattles on new Chrysler products I thought I have discovered the source of a clunk in the rear end of a new van. Axle end play seemed to be about twice as much on the passenger side as it was on drivers side. Took a while to finally figure out that in order to clunk, both sides would have to move excessively since the tight side will stop the loose side from continuing to move. Easy way to prove this is have a bunch of people push on each side of the truck to try to duplicate the noise. Is your truck out of warranty? It is less than 3 years old, why not get the dealer to take a listen to it. Did you put the locking axle additive in when you changed the fluid? BTW, the fix to the above van was a missing shock washer.

You will also want to double check that the replacement brake shoes are the same width as the original ones. Since only the passenger side did this carefully compare the sides to see what is different. Look for things like others have suggested, is the wheel cylinder tight to the backing plate on both sides, or can you move the one on the right side, the big blue spring thing installed the exact same way on both sides, etc. Also make sure you have primary and secondary marked shoes on each side, and not two primary on one side and two secondary on the other side(assuming they still have primary and secondary shoes). Also make sure that the slot between the two "ears" is in the middle of the cylinder, and the brake shoe is also rubbing on the backing plate and not being forced in or out due to the shoe not aligning with the slot. You are lucky one side is good, it should make it easier to find the problem on the other side.

Easiest way to see if it is unlocking is to downshift manually into 3 and see if the RPMs increase. This may just be the transmission relearning the shifting based on your how you drive. Does RockAuto also include the TCM with the transmission?

My 2000 Pontiac GTP had the electronic transmission and would unlock the convertor if you took your foot off the gas, or touched the brake pedal. It would then take a second or two to lock back up again after you put your foot on the gas. Perhaps you old transmission was not doing this and that is what you got used to. When I got my first GTP in 97(98 model) I took it back the day I picked it up because I thought there was something wrong with the high gear clutch pack. My only experience with lockup convertors prior to that car was the Chryslers back when they introduced it back in 77/78. It was a complete hydraulic lockup, and behaved completely different to GMs version 20 years later. In my 2010 truck it behaves different to my 98 and 00 GTP. They have tightened up the engagement and disengagement points to do a good job at hiding the locking and releasing of the lockup. I used to tap the brake pedal in my GTPs when going up a steep hill on the highway with cruise control on to unlock the convertor. If I didn't, the transmission would delay the unlocking until it figured it also needed to downshift. Tapping the brakes would unlock the convertor and it would stay unlocked until it could hold the speed. Tapping the brakes also cancelled the cruise, so I had to also step on the gas at the same time.

Take a good look at both front axles. Sounds like a bad CV joint or whatever type joint they are using on 4wd front axles. Transfer case does not care if the wheels are turned, as in going around a corner. Same for fluid change. Take a look at the transmission fluid on the dipstick, is it still a transparent red colour? Does it smell burnt? And like the transfer case, the transmission also does not care if you are turning.

The trick to buying a new vehicle is deciding how much you want to pay for the vehicle "out the door". All those add on charges they have for everything from a couple of gallons of fuel to having to pay for the time it takes them to do the paperwork is 100% negotiable. Do the research online to build the truck you want. Online quotes are almost always at MSRP. You decide what the maximum you can afford is, remembering to keep things like higher insurance premiums on your mind. Do not go over your maximum price. Do not count on duplicating what someone says they got a vehicle for, very few actually include all the details, and some just plain lie. Does not matter what they paid. If you find a vehicle that you want on a lot, take that price and add in all the crap that dealer adds in, plus taxes. Once you get the out the door price at MSRP, you start your negotiating at a percentage less than that. Keep in mind that rebates, incentives, and regional deals are sometimes stackable(they all get applied first, off of MSRP). Sales tax is applied on the price after rebates are applied in most places. In Ontario Canada we get to pay 13% sales tax on new vehicles(actually it is retail sales tax plus GST), plus the $100 AC tax. I start at 15% off of the full list price, plus all their little bullshit fees, sales taxes etc. I only talk in out the door price. I don't care how he gets to the price, I am only going to pay the last number on the invoice. If there is a trade in that adds some complexity to the formula. I have luckily been buying all my vehicles from the same salesman at the same dealership since early 90s. He knows that I am not going to give a deposit so he can go see the sales manager to talk about how much more they can squeeze me for. The last two purchases I followed him into the sales manager's office and sat down. Figured I would save him the trouble of having to walk back and forth. The most important thing to remember is there are more than one dealer out there. If you are not getting anywhere, or you just don't feel good about the salesman, get up and leave. If the salesman is good he will follow you, talking the whole time. Don't stop unless he says something that catches your attention. I have heard some stories in the last few years that need to be listened to. Do not give your license or credit card to the salesman to hold for any reason other than you have reached an agreement on the price and you are going to purchase it, or you are going for a test drive. Do not leave your drivers license with him while you are gone. First off, if he says here's a photocopy, I will give your license back when we get back. Sorry, no need for them to hold your drivers license. Some dealers use that ploy to keep you there. Same as credit card. There is no reason to have to give a deposit just to get your offer considered. Walk away if they say they need that to show you are interested. I am sitting there, that is enough proof I am serious. If you keep all you possessions with you at all times, including the keys to your car that they took so they could do an appraisal on the value of your trade in. Wait till you have the keys back in your hands before discussing the price. And don't get hung up on what someone else got there's for, its a different vehicle at a different time from a different dealer that likely has a different sales volume and a different deal with GM.

Its actually been the logic of more than just GM. I can remember my grandfather telling me that they put a tank in that can hold enough fuel to go 300 miles. That was back in the early 70s. Since the 80s manufacturers have had to appease EPA's CAFE requirements. Don't know if they are still holding manufacturers to the requirement being applied to the actual vehicles sold as opposed to a simple average of the vehicles available. They used to take what GM sold, and took the CAFE results from those vehicles. So if GM sold too many vehicles that got poor mileage, and not enough vehicles that got great mileage, they may not meet the CAFE numbers. Be thankful that they don't weigh the vehicles with the family loaded into it to figure out how that impacted the fuel mileage. We would end up all getting our body hair removed and nails trimmed to get the weight as low as possible.

The factory standard air filter/inlet is sealed to the side and front of the rad support, limiting hot air from getting into the housing. The main drawback to it is the "muffler" system that is added after the air filter, before the throttle body. It is a tuned resonance type of thing whos main function is to make the air intake noise quiet. Why it is there I do not know for sure. I know that vehicles must meet some drive by noise standards, but can't see how that would be noticable since those tests are done at a set speed, and not at WOT. AirRaid makes a replacement inlet tube that removes the resonance chamber, returning the intake noise at WOT with just a flat panel K&N million mile air filter. GM have even gone so far on the stock intake box to put closed cell foam seals around the box inlets to prevent hotter engine compartment from getting in. It is nice to see that most manufacturers have finally started calling these types of air intake "cold air" intake instead of the "Ram Air" name that was incorrectly used since the car equipped with shaker, cowl induction, etc.

Those stop leak products typically soften the seals. If you think about it, how can it be softened? The only way I can come up with is that product contains a solvent for the material the seal is made from. Rear main seals are not usually sealing pressurized oil in, don't get me wrong, it does run in a fair amount of oil, its just not under pressure. If it were it would stay sealed longer due to the design of lip type seals. You don't want Teflon seals in any seal that is on a rotating surface. Teflon is harder than the metal contained in engines/transmissions and will wear a groove into the metal surface of the seals are of the split ring style.

How close to end of 3 year warranty are you? If you purchased all your vehicles from same dealer/salesman you may be able to have it fixed for cheap, if not free. In other words, don't know, but I am a fan of warranty.

It sort of defies logic. The push rod getting longer would be going against physics. If the jam nut came loose, I would expect it to get shorter since becoming longer means it has to overcome the static pressure in the master cylinder. You will want to unbolt the master cylinder and slide it off the studs so you can take a look at the push rod. Having never seen behind a master on a hydra boost system I am just assuming the push rod can be removed this way. The push rod should have a lock or jam nut preventing the rod from turning on its threads. Be careful to avoid losing the current installed length. Using washer as you did is a good way to help diagnose it, but is not wise to leave it that way. You sure this didn't start after the master was changed?

I could understand the pushrod being the wrong length if this issue started after changing the master cylinder, but it didn't. The rod can't change lengths on its own, and even if it could, it would get shorter, not longer. It really is acting like a compensating port being covered or plugged. Easy way to test is to remove the cap from master cylinder, and using a clean rag, make a funnel shape around the open cap and have someone tap the brake pedal. The brake fluid should spurt out the opening as the brake pedal tapped. If nothing comes out, try the other cap, assuming it has two caps. I went through a bunch of cars with oil in the master cylinder when I was working at Firestone in the 80s. A local gas station attendant used oil to top off the master, this was back when they would actually open your hood to check oil and fluids. Every rubber part that the oil hit swelled up.

Typically if oil gets in the master cylinder (most common way for oil to get in master is someone topping the brake fluid up and using the wrong fluid) the seal on the cap will swell up. BTW, avoid topping off the brake fluid reservoir, there is more than enough brake fluid in the master to account for pad wear. Its not like it gets used up. You say you open a bleeder, which one, and is it always the same one? There are two circuits in the brake system, if you only open one bleeder, and it is always the same one, then you have narrowed it down to just half the brake system. Since you have already replaced the master cylinder, that should have taken care of a plugged compensating port in the master. This port allows brake fluid to "leak" back into the master cylinder as the fluid expands when driving on the highway (long instances of no brake application). If that port gets blocked, pressure will build up in the disc brake system, eventually applying the brakes enough to stop the vehicle. That port can also get blocked by an incorrectly adjusted brake pin that goes between the brake pedal and master cylinder. But, if the master was not removed, or no one had touched the brakes prior to this happening the first time, it will not be that pin misadjusted. Touching the brake pedal while driving(aka riding the brakes) will also block that port. Personally I have no idea if the ABS can cause any of this, I "retired" before ABS became common.

Signals and brake lights use the same filament. Signals that flash quickly means a bulb is not working or someone has replaced the bulb with an LED bulb. If you install LED bulbs you have to install a resistor across the signal wire to ground to trick the BCM or flasher module, I don't recall which one for sure, into thinking all the bulbs are working correctly. If the bulbs have been swapped for LEDs and the proper resistors have been installed. Check those resistors and see if they are still working. The ones I have seen get real hot.

Attach mechanical gauge where the stock sending unit goes. I have never replaced an oil pump and have it correct low oil pressure. Back when I was serving my apprenticeship at a Chrysler dealership there was one winter where it seemed like I got two cars a week with the oil pressure idiot light coming on at hot idle. The shop foreman would have me change the oil pump every time. Everyone of those engines ended up 1 of 3 ways. Crankshaft and bearings, or engine rebuild or traded in. Oil pump didn't fix any of them. I did get one van with a 318 that came in that had zero oil pressure. It was over full of oil, yet not a drop came out when I removed the drain plug. The van had been sitting for a few weeks during the coldest January in decades. Was told to pull the engine, and when nothing came out of the oil pan I put the drain plug back in and went home. Next morning I pulled the plug again, this time I got about a gallon of water then the oil. Inside the engine was packed with that tan coloured sludge. That one got traded in.

Did you try asking the manufacturer of the "Lil Big RIg" kits for answers? When you say "severe roof problems", were they run through an overpass they shouldn't have? What are you looking to make of these vehicles? By that I mean do you have a particular finished vehicle in mind, and you are just looking for ideas on how to get there or are you looking for ideas on what to do with these vehicles?

If you are just replacing parts you run the risk of introducing new issues. I know you can't return these parts, but I would put the old part back on if the replacement part made no difference. If you have the original ECM, put it back on and get rid of CEL. Have you checked the fuel pressure while cranking? Have you tried flooring the throttle, then turning the key to start? Doing this engages the clear flood mode and will not inject fuel until the engine starts. Try removing a couple of the easy to get at spark plugs when the issue is present, and inspect the engine side of the plugs for presence of raw fuel or oil. If there is no CEL with original ECM, you are pretty safe in moving away from engine electronics. Normally when no codes are present and the engine is acting up, the mechanic should start at the three traditional systems, fuel, compression and spark. By traditional I mean the mechanical side of it. Having fuel in the rail is only half the fuel test. It must be getting into the cylinder as well. You should be able to take a long screwdriver and place the top against a fuel injector, and put your ear against the handle end and crank the engine over. You should hear the injector opening and closing. Check them all, and see if they all sound the same.