93 Silverado, looking to do basic maintenance

[Zs_Silverado]

Howdy everyone. Figured I'd come post to a forum about my new truck and see if I could get some guidance about where to start and what all needs to be done. Last night I became the owner of a 1993 Chevy Silverado with a 5.7L TBI 350. I got it for a pretty great deal, but it came with it's issues. It has 210xxx miles on it, so I know it needs a major tune up. It was also sitting for at least five months, but lo and behold it started right up when I got there. I'm not really used to the whole TBI fuel delivery system. My last truck was a 1985 GMC C1500 with a 454BBC so this is a change. Here's what's going on so far.

 

- The truck hesitates terribly if you give it anywhere further than half throttle, and just bogs down if you try to floorboard it. It also gives off the smell of fuel injection cleaner when you do that, like someone put too much in a gas tank trying to clean it (I know, my 87 Firebird had this issue because of naive 16 year old me).

 

- When going about halfway or less into the throttle, the truck won't shit until 2500rpm. Since the redline starts at 4000rpm, I figured this might not be how it should be shifting. To be honest, I don't know if I have a Turbo 350 or a different trans than that.

 

- None of my exterior lights work. I have no headlights, brake lights or blinkers. The truck is missing the headlight switch, which I believe might be part of the reason I have no brake lights, but I'm not too sure about it. I planned to get the switch along with the entire plastic surround since it's missing as well.

 

- My driver's side window won't roll up or down, it's only able to move by forcing it upwards. I have a feeling the motor is out, which isn't a terrible fix. I'll most likely be replacing both switches since my passenger window goes up by pressing the down button and vice versa.

 

- When I turn the key on, there's a clicking that last for about 20 seconds underneath the passenger side of the dash. It goes away after that, but when you turn the key off it'll do it for another 20 seconds before turning off. When I turn on my air conditioner I get absolutely no fan from it, so I'm putting two and two together here and guessing my A/C fan has gone bad.

 

- I also have no power steering. Previous owner bypassed the pulley which has gone bad using a smaller belt. That's a relatively easy fix, from what I've been told already however.

 

I'm sorry for sounding so noob-ish for all this, it's just my first experience with TBI and all this computer stuff in awhile. The 85 was a lot simpler to work on so I'm just trying to get a good acquaintance with the newer style truck.

 

So, the fixes so far go as follows:

 

- Spark plugs

- Spark plug wires

- Distributor? (I could use a little guidance on this, I've seen there's a bunch of different types for the TBI model, not sure if I need a computer controlled one since I have an ECU in the truck now.)

- Fuel Injectors

- Air filter

- A/C Blower Motor

- Power Steering Pulley

- Basic fluid changes (Coolant flush, oil change, trans fluid change(?))

- Front brake pads

 

Any help, comments, additions to the needed maintenance list would be greatly appreciated guys!

[Zs_Silverado]

I did an OBD1 scan using the old paperclip trick and returned nothing but a "12" start of diagnosis reading over and over. So, as far as that goes, no leads there.

[1time]

I had a 90'. It started bogging down due to a clogged cat around the same mileage.

[Zs_Silverado]

I'll get the cat checked out soon then. I got a ton of guidance from the guys over at GMT400 so I'll add that to my list to check out. Thanks!

[Daly]

-The hesitation could be the cats like posted earlier, but it could also be bad gas… The gas left in the tank from sitting that long has gone bad…

 

-Not sure about the shifting issue, could be a few things. But, you have a 4l60 transmission. Basically an electronically controlled 700r4 with a few other tweaks…

 

-The light issue is more then likely the missing switch and a bad grounding issue somewhere…

 

-You're right on the window, it's likely the A/C clicking, and the power steering pump, but you'll want to look at the power steering box now. If it wasn't bad before it is now, after being used as a manual pump…

 

-As for the distributor, you'll have to buy one listed for an 88-96 TBI motor…

 

Other then that you're on the right track…

[Zs_Silverado]

-The hesitation could be the cats like posted earlier, but it could also be bad gas… The gas left in the tank from sitting that long has gone bad…

 

-Not sure about the shifting issue, could be a few things. But, you have a 4l60 transmission. Basically an electronically controlled 700r4 with a few other tweaks…

 

-The light issue is more then likely the missing switch and a bad grounding issue somewhere…

 

-You're right on the window, it's likely the A/C clicking, and the power steering pump, but you'll want to look at the power steering box now. If it wasn't bad before it is now, after being used as a manual pump…

 

-As for the distributor, you'll have to buy one listed for an 88-96 TBI motor…

 

Other then that you're on the right track…

Awesome, I appreciate the additional help. I got a ton of things to look into once the rain lets up down here!

[Zs_Silverado]

New fuel filter is on and hesitation issue is gone! Truck runs like it's brand new. Hesitates going into gear though, takes it like 3 seconds for it to finally go into drive. Any ideas?

[Daly]

Do a transmission flush and filter first, if the problem persists it likely needs a rebuild…

[Zs_Silverado]

Gotcha, I'll see how it goes from there!

[Zs_Silverado]

So I drove it for about 20 minutes today and it ran pretty well. Started to overheat, come to find out I have a cracked radiator. So, I'll add that to my list of fixes. Checked the trans fluid and it's reading full, however it's a very light color pink. Also got my first engine code today as well. 32 EGR Solonoid.