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Stickman03SS

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Everything posted by Stickman03SS

  1. Mine is a daily driver. Just turned 68k miles.
  2. Thanks for the additional input. I did find that the new fuel pressure regulator I had put in early in the troubleshooting process was bad out of stock. I put the old one back in and have 50 psi regulated and 60 unregulated, which should be normal for a return style setup like our 2003 models have. At least that is what I have been told. It would be different for the 2004 models with the return-less, which is what my 75 K5 Blazer has (2004 Denali engine). It ran great for a few days and the problem returned. It seems to be less often with the old regulator on, but it does happen. STFT's still seem a bit high and erratic, especially when compared to the Blazer. I am going to put the fuel pressure gauge back on and do some test runs to see if I can find anything. I have seen that it might be a weak pump flow rate wise, but just in the range for pressure. Not sure if that would be valid, especially since it seems fine at WOT. Does anyone know what the fuel flow rate should be at idle and if that is a valid test to attempt and possibly the actual test procedure. I hate to take it in to the dealer or local repair shop unless I have a good idea what it is or that I feel like it would be reasonably quick to troubleshoot. I hate to take it in and get slammed with a bunch of troubleshooting bills, but walk out with no answer. Being intermittent makes it hard, especially with no codes. The crank relearn is still on my list of possibilities too. My tuning guy uses HPTuners, so he might be able to do it. I have not had time to call the dealer to see if they did it as part of the engine change, but I would think it would be a standard thing. We will see. Thanks in advance if anyone has flow rate spec and test procedure!
  3. So I am clear on the pressure spec, you are saying it should be 58 psi for the return style fuel system, like installed on the 2003 version and I am operating normally? With the regulated pressure of 45 psi and an unregulated of 53 psi, I would be concerned that it is low compared to the 58 psi? I know my Blazer is right on 58 psi, but it is a 2004 Denali LQ4 with the returnless style system with an in-tank Aeromotive Phantom 200 fuel pump installed. That has been my concern, as I have seen both 50 and 58 on the internet as the correct pressure. Sorry for all the questions, but I want to be sure I am on the same page. Thanks for your input. I cannot say for sure if the cam position relearn was performed. This was a dealer installed GM rebuilt LQ9 long block and I am was not there for that phase of the install. I will check the invoice, but doubt it will show that, but it should unless an part of the install. Is the cam position relearn something that is easily accomplished? I will do some checking for the details of the procedure in the meantime and perform it if possible. These things that either the dealer or myself has overlooked are just what I hope to determine, so I have my truck back to normal.
  4. Sorry if I am asking something that appears somewhere in the site, but I have searched and searched for the stock pressure for a 2003 SS and only seem to find data for people who have put in an aftermarket pump. Does anyone know where I find it or can definitively tell me what it is? I see way too many people on the internet (not here) who state fuel pressure for the various GM trucks from memory or ignorance that is often wrong. I am really struggling with a very intermittent misfire issue when tipping into the throttle mostly at speed. I have changed nearly everything on the truck after following various forum threads and their info for troubleshooting. Still no luck. I have been focusing on fuel pressure lately as a last resort. Here are some reading from today's runs with pressure gauge on windshield as I drive. Idle with pressure regulator vacuum line on - 45 psi off - 53 psi Driving without p/r vacuum line on - Nearly constant pressure of 53 psi at all power and speed settings Driving with p/r line on - Idle 45 psi in drive. As I tip into throttle, the pressure spikes to 54 psi until I let out of the gas and then drops to 40 psi until it stabilizes at 43 psi once again. The pressure is very throttle position sensitive. It has the "return" style fuel system. During these tests, the misfire would come and go, with no seen correlation to fuel pressure. This is what I have changed the last two months chasing this. New GM long block was installed in February after only 3 months of ownership, Truck had 61k miles. No misfire issue with new engine. Old engine broke two rods and pistons within 5 miles of first sound that really sounded like alternator bearing, but unfortunately was not. Engine blew at 25mph on off ramp limping home. I have blown engine before and this sounded nothing like normal rod knock. Suspect known GM oil pressure high pressure relief valve stuck issue, but could not prove it. Engine had broken block and starter housing where rods pushed block out into it. All seemed fine after engine change. Changed muffler to and Dynomax Ultra Flo X and developed issue shortly thereafter. Extra airflow seemed to throw off tune, so engine was tuned with great improvement, but intermittent misfire as described continued Hence started the massive parts and troubleshooting effort. Here are the parts. MAF - After a MAF code. All O2 sensors - After 2 codes. New plugs and wires. Switched out coils with my 75 K5 Blazer 6.0 swap. MAP sensor. Pressure regulator. Used set of stock injectors. New set of 8.1 liter GM injectors. New air filter. New CAI (Spectre unit) It has been tuned several times during this. It had the stock muffler and tail pipe replaced with Dynomax Ultra Flo X Muffler (3 inch dual in and out into turndowns right after muffler, but before axle). Remanufactured ECU installed, Used throttle body (old Blazer one installed) and then new until also stole from Blazer. No change to Blazer performance. MAF flow rate test for Cats okay. Cat temps are the same as exhaust pipe before and after cat. Fuel mileage at 10 mpg city/13 or less highway. ECU change gave me 3 days of trouble free driving and then it came back. Please ask questions and I will try to provide more info. I am at a loss. Early check of fuel pump showed 50 psi most everywhere, but this latest check seems to be different and thus my post. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. PS. This has me about to sell this thing and buy a G8, but this is a really really nice SS and I don't want to sell it. I just don't need the stress due to health issues in my life at the current time. Thanks again! Jim Reynolds
  5. I had the same talk with my tuner and he confirmed that the computer is likely to old to support those PID's, just as you said. It is starting to look like I have a ECM that has been slowly going south. Very intermittent and hard to isolate. Practically everything else has been changed. Just trying to nail down the best place to get a computer.
  6. FYI - I talked with my tuner and he said it is likely due to my computer being an older model and not supporting and/or sensing those things in a fashion that makes them available for the Torque App to see and chart. Jim
  7. Is anyone who is using the Torque Pro App for Android devices able to detect Cylinder Balance Rates and Injector Pulse Width? I have added the GM specific PID's within settings and they show there, but do not show up as green in any of the realtime data selections or graphing selections. I even bought a new OBD2 Bluetooth adapter to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Jim Reynolds "AKA - Stickman"
  8. Exhaust continues to slowly mellow, but not sure if it will get to where I want it. We will see. What I continue to see and feel is times that the engine seems confused and pretty flat. It almost feels like the timing and fuel maps are just a touch out of sync. Still need to get in touch with my tuner, regardless of the current issues, as I know a good tune will supposedly wake it up quite a bit. Wish I had the funds for long tubes right now, but unfortunately I don't. It did throw a couple codes the other night, but it was at wide open throttle at nearly 6000 rpm. They were the rear O2 sensor voltage low code (P0137 and P0157). I cleared the codes and have not seen them since. I it returns, I will put in new O2 sensors precautionary. Been watching them on my Torque App and not sure if I see anything fishy, other than they are slower to come online. My Blazer only has the front O2 sensors and no cats, so I can't compare the two. We will see. I just now something is not quite right at this point. Thanks again for the input.
  9. Thanks for the input guys! I have seen the muffler mellow a bit the last day or so. I am getting in touch with my tuner (he did my 6.0 swap tune in my 75 K5 Blazer) to see when he can work me in. I am either going to have 2.5 inch duals put on or have the original tailpipe put in with this muffler. Being stock, I don't think the original tailpipe will be too small and I want to see what it sounds like with basically a muffler swap (what I wanted to begin with, but things got lost in translation). I will let you know how it turns out. I will say this......the ultra flo x muffler is a very throaty muffler, which I like. My Blazer has Flowmaster Series 50 Delta Flows on it now after having original series 40 on it. The 50's have a nice deep tone and sound great with the top off the Blazer. The 40's were a bit too tinny to me, but I know that mufflers are definitely a personal preference thing.
  10. If you don't mind my asking, what happened to your engine? I just recently had a GM long block put in due to very sudden castrophic blowup that broke two rods, one or two pistons, and broke the block, starter housing, and starter bolts. All this on a 60k mile 2003 Arrival Blue SS in like new shape. Not sure what happened, but I am in a similar boat. I will have to drive it to hope and get my money's worth. I sure wish GM would have owned up to some sort of flaw. It was not from hotrodding. That is what my LS powered Blazer is for.
  11. I have a question about exhaust system performance. I had a Dynomax Ultra Flo X muffler installed yesterday. It is dual 3 inch inlet and outlets with a built in x-pipe. We removed the stock muffler and tailpipe as one unit in case I want to put it back on someday. The mechanic installed 3 inch turn downs directly to the muffler dumping just in front of the axle. First thing I noticed is that it is very deep rumble at idle, but incredibly noisy in the cab with alot of drone and vibration. I also noticed that it just does not seem to run as good, especially on the low end. I won't mention backpressure, but have I hurt the scavenging effect of the exhaust system by having it so free flowing? Will putting the original tailpipe back in with this new muffler help on overall caily driving performance? Would it be better to put on 2.5 inch true duals from the muffler back? I am assuming doing one of those two things will quiet the system down quite a bit. Have I changed the flow enough to need the engine tuned? Thanks for any info you can offer.
  12. Would you consider a stock 2003 blue one? Not RWD, of course, but it does have a new GM long block in it installed by the Chevy dealer (it broke two rods on an off ramp at 25 mph for no apparent reason). The front differential was just rebuilt for the typical AWD bearing failure. It is not officially for sale, but I might be tempted. The hard part would be getting somewhere close to what I now have in it. It has 62k miles, hard bed cover and is in excellent condition. I need to get $25k, which will likely mean I will be driving it for quite some time, which is okay by me. I am considering getting a Pontiac G8 instead, because of several failed back surgeries.
  13. Just thought I would let everyone know that I went the GM long block. With my health issues and other circumstances and the advice of several people, it felt it would be best to keep it simple. So far they have not torn it down enough to see what might have happened, but they did find the explosion severe enough to break the starter housing and starter mount bolts. So far, things are going well with the dealer service manager.
  14. I have been looking at the blueprint engines, but am apprehensive of them in a daily driver with all the computer and other interface problems. Still looking at them though. Thanks for the tip.
  15. Had a great conversation with the local Chevy dealer. Apparently, they will not charge me a core charge, even after explaining that the block had a hole in it. They are also looking at their willingness and ability to install either the LS376/480 or LS376/525. I doubt they say yes, but that would be nice build with the LS3 heads, bigger intake throttle body opening, etc. We will see. I have another question. I am considering adding headers, y-pipe upgrade, high flow cats, etc. Does the Silverado SS require lifting or pulling the engine to get the headers in? There seems to be ample room, but you never know. Truly feeling good about one of the factory choices. It was funny to see all the dealer guys swarm my Blazer when I went in to chat on my options. Not many 2wd ones running around and even fewer with the LS setup. Did have to lay into it leaving the lot. Could not resist. Too fun.
  16. Thanks for all the input guys. My local Chevrolet dealer can replace the long block with factory new with 3 year 100k mile warranty. Bad part is after the $2500 core charge (block has hole in it), we are talking $9000 parts, labor and tax. I am kind of leaning that way just due to the fact that I have a 60k Blue Silverado SS that even as my daily driver will only see about 5-6k miles a year. Once the warranty is over at 3 years, I can add a cam. That being said, I am still reaching out to various engine builders to see if I can't build a budget 402 or 408 with a mild enough cam to see lots of improvement but keep it in the daily driver category. Just having trouble finding people that have LS engines in the truck variety is hard. The problem is that honestly don't know what is the best long term plan. Sorry for the wishy washiness but I am currently battling some difficult health issues that make decision making and dealing with stressful situation very difficult. Bad time for an engine explosion, all things considered. I don't want to create more problemsor add little gremlins here and there, but don't want to miss out on my chance to improve the truck either. I keep praying God will open a door that is best for the situation and close others. Thanks again for everyone's input. I do read them all and add them to my data base.
  17. Although it is my daily driver, I have my wife's old van I am driving for the time being. An honest budget would be zero, since I used all my budget to get the truck (way too many health issue's have hurt the bottom line), but I have access access to whatever money I need if it is good bang for the buck. I am thinking I am going to have to spend somewhere between $2500 and $10k for parts. I guess my main question might be, is a stroker really worth the extra investment? I also don't want to do things twice. We all know the 6.0 liter is a bit lacking in low end and a cam makes that worse, so I have had the stroker recommended to address that. My Blazer is a good example. LQ4, Brian Tooley Cam, long tubes, but no real bottom end. It does pull like a striped ape once it gets to the sweet spot on the cam and runs high 13's. But for around town it is a bit lazy. Can't have the foot to the floor all the time. I guess I want the best of both worlds. I don't know if that helped any. I am really torn by all this and the heath issues make decisions like this very hard.
  18. After two long years of looking, I finally found my 2003 Arrival Blue SS in November with 59k miles. Last week I tossed a rod through the block, not the pan. My question is this. Should I go the salvage yard route, buy a crate stock 6.0 or go with a 408 stroker? It is my daily driver. I am not sure which route to take. None of it was in the budget. I don't want to miss an opportunity for an upgrade, but don't want to be replacing the rest of the drivetrain next. Thanks for any help you can offer. I am in the Tulsa area.
  19. Thanks for the info Brian. Health issues have forced me from serious to more of a shade tree mechanic, so I will look into it. Your description of the whine tapering off when letting off the gas is exactly like mine. Thanks again! Jim
  20. I have a question if you don't mind. I just bought a 2003 Arrival Blue SS with 60k miles in KC and drove it back home to Owasso (Tulsa, OK suburb) just before Thanksgiving. I absolutely love the truck but I have a few issues that have cropped up that the seller would not have known about, as they just started a couple days ago. I will stick to the drivetrain related one here. I am hearing a bit of a whine under acceleration from what would seem to be the front end area. This is my first AWD vehicle and I have never had a FWD vehicle need front end work, but I suspect something in the front drive portion of the AWD setup. Any suggestions on diagnosing the problem or sound descriptions you can offer would be appreciated. I will probably just take it in soon but I thought I would ask. Thanks! Jim
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