1994 Chev K1500 6.5 TD ECSB - Junkyard Rescue!

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gstubbz

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No pictures from today, but I do have an update on the transmission issue.

So using a wire we were able to check codes and here were the following: Here is a link to a page with all codes and descriptions for 94-95 6.5 trucks

32 - Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Circuit
33 - EGR Control Pressure/BARO Sensor Circuit High (Low Vac)
44 - EGR Pulse Width Error
73 - Pressure Control Solenoid (PCS) Circuit (Current Error)
81 - 2-3 Shift Solenoid Circuit Fault
82 - 1-2 Shift Solenoid Circuit Fault
83 - TCC PWM Solenoid Circuit (Automatic Transmission)

My friend Joe (who has a 90 k2500 ECSB SAS with a carbed 454, I told him he needs a build thread) said "In other words, we have a lot of f***ing problems" and we all laughed. The first three relate to EGR stuff which is irrelevant at this point since it now has a non-EGR engine, but the transmission thing is concerning. The transmission has power to the plug, so I have no idea why every single code for solenoids popped up, maybe the internal wiring harness is messed up? Either way tomorrow I'm going to drop the pan and see if anything is wrong. I'm debating pulling the parts from the 2wd transmission and then a new fluid with a filter or if I should just go ahead and buy the solenoid kit on ebay.

This is also odd, I swapped the PCM that I took out of the parts truck, no check engine light, and it still does not shift. I'd imagine the moment the PCM doesn't have power it would clear the codes but maybe it stores them? I have no idea. I drove around with the new PCM for a bit and didn't see the check engine light come on once.

If I can't fix this **** I am finding a nv4500 because this transmission issue is holding me up :banghead:
 
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gstubbz

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Another update!

So I pulled the pan, everything looks fine so I'm still at a loss. I think the solenoids are bad so I'm just going to buy the entire kit with the pressure plate, solenoids, and internal harness.

But I got sidetracked and started removing the dash... it took me forever to remove it, but I was being careful to not cut anything. Once the entire dash was out I traced the cigarette lighter wires (orange/black) and they were melted almost all the way back to the fuse box. That explains why my CTSY fuse would blow immediately! Under the dash is super dusty so when I have some time I'll clean it all off. Really shows that this truck has 305k on the clock!

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I started repinning the old connector to the new one, which actually wasn't too difficult (honestly super easy but time consuming) using the pinouts on this post. I still have some bugs to work out but for now the check engine light works, brake light works, battery light works, fuel gauge works, and the voltage gauge works. I have this weird glitch where the high beam light comes on with the lows, and high beams doesn't show the light. The clusters have 3 grounds and I found out that they make all the difference! I had the tach working until I messed with the ground pins, but then my fuel/voltage gauge worked :confused:

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It says 100mph but I put it back to 0 after this photo by holding it at an angle until it went back down. I still have 5 or so wires left over but the issue I'm having is I can not for the life of me find a diagram for the cluster connector for a diesel but I can for a gas truck all day long. I know one has to be the wait to start light and the guide I had didn't have a pin listed for the low coolant light. I'll figure it out though! Next is the smaller fuse box.

I've been stripping the wiring harness out of the new dash since I don't plan to use any of the wiring since really the essentials are the cluster and heater, the radio stuff I will run all new wire to simplify things.

Work in progress, but I'm motivated to make it happen. I really want that newer dash!
 

gstubbz

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Tonight I was successfully able to wire up a new headlight switch. I had to buy one which was $47 and apparently has lifetime warranty in case I need it for whatever reason (and it's all O'Reilly's had in stock). This task wasn't too difficult, it's just matching color coated wires. On the new headlight harness there were 3 wires left over, two purple and a pink, I'm guessing these are for the dome switch override.

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And a bonus, I figured out why my parking lights would stay on with the switch off... I was quick to fix this and now everything works properly lol. They were melted pretty far into the harness, like the cigarette lighter was. I'm thankful this was all it was, rather than having to run the wires under the truck back to see if something was grounding out there.

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I also made the glow plug light work (it says "Wait To Start" on 96+ clusters) although it's completely backwards. The light does the exact opposite of what it should be doing because that light is only off when the glow plugs are actually cycling. I believe it was Pin 20 - Blue, I ended up tracing the circuitry of the cluster back to that pin.

I have college tomorrow so I won't be able to do anything. Maybe on Wednesday I'll start rewiring the fuse block and add my in-line fuse for the center console USB ports. Maybe, just maybe I'll have the dash in this weekend. And hopefully resolve my transmission issue too.
 

gstubbz

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So today I wired in the mini fuse block and installed the dash. Looks pretty good so far!

Fuse block was simple, but took me probably an hour and a half to finish. Mainly it was matching colors, and I still had some leftover fuses like the glow plugs which I wired into a useless fuse in the block such as cruise. My only regret here was not cutting the wires from the new dash long enough. I barely had enough room to actually fit it into the dash.

When I wired the glow plugs into the fuse, I ran into an issue. They wouldn't turn on yet the fuse had power. The reasoning for this is the new block has one power lead to run an entire row of fuses (6, 12, 18, 24, 30, etc) yet the glow plugs have it's own dedicated 12v line. I ended up buying an inline fuse block to run the glow plugs into it's proper power cable. I had the same exact issue with the ECM/IGN fuse. I started the truck after the fuse block swap, and turning the key off didn't turn the truck off so I put a piece of wood over the turbo to kill it, and it wasn't happy about that! So once I found out it was that fuse I did the same exact thing I did with the glow plugs and now everything works properly.

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Installing the dash was a bit of a pain, especially running the cluster connector through the back. There is no room to make it fit but after being in a pissy mood I was able to get it. The best way to go about the steering column is to remove it entirely. I didn't feel like pulling it out so I pulled off the steering wheel and the shifter and was able to squeeze it through the slot, but again removing the column entirely would have made this much easier. The three bolts along the top don't really support the dash so it sags about 1/2" but I also blame that on not having the proper dash support bracket that the 95+ trucks have. The new dash is much heavier than the 94 dash!! I also fitted the 94 HVAC controls into the storage pocket cubby for the meantime. Heater works great with the new vents too.

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The dash does look better with my phone flash turned off!!

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The gauge cluster still has a few little things to work out, but the tach now works all the time. I have no clue if the speedo works, then I need to figure out why the left turn signal light is on as well as the oil pressure gauge.

As far as the steering wheel goes, I really don't feel like swapping it, so my plan is to make a custom cover out of plexiglass or aluminum with some switches on the side for lights or whatever, then find some carbon fiber vinyl wrap to finish it off. Then replace the steering wheel with a non-airbag one.

Overall I think it looks great, I posted a photo of it on a GMT400 facebook page and the response has been positive. I'm happy with how it turned out, starting to make me feel like I'm in my 98 again! I knew the dash swap was in my plans since day one of owning the truck so I'm glad that it's mostly complete a year and a half later. What I need to do now is fix the transmission issue and install a radio. If I start driving the truck a lot I'll just remove the current door panels until I find some 95+ panels as they hit the dash quite hard.

Would I do another dash swap? You couldn't pay me enough, the time it takes is ridiculous.
 
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deejaaa

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when i got my 93, i wanted to swap the dash. i had a 96 and was used to the newer style. i asked around and when i found out how involved it was i learned to like the older style.
hats off to you for going through with it. it does look good. i would like to run across a dash from a Kodiak to see how that would look.
 

gstubbz

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when i got my 93, i wanted to swap the dash. i had a 96 and was used to the newer style. i asked around and when i found out how involved it was i learned to like the older style.
hats off to you for going through with it. it does look good. i would like to run across a dash from a Kodiak to see how that would look.

I think the only thing that would have stopped me is if the truck was in good shape in a red/silver two tone with a red interior. I always liked how the 88-94 red interiors looked, but I don't like how the 95+ red interiors look. But the truck does feel a little cleaner with the newer seats, dash, and center console, the interior is starting to look less and less like it had 305k on the clock! I'm just going to go with the gauge cluster, it currently has 198,425 miles on the truck :)

A Kodiak dash would be interesting, certainly a lot more options for mounting switches and a big ass steering wheel! I could only imagine if they put the 95+ dashes in them too what they would have looked like.
 

gstubbz

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The past few weeks have been busy, and honestly I haven't done anything to the truck. I did a cold start so below is the video of that, as well as my annoying heater box click.

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I'm still against the wall with this transmission issue. This weekend if the weather isn't ****** and snowing (which it's predicting) I'll do some more inspection work and test solenoids and whatnot to see if they are actually working. If not, I'll go ahead and order the wiring/solenoid kit from ebay and install that next weekend. I have a three day weekend so one of those days will be dicking with this thing, another will be shooting guns with my gf and celebrating new years, and the third day will be recovering from drinking... or maybe working on this thing with a massive hangover!

If that fails, I have this turbo 400 / NP241 combo readily available. I've done some research and it looks like I can use a 6.2 torque converter. To avoid the vacuum pressure line I'll replace it with a manual valve body. Both of those from summit would be about $450. The pic below is actually the setup my friend Joe is stuffing behind a 454 in his 1990 k2500, but I have the same setup sitting in a shed where my 6.5 lives. The plus to this is the transfer case is passenger side drop which would make my life easier when I do a SAS, and it's a 241 so my speedometer would work. No overdrive would suck in this thing though.

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I still would like to swap in a NV4500, however every single one within a couple hours is 2WD. I found one up in Washington for $700 that included everything I needed for a swap, however that is a ten hour trip one way and I really don't feel like driving that much. If it was five hours away I'd consider it. There is word from two of my friends that our county water master has a 95 or 96 K2500 ECLB with a 6.5 and a 5 speed that has a trashed body that I might be able to buy for $1,000. I would probably just fix that truck if I purchased it since fenders, doors, and the bed are easy to replace but I really can't own a third vehicle. I'm set at two, reliable daily and a project!

We'll see how this weekend goes. If I can get it driving properly I'll be happy! If not I'll look into that turbo 400 or buying the roached k2500 from that guy.
 

gstubbz

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Figured I would update this post. I sold the truck tonight for $1000, I was asking $1700 knowing I would get knocked down. I listed the truck up on Craigslist, and a guy from a town over came to look at it, and he happens to own a massive junkyard that I've bought parts from.

I sold it because I was over this project, and the red truck I purchased is a vehicle I'm much happier to own, granted I'll miss the turbo whistle this truck made. It was a nice adventure, I certainly learned quite a bit about GMT400s working on this truck, but it's end has come at a happy 306k on the clock.

The fate of this truck is the engine, he needs an engine to go into a ex-military K3500 with a 6.5, and the rest of this truck will be parted out I'd imagine.

So you can close the book on this project, if I ever visit the junkyard and see the fate of this truck I'll take pictures and add them to this post!

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Engine is going into this:

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And he said he would sell me this truck whenever I would like to own it (because a c3500HD crewcab is my ideal towing truck):

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BowtieBrody

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Figured I would update this post. I sold the truck tonight for $1000, I was asking $1700 knowing I would get knocked down. I listed the truck up on Craigslist, and a guy from a town over came to look at it, and he happens to own a massive junkyard that I've bought parts from.

I sold it because I was over this project, and the red truck I purchased is a vehicle I'm much happier to own, granted I'll miss the turbo whistle this truck made. It was a nice adventure, I certainly learned quite a bit about GMT400s working on this truck, but it's end has come at a happy 306k on the clock.

The fate of this truck is the engine, he needs an engine to go into a ex-military K3500 with a 6.5, and the rest of this truck will be parted out I'd imagine.

So you can close the book on this project, if I ever visit the junkyard and see the fate of this truck I'll take pictures and add them to this post!

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Engine is going into this:

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And he said he would sell me this truck whenever I would like to own it (because a c3500HD crewcab is my ideal towing truck):

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Well look at it this way, with you parting ways with this truck, it'll give a few other 400s some parts they'll need to keep running, circle of life and all.
I wish there was more of those CUCV IIs running around, I've only ever seen one in real life;
 
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