97 K1500 - New guy not really a truck guy but here I am

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

RlySlow

Newbie
Joined
Jul 13, 2017
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
Burlington, IA
Hey all,

Been starting to tackle a few things on my truck and figured I'd join up here since I've lurked long enough for various technical research. It's a 1997 Chevy K1500 Ext Cab 4x4 with the 5.7 with 176k miles on it, had 172k when I got it.

Little backstory before I ask questions.
Always have kind of wanted a truck for hauling misc crap & motorcycles occasionally and having the option of buying a car trailer or boat. Never been a big fan of trucks in general but this one I've fallen in love with a bit just because it's so simple and so far has been a good work horse for me.

My buddy sold me a pretty beat up 03 SVT Ford Focus back in October for $1000. Thought I was going to fix it up and daily drive it but just hated it and put it up for trade. This guy with the truck got with me the next day and we met up and drove each others vehicles. I was super happy with the truck - it was way more of a trade than I had thought I'd end up with. He was happy with the focus. So we traded and parted ways.

I drove it a lot without touching it through winter. Now recently I finished my heads & cam swap on my Trans Am so I found time to start working on the truck a bit. Did have to replace the starter in December.

First I took it to a buddy's shop to put it on his lift to see how the suspension all was - I wanted to be comfortable to pull a trailer to the track or my boat long distance. Front end was bad in some parts, okay in others. Either way I wanted all to be tip-top. About $500 later- all new moog ball joints, tie rods, pitman arm & bracket, and also new hubs/wheel bearings.

Then my 4x4 button always was weird and you had to beat on it to switch into 4x4. So I put in a new switch.
Had one HID and one halogen bulb in the daytime runnings so I got rid of the HID and just put a halogen back in. Still has HID high beams but I never use them.

Then I had the notorious door sag on the drivers door. So I replaced both door pins&bushings.

Then A/C didn't work I thought - luckily just a recharge and going on a month now and hasn't leaked enough to stop blowing nice and ice cold.
Also replaced blower motor resistor & blend door actuator.

Then I debated between trying to fix the rust or just cover it up. I have too many other big projects still going on to start such a project on the truck. So I decided to take the lazy way out and put on some cheap flares that cover the rust. Mainly a big hole in the drivers front fender and a lot of spotty rust on passenger rear tailgate wheel well. I figure I'll keep my eye out for a good fender for cheap and maybe fix the spotty bed since the rest of the bed is good down the road. Not a big fan of flares but I don't think they look terrible for the time being.

Currently I'm waiting for a cool night hopefully this weekend that I can stay up late and do plugs & wires on it. Been nasty hot & humid last couple weeks. Also have an o2 sensor to throw in so it'll at least have one good one. Currently all are throwing codes for being dead.

Fuel gauge doesn't work and I plan to just cut the hole in the bed and fix the sender/wiring since it's already pretty beat up and then clean up the hole and install a sturdy access panel and put a bed mat over it.

Last week my buddy with his shop got me a deal on nice commercial All-Terrains, they're Cooper but without the branding - mostly sold for commercial vehicles. I only had about $400 in new tires including install/balance and sold my old Interco TrXus MT's for $350. I just didn't really use the truck ever in a way that the mud terrains were beneficial to me and wanted a better ride/better mpgs. Much happier with the new tires.

Either way I'm in under $2,000 still on this truck (thanks Rock Auto on parts prices :) haha )

i am having an issue now that came up last week and is getting worse fast that has me a bit confused.
I was on lunch break and buddy in his work truck was jokingly trying to race me, and I went full throttle, probably first time in months lol, and the truck went, then stalled, then came back alive, then stalled, then went over and over. Then next stop light, not flooring it but giving it about 50% throttle, it stalled. Put it in neutral and started it and it was fine. Got on highway and floored it to see if it did it - and again it kicked down and went then stalled, then went, then stalled, etc.

Now this week it sometimes just stalled with like 15% throttle from a stop. On my way to work this morning I was feathering gas from a stop and held it at 15% throttle and it was doing the same thing - stall-go-stall-go. It never completely died long enough that I had to re-start the truck.

I'm thinking TPS - does that sound right?

Anyways here's day I got it home.
You must be registered for see images attach



Then other more current pictures.
You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images attach
 
Top