MsChevy's 1997 Chevy Silverado ECSB aka Big Blue

vaporlock · Dec 3, 2015

Mangonesailor said:
Yes, they are a good idea every 30-50kmi. At least in my opinion. However, you can do basically the same job using automatic transmission fluid in the oil. Just pour in a half bottle, let the engine just warm up, and proceed with your oil change and double filter change. This is what I do whenever I purchase another vehicle.

50km? That's what I drive in a day between home and work... Here we usually do oilchanges every 6000miles (10.000km). When I do the oil and filter change I'll use the cleaning thing.

My father has a the same engine as your truck. He started with .060" and the engine had a little shutter to it like it missed, but when I hooked up my scanner to it there were no misses recorded. He regapped them and now he says "Its not gone, but its way less often.

My engine runs pretty fine tho. Sometimes I think it shudders while rolling at 50-55mph while giving it a little to no gas, I could imagine it it's kind of hard to tell since my shocks are shot and it rides pretty rough.

Well a few other good things to do would be changing the differential oils. The front has likely never been changed, and is usually the one that will absorb the most water since it is not used often (yes, in the snow it is, but it must get the oil warm enough and long enough for the water to evaporate). Changing the rear requires the rear cover to be removed, and it will give you an opportunity to inspect the insides. Use brake cleaner to clean out the nasty in it.

I've been thinking about doing this too, I'd like to get a new rear diff cover along with making it all nice under there so oil in rear diff is on the list, I totaly forgot about the front tho, thanks!

I wouldn't do more than 2.5" on a 350. Even my 454 with could not utilize a full 3" of exhaust.

That's what I've heard too, I have dual 2.5" and headers on my Impala with a 383 and it sounds/works great.

Yes, make sure you have someone available to tune it that knows what they're doing before swapping in a 0411. At least you have the 350, there is less to modify in the tune to make it suit your needs. You will need a "CASE" relearn dome by a dealership or tuner, but they have to follow specific directions. I had 3 dealerships (one twice) say "we can't do this for you, everything we've tried doesn't work" but a mom and pop shop was able to perform the relearn for me. I got a load of misfires after I installed mine, but apparently the 0411 is more sensitive to picking those up and I ended up having a bad distributor gear. Just keep that in mind

I think they are out of 01+ Chevy trucks and vans, and Lextech is the one you need to talk to in order to get a wiring diagram for your truck so you can plug it in. He also sells a kit with connectors, and the conversion took me 6hrs or so but I made sure to take my time and make it look professional.

Not sure how much a 0412 is going to cost you over there, but here from a junkyard its probably $30, but no guarantee that it works ya know.

This actually sounded a lot more difficult than I thought and after looking at the junkyards there is only one in the country, costs about $350 and that is only the box no wires or anything.

I'll start with a proper tune up and maintenance and go from there. Thanks for all the tips and help!

Mangonesailor · Dec 3, 2015

MsChevy said:
50km? That's what I drive in a day between home and work... Here we usually do oilchanges every 6000miles (10.000km). When I do the oil and filter change I'll use the cleaning thing.

Woops! Units... that was meant to be read as 50,000mi. Forgot the whole sweden thing. That'd be about 30,000km for you.

I noticed you have a '97, and while we're talking maintenance.... is your engine coolant red (or orange?). That'd be something to put on your list. Getting it changed, and in my opinion, changing it to the regular green antifreeze like every other manufacturer uses. I worked for Chevrolet, I've done quite a few coolant changes, and I would never use that DEX-COOL stuff that GM puts in there. I'd recommend doing it in the spring because you need to exchange all of the coolant with water first, then exchange that water with new water (about 2 more times) and then go to green. Otherwise if those two mix it will turn to a gel.

You can always just exchange it with the orange stuff to keep it fresh if that's what you decide to do. I just feel I should let others know what I've seen and what I've had to personally deal with when it comes to Dex-cool.

vaporlock · Dec 3, 2015

Hahaha I thought the i at the end of kmi was a typo, I realize now it was 50k miles! Actually 50.000 miles is about 80.500km, 1 mile = 1.6km

My truck just passed 240.000km (149.000miles) so it probably wouldn't hurt giving it a proper internal cleaning, it has very likely never been done before.

If you buy coolant at the store it's blue or green (ethyleneglycol) or red (propyleneglycol), but the coolant we use (ethyleneglycol) is clear like water because my dad works with this stuff and when buying it for industrial use it's clear (uncolored). We mix water and concentrated ethyleneglycol so it can stand up to about -25 to -30* F.
I don't think we even have dex-cool here, I think the differense between your red and green is that on is ethylene and the other propylene cos if I don't remeber this wrong, mixing them turns it into gel.

But yeah I'd like to change that too, since we can get really cold temps here I'd like to now the % so it doesn't freeze. I got stranded at the side of the road once in 6* F cos the PO of that truck only put water in it and it turned to sludge and the engine got overheated.

Mangonesailor · Dec 3, 2015

MsChevy said:
Hahaha I thought the i at the end of kmi was a typo, I realize now it was 50k miles! Actually 50.000 miles is about 80.500km, 1 mile = 1.6km My truck just passed 240.000km (149.000miles) so it probably wouldn't hurt giving it a proper internal cleaning, it has very likely never been done before.

Crap. Again. I divided by 1.6. Its been a long time since I've had to do it, and working 3rd shift doesn't help. Yes, it probably could stand a cleaning.

MsChevy said:
If you buy coolant at the store it's blue or green (ethyleneglycol) or red (propyleneglycol), but the coolant we use (ethyleneglycol) is clear like water because my dad works with this stuff and when buying it for industrial use it's clear (uncolored). We mix water and concentrated ethyleneglycol so it can stand up to about -25 to -30* F.
I don't think we even have dex-cool here, I think the differense between your red and green is that on is ethylene and the other propylene cos if I don't remeber this wrong, mixing them turns it into gel.

That's what I'm talking about. Yes, most cars in the US use Ethyleneglycol with a few manufacturers using Propyleneglycol. Dex-cool is just propylene, it is also biodegradable, it also oxidizes when exposed to air for too long. That's why the overfill jugs in most chevys look like crap, because there is air in there 100% of the time, and its also why

I'm not sure about Sweden, but I know it is used in GM cars in Germany from our era. Its worth popping your radiator cap off and taking a look-see in there.

MsChevy said:
But yeah I'd like to change that too, since we can get really cold temps here I'd like to now the % so it doesn't freeze. I got stranded at the side of the road once in 6* F cos the PO of that truck only put water in it and it turned to sludge and the engine got overheated.

Question: Do ya'll ever put some sort of blanket over the grill to reduce how much cold air flows into the radiator during the winter? I've seen semis (lorries) do it in Canada and Germany.

vaporlock · Dec 4, 2015

Mangonesailor said:
Crap. Again. I divided by 1.6. Its been a long time since I've had to do it, and working 3rd shift doesn't help. Yes, it probably could stand a cleaning.

Haha no worries! I've had US cars, trucks and SUVs since I got my drivers licens (exept when I had a moment of insanity and bought an Audi...), all of them had/has both mph nad km/h so I'm pretty good with both.

That's what I'm talking about. Yes, most cars in the US use Ethyleneglycol with a few manufacturers using Propyleneglycol. Dex-cool is just propylene, it is also biodegradable, it also oxidizes when exposed to air for too long. That's why the overfill jugs in most chevys look like crap, because there is air in there 100% of the time, and its also why

I'm not sure about Sweden, but I know it is used in GM cars in Germany from our era. Its worth popping your radiator cap off and taking a look-see in there.

Most cars here use ethylenglycol, ethylene is just better than propylene at everything, cooling, corrotion protection, better at low temps, propylene can split from water if it's standing still for too long meaning the water will freeze. Since it can get really cold even in the southern parts here ethylene is really the only option. Germany is quite alot further south than us so they don't get the same low temps we get, might be why they use propylene in some cars.

Question: Do ya'll ever put some sort of blanket over the grill to reduce how much cold air flows into the radiator during the winter? I've seen semis (lorries) do it in Canada and Germany.

Yes that happends, usually on older cars and semi's, the newer once seem to deal with the cold better. Most trucks that roll here are Volvo or Scania, Scania trucks are built right here in south Stockholm and Volvo in Gothenburg, so they're made for our climate. About 1/4 of Sweden is actually north of the Arctic Circle, up there in the middle of winter the sun doesn't even rise above the horizon (24h darkness) and in the middle of summer it doesn't set (24h daylight).
Most manufacturers (at least European) come to Sweden to test their vehicles before they go on the market, we have at least one test facility up north. I know Ford was here last winter testing their new Focus RS.

Mangonesailor · Dec 4, 2015

MsChevy said:
Most cars here use ethylenglycol, ethylene is just better than propylene at everything, cooling, corrotion protection, better at low temps, propylene can split from water if it's standing still for too long meaning the water will freeze. Since it can get really cold even in the southern parts here ethylene is really the only option. Germany is quite alot further south than us so they don't get the same low temps we get, might be why they use propylene in some cars.

Huh! Today I learned! Never knew it would come out of solution.

vaporlock · Dec 8, 2015

When I bought the truck the steering wheel was of by about 90*, the PO claimed they had taken it of and accidentally put it back wrong but since the steering wheel can only be mounted 2 ways, correct or upside down I have no idea what he did... It was also leaking from the PS pump really bad, after I nearly drove straight thru a circulation spot we fixed the pump by replacing the gaskets, no more leaking and no more PS that randomly stopped working.
Then we noticed that the steering gearbox was leaking too, it wasn't leaking as much as the pump and all the PS fluid dripped from the same spot so I never noticed it before.
This weekend we took a look at what was going on with both the steering wheel and the gearbox, we noticed right away that when the wheels where straight so was the pitman arm so we figured the problem was above the gearbox. After alot of hazzle we managed to disconnect the steering shaft from the gearbox and turned the steering wheel to the correct position (at least we thought so...) and eventually we managed to get it back together again.

Before we do anything else to the steering I'll get a new gearbox and sway bar end links.

Before, the wheel is about 90* of going straight. (blurry pic, sorry)