Stock Vehicle Maintenance

[seanb98]

Fuel spider is the common name for the fuel injection unit. When you see one you will get why. Vacuum leak would usually be at the upper manifold. When the lower goes it allows coolant into the combustion chamber. You may also see seepage coming through the gaskets. Alternatively, you might not see a leak but you may notice loss of coolant as it is consumed or sludging of the Dex from contact with air. You might also hear gurgling in the reservoir after shutting the vehicle off.
If your truck is running fine and you aren't losing coolant then by all means, put it off. Just understand that it is more a matter of when, not if. LIM gasket failure is the single biggest complaint with these engines.

Dexcool is gone now. I'll be watching coolant level though. There is a wee bit more moisture coming through the exhaust than I usually like to see, so there is a strong possibility of a problem there.

 

[seanb98]

The additive can cause problems with the Gov-loc, doesn't mean it will, but it can. If you hear any chattering noises from back there or it seems like it's engaging/disengaging when you don't expect it to then you should consider changing the lube out.

You can decode most of the RPO's a few different ways.

1. If you've got a friendly dealer nearby you can get a vehicle build report by giving them your VIN. For later trucks like yours, the report is usually detailed with what each RPO means. Older trucks it'll just be the same list of codes the sticker shows, unfortunately.

2. You could run the VIN through a site like compnine, but you'll pay a few bucks for the privilege.

3. You can decode them yourself by searching for each code through an online RPO listing (which is monstrous but easily searched) though just beware that some RPO's get recycled, so you may see a result that doesn't make sense. G80 is one of them, and in other applications (car vs. pickup) it does mean limited slip instead of locker. Some of those codes are just "sales option" codes and won't decode at all. Here's a pretty complete and useful list: www.someotherplace.com/info/RPO.pdf

Richard

Thank you for the info sir! I don't think the RPO codes are important enough to me at this point to pay for the decoding, but I'll defiantly keep it in mind!

I'll just hope for now that the rear diff is fine. We are starting to move into the busy season at the farm, so time is precious - if it isn't critical then I'll catch it later.

 

[seanb98]

If you need to reset the distributor, I have a scanner that will do it. I just so happen to live in Grants Pass as well.

Thank you very much! It is nice to know that there is a fellow member in this area. Are you able to cycle the ABS module with your scan tool as well for bleeding that part of the system?

 

[slowburb]

Thank you for the info sir! I don't think the RPO codes are important enough to me at this point to pay for the decoding, but I'll defiantly keep it in mind!

I'll just hope for now that the rear diff is fine. We are starting to move into the busy season at the farm, so time is precious - if it isn't critical then I'll catch it later.

Google is your friend here. I put together a free RPO decode on both my suburban and mrs. slowburb's suburban in a hour of spare time.

 

[skylark]

Thank you very much! It is nice to know that there is a fellow member in this area. Are you able to cycle the ABS module with your scan tool as well for bleeding that part of the system?

I have the old Snap On "red brick' scanner. It has abs and air bag sections but I haven't done anything beyond a quick glance through them. I do believe that it will cycle the valves though.

 

[someotherguy]

Thank you for the info sir! I don't think the RPO codes are important enough to me at this point to pay for the decoding, but I'll defiantly keep it in mind!

I'll just hope for now that the rear diff is fine. We are starting to move into the busy season at the farm, so time is precious - if it isn't critical then I'll catch it later.

Just run the codes through the big list I posted. It'll only take you a few minutes. The file is searchable within Adobe reader, so you can just search for your codes.

Richard

 

[Kirth Gersen]

This has been a very interesting read! I'm a bit astonished to learn that the "newer" vehicles seem to have so many niggling issues.
Think I'll hang on to my older, 1994 k1500 Blazer for a while longer, 250K miles, 350 TBI engine.
Rear axle due for rebuild (bearing noises) and front suspension due for complete rebuild & replace, but other than that, it's a relatively simple vehicle to maintain.

 

[df2x4]

This has been a very interesting read! I'm a bit astonished to learn that the "newer" vehicles seem to have so many niggling issues.
Think I'll hang on to my older, 1994 k1500 Blazer for a while longer, 250K miles, 350 TBI engine.
Rear axle due for rebuild (bearing noises) and front suspension due for complete rebuild & replace, but other than that, it's a relatively simple vehicle to maintain.

To be fair, not every Vortec era truck suffers from the issues mentioned here. I have two '97s that are pretty much bone stock that have no PassLock, factory distributors and gears, factory intake gaskets, factory fuel spiders, still running DexCool, etc. Roughly 150K miles on each. Both run great. I've had an oil analysis done on both of them in the last six months by BlackStone Labs and everything looks great.

I strongly agree with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.

 

[tinfoil_hat]

I have two '97s that are pretty much bone stock... Roughly 150K miles on each...

At 150k you are right at the threshold of where these problems start to manifest. My truck had 173k on the clock and zero symptoms of LIM gasket failure. When I pulled the LIM, there it was. Gaskets were toast. Fuel spider had a plug of carbon gunk on each poppet that nearly blocked the injector orifice.

 

[df2x4]

At 150k you are right at the threshold of where these problems start to manifest. My truck had 173k on the clock and zero symptoms of LIM gasket failure. When I pulled the LIM, there it was. Gaskets were toast. Fuel spider had a plug of carbon gunk on each poppet that nearly blocked the injector orifice.

Well, so far so good. Knock on wood!

I'll update if I run into issues. Mileage is a little higher on the Suburban too, I think it's probably closer to 170K.