Would you ditch this truck, do engine swap, or swap the head gasket?

[streetperf]

What would be the safest way to flush the crap (no oil) out of the coolant system without dooming the heater cores? Simple Green?

Ive read reports of the Prestone stuff killing heater cores.

Purple power cleaner works very well. Don't mix it too strong, Use hot water and a mild mixture of purple power, and fill the hoses with the mixture. let it sit for a few minutes and then with both hoses open to the atmosphere, take your blowgun and blow the mixture through the core. You may have to do this multiple times to get it clean. The complete cooling system can be cleaned with this method. As for the engine goo, get some diesel fuel, or kerosene, remove the drain plug and using a bug sprayer container and spray the valley and heads until they are clean. Put the drain plug back in, and pour some more fuel through the block, let it sit, and then drain. Do this until the fuel comes out as went in.
Hope this helps.

 

[streetperf]

What would be the safest way to flush the crap (no oil) out of the coolant system without dooming the heater cores? Simple Green?

Ive read reports of the Prestone stuff killing heater cores.

simple green doesn't work well with heavy grease and oil.

 

[redfishsc]

Forgot to mention all the metal fuzz I found on the oil drain plug. Was about a 1/4" ball of fuzz, more than I ever see on my other 5.7 vortec.

There was a shaving as well but I think it came from the drain plug, it was frozen on. It looked more like a thread shaving than anything.

Going to pull the oil filter and see what's inside it.

 

[redfishsc]

I'm having a hard time finding a tutorial on how to remove a 5.7 vortec, especially on a 4wd. Can anyone help me here with advice?

If I decide to do a full swap, I would really need some sort of help. I don't know what is holding it in, especially at the transmission.

 

[east302]

It's probably not as detailed as you'd like, but here's the procedure from alldatadiy.com. Torque specs not listed in the general procedure would be given in the installation procedures for each individual component. Subscriptions are about $30/year.

Did you check YouTube?

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[redfishsc]

Alright guys, so here's what I've decided. Since I didn't find anything but metal dust fuzz on the drain plug magnet, and literally NOTHING metal came out of the oil filter, I'm going to buy reman heads and see if these bones can yet live.

I found reman Blueprint cast iron heads for $200 from Speedway Motors. I just ordered both of them. Got some new coolant sensors and a new MAP sensor coming. I figured $400 for new heads was cheaper than yanking the motor for now since I already had everything else I need (new bolts, head gaskets, etc).

Today I did a ton of cleaning. Got the valley clean as a whistle, cleaned the block deck, and rebuilt the intake with new gaskets. I was shocked at how much carbon crap was built up in the intake. I'm hoping this is normal at 230K miles and not a sign of massive ring blowby. Cylinder walls look fine to my inexperienced eye (no vertical streaks, only circular hone marks barely visible).


I'm glad I ordered the upgraded MFI injectors. The ones in this one were horrific.

Basically, all I need to do is some final polishing of the block deck, clean the valve covers, and start bolting things back together. Biggest problem I foresee is getting the power steering pulley back on. The threads inside that pulley shaft are borked. I may just swap the whole pump, I know the reservior was nearly empty when I got it but I don't know that the pump itself was leaking.

 

[redfishsc]

Got a problem. Power steering pump. Decided to swap it, the old one leaked.

The ones at the parts stores locally have bolts in the back of them, but the one that came off this truck had studs.

Normally I'd just swap the bolts for studs, but the ones at the part store WONT budge. Both I and the guy at the parts counter tried every method we knew to pop the bolts loose and make sure my old studs fit. Won't come out.

You guys ever encounter this?

Also, why are these studs/nuts even necessary? Aren't the three bolts that go through the big aluminum bracket all this pump needs to stay put?

 

[east302]

On my 98, there's a bracket on the back. It's hard to tell, but it almost looks like it bolts to the block.

Seems like it should have studs, or at least the ability to add them.

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[redfishsc]

Agreed. But dang, the bolts on the back of the new one just would NOT budge one iota. Of course the heads were also super-narrow giving you very little meat to grab with the wrench.

 

[east302]

Hmm, that doesn't make much sense then. I checked RockAuto (since they have parts photos) and there were a couple that looked to have the studs.

I'd be inclined to install one that used the rear bracket, for no other reason than it is what GM did originally.


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