I bought my 88 Silverado in the spring of 2002 when my son was getting ready to graduate High School in Los Banos CA. At the time I was working in Merced about 24 miles one way. After living in LB 12 years I asked my wife "what's keeping us here anymore" so, we decided to move to Merced. I bought the truck to help with the move, hauling small stuff and her antiques, and then just to go get stuff like wood for my hobby and an occasional dump run. For the next 5 years, it pretty well sat under the liquid amber tree in the back yard. Every so often I'd use it, then it'd just sit. When we moved to AZ because I got a job here, the company paid for my moving costs and shipped my truck in the back of a Mayflower van. Again, it pretty much sat unless my Daughter's car broke down then, I'd let her "borrow" it. I think she put more miles on it than I did. LOL. The 1st issue I had was the instrument cluster started wigging out - the odometer quit working a couple years earlier, the fuel gauge only showed 1/4 tank when full. Then the final straw was to oil pressure gauge quit working. I did some research and found a reman instrument cluster was close to $600, I found the Dakota Digital dash for ~$450 IIRC.
Then about 6 years ago I got tired of riding in the old broken down bench seat that, wasn't even OE. I found these bucket seats for ~$1,000 shipped to a nearby DC. Yeah, they didn't have any blue ones but I figured eventually I can do a color change.
A couple (maybe closer to 3) years ago, my truck started over-heating, not bad but it ran higher than it should and started losing about 1/2 gal of coolant every so often. I didn't get any white smoke or sweet odor out of the tailpipe, no water in the oil, no oil in the water. I tried a new T-Stat, Tuff Stuff high volume water pump, and a aluminum 3-row radiator (no, I'm not gonna get into the argument over these). No help, at idle it would still go up to ~230*. I broke down and threw some Bars Leak Blown Head Gasket repair stuff. It helped but that's just a band aid! We pulled the heads off and found where water was bypassing into #s 5 & 6 combustion chambers which just happens to be where the EGR passages are. You can see the white staining in the pics. #1 is on the top here.
#2 is in the bottom here.
THIS IS WHERE I WENT DOWN THAT RABBIT HOLE!!! Sorry about the dissertation, more to come...
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Then about 6 years ago I got tired of riding in the old broken down bench seat that, wasn't even OE. I found these bucket seats for ~$1,000 shipped to a nearby DC. Yeah, they didn't have any blue ones but I figured eventually I can do a color change.
You must be registered for see images attach
A couple (maybe closer to 3) years ago, my truck started over-heating, not bad but it ran higher than it should and started losing about 1/2 gal of coolant every so often. I didn't get any white smoke or sweet odor out of the tailpipe, no water in the oil, no oil in the water. I tried a new T-Stat, Tuff Stuff high volume water pump, and a aluminum 3-row radiator (no, I'm not gonna get into the argument over these). No help, at idle it would still go up to ~230*. I broke down and threw some Bars Leak Blown Head Gasket repair stuff. It helped but that's just a band aid! We pulled the heads off and found where water was bypassing into #s 5 & 6 combustion chambers which just happens to be where the EGR passages are. You can see the white staining in the pics. #1 is on the top here.
You must be registered for see images attach
#2 is in the bottom here.
You must be registered for see images attach
THIS IS WHERE I WENT DOWN THAT RABBIT HOLE!!! Sorry about the dissertation, more to come...
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