New with noob problems! (rebuild of 1997 5.7 Vortec with incompatible block?)

[Jumpmastr82nd]

Hey fellows, new to the site and liking it so far...stupid question time (one of many to come I'm sure)...

1997 gmc Sierra 1500 4x4 Z71...5.7 ltr locked up on wife while in Iraq, sat a year, sent to local shop for rebuild. Terrible experience but here's my problem....

I arrived to pick up truck and it was still on lift while the guys there finished up. I walked under, noticed cut crimped oil hard lines leaking oil. Looked up followed lines to small oil/trans cooler and also saw no oil filter relocation/adapter kit, just a filter screwed in block. he mumbled about it wasn't nothing and that the lines were bad anyway. Also noticed the flywheel cover was missing and I had a brand new torque converter. I left to go talk to manager (18 yr old girl) about the lines and all that. She said with the time we had agreed on she didn't have time to order one and would get it and I'd return. I really needed my truck so I went along with it. I got the bill and noticed the charge for torque con. And flywheel. I asked why it was changed. She said it was "locked" up. I paid and agreed to come back for repairs. Which brings me to questions I can't seem to nail down simply...

1. Can a torque con./flywheel go from driving fine with no drivetrain issues to report, sit for 8 months in Ft Bragg, then GO BAD?
2. Does the lines that were cut and crimped play significant role in moving oil? I've had a steady flow from the two lines ever since and lose quarts a week.
3. Did they use a non 4x4, older TBI, or anything other than the stock block to rebuild it? Thus causing need for torque converter, flywheel and then no adapter kit for the oil cooler/filter relocation deal?
4. If so, would that explain missing flywheel cover, and now, a sudden serious leak from water pump and the starter to always miss/grind?

I know that's a lot...and I replied to a post...and I'm a noobaroni, but any help is GREATLY appreciated....

In a nut shell, does placing any other nearly completely but not exactly compatible block with my vortec heads on my Z71 cause any of the above mentioned bullish and why?

Thanks a ton and I look forward to contributing.....

 

[sewlow]

Don't know about the torque converter, but it sounds like these guys are a bunch of hacks.
I don't think that I'd be wanting anymore work done by these 'mechanics'. Tell them, politely, you are going to get it fixed by a reputable shop, then see if the they will cover the bill. That's highly unlikely, though. If they get cranky, suggest to them that maybe you should be talking to you're lawyer. That'll usually make guys like this butt-holes go 'twang'.
Some people shouldn't own a wrench. Possession of a tool box does not mean that they are mechanics.
Clowns like this make me angry.

 

[DonYukon]

18 year old girl manager??? dont ever go there again

 

[Jumpmastr82nd]

Yeah, around FT Bragg, they've recently started destroying a long reputation for good service and fair prices. I knew it was a disaster 5 minutes in the shop with it and the mechanic working on it. Thanks for the advice, I plan on doing just that with trying for the covered repairs. I just need direction to start the documentation process BEFORE I contact them. We're no longer stationed there and it's 2.5 hours away, so I have to be prepared with a mouthful of facts before I call her. Just need to know why I'm missing so many parts, stuff not fitting, leaking...I was keeping it simple when I wrote that plea for help, but it's way more extensive.

ATTENTION EXPERTS!!!!

If you're an engine swap master on late 90's GMC Vortec 350s, PLEASE ASSIST!
my wife and I are only allowed to take leave ( Go Army!) until 1 OCT, so I have to have my case together by then....

 

[sewlow]

Here's the way I look at it.
If it isn't right...it's WRONG!
Do not accept "That's good enough."
There are some members here that own vehicles that were repaired in this manner, by previous owner's, &/or shops. Ask them about the probs they are having making right, repairs that were done haphazardly. It can be an uphill grind trying to figure out what is right or wrong.
Good thing they didn't work on your brakes!

 

[Lextech]

If you don't really tow or haul heavy loads in the hot weather, then the oil cooler that was leaking can be completely removed.
I don't know about the Torque Converter. I'm assuming the engine was locked and they had to pull the engine with the T/C still attached to the flywheel. If that is the case, maybe they felt it best to replace it. The flywheel cover is no big deal. I would put one on, but it isn't worth going to court over. Your local trans shop should be able to get you a new one pretty cheap.

Jeff

 

[JollyGreen]

This whole thing sounds like a clusterf*ck. First of all find the stamp on the block to find out if it is in fact a 96+ Vortec block. That will give you the answer as to what sort of block you have. Secondly, if this "mechanic" in fact said that "it's nothing", I would have stopped right there and had a discussion with them. You may not know anything and everything about your truck, but an obvious oil leak from a line is NOT NORMAL. Third, I highly doubt the torque converter "locked up". So...did it lock up after they put the rebuilt motor back in? Since it was locked up there's no way they could have driven it beforehand. Sounds extremely fishy.

Do not keep driving it with the oil leaking from the trans cooler lines. You'll end up burning the tranny up from insufficient oil.

 

[Aloicious]

good gravy...what a PITA...Jeff is right, the oil cooler isn't necissary. I removed mine (but then again I also put a larger pan on too)....I'm a little confused on the oil cooler setup after you took it to the shop...you said it was screwed directly to the block? if so then they removed the adapter that accepts the lines, if they just cut the lines and crimped them coming off the adapter, then you can get an adapter than will stop it...where is the leaking coming from? make sure that it's not the trans cooler...if it's the lines coming out of the drivers side of the radiator end tank, and going down to the oil filter adapter, that is the oil cooler lines...if its lines going to the passenger side radiator end tank, or a small little radiator behind the passenger side of the grill, then thats the transmission cooler...


trans dust covers are cheap...I even think I have one sitting in my garage, its from a '96 4L60e, but I think it should fit 96-98 4L60e's, it's yours if you foot the shipping bill on it.

I can't help much on the torque converter, I hate automatics...but its definitely setting off my BS alarm from your description...

 

[outalne94z71]

you really should not run without a oil cooler.

it has to be a vortec block as the intake and sensors only fit vortec, the tbi motors have no provision for crank sensor and tbi heads will not bolt on the intake, would take a lot of work to make a tbi motor run the vortec stuff

 

[outalne94z71]

I highly doubt the torque converter "locked up". So...did it lock up after they put the rebuilt motor back in? Since it was locked up there's no way they could have driven it beforehand. Sounds extremely fishy.

if the motor locked up it is really difficult to almost impossible to get to the torque converter bolts to remove it, i think that is what they meant not that the converter itself locked up