The Stupid Engine Questions Thread

[Dillon]

Dumb question but does anybody know what part this is? I’m dropping a new crate motor in and I believe coolant came out after unscrewing this from the block. I originally had a blown head gasket and was wanting to replace as much coolant related parts as possible.

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[RANDALL COOK]

Welcome! I can’t say for certain, but I think the 1996 should be closer to the 1998 than 1995. 1995-1996 was the big changeover, at least in the gas engines.

Thanks, that seems logical.

 

[RANDALL COOK]

There are no dumb questions, just dumb answers. Is that part on the right a part of it; was there a hose connected to it? I've never seen one, just curious.

 

[RANDALL COOK]

what makes an engine a 12 oclock timing or a 2oclock timing...please don't say the timing mark and damper because i have a 2oclock timing mark and damper but the lite flashes at the 12 oclock position...please explain

I'm not sure why you say "dont say the ... damper..", but I had an engine the ran just fine but the mark was way off from the light. The rubber insert in the damper had spun and moved the mark a quarter of a turn off. The 'timing' can be changed by the ECM, a vacuum advance, or a centrifugal advance, but the relationship of the mark on the damper to the actual TDC of the #1 piston can not change unless the insert slips, as far as I know. It is also possible to accidentally check the wrong piston for timing.

 

[east302]

Dumb question but does anybody know what part this is? I’m dropping a new crate motor in and I believe coolant came out after unscrewing this from the block. I originally had a blown head gasket and was wanting to replace as much coolant related parts as possible.

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Knock sensor

 

[east302]

Aside from normal parts lifespan, did the TBI 350s have the same failure issue with intake gaskets as the vortec?

I’m tentatively looking at a 95 Z71 for my son. It has 140k on it.

 

[Erik the Awful]

No. The Vortecs have plastic intake manifold gaskets that seal really well up until they don't. When one goes it cracks and dumps all your coolant while you're towing a 5,000 lb trailer through five miles of barricaded construction zone in Lawrence, Kansas. Twenty-four hours and $700 later you finally hit the road again, but your truck is never really the same again because that last couple miles of getting a nuclear-hot engine to a safe place to pull over put cracks in both your cylinder heads.

The TBIs have the old style fiber gaskets. They just work.

 

[alpinecrick]

No. The Vortecs have plastic intake manifold gaskets that seal really well up until they don't. When one goes it cracks and dumps all your coolant while you're towing a 5,000 lb trailer through five miles of barricaded construction zone in Lawrence, Kansas. Twenty-four hours and $700 later you finally hit the road again, but your truck is never really the same again because that last couple miles of getting a nuclear-hot engine to a safe place to pull over put cracks in both your cylinder heads.

The TBIs have the old style fiber gaskets. They just work.

Eric,
Only the upper half of the intake is plastic, and no coolant in the upper half. That plastic portion of the intake houses the FI spider.

 

[east302]

No. The Vortecs have plastic intake manifold gaskets that seal really well up until they don't. When one goes it cracks and dumps all your coolant while you're towing a 5,000 lb trailer through five miles of barricaded construction zone in Lawrence, Kansas. Twenty-four hours and $700 later you finally hit the road again, but your truck is never really the same again because that last couple miles of getting a nuclear-hot engine to a safe place to pull over put cracks in both your cylinder heads.

The TBIs have the old style fiber gaskets. They just work.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[alpinecrick]

Aside from normal parts lifespan, did the TBI 350s have the same failure issue with intake gaskets as the vortec?

I’m tentatively looking at a 95 Z71 for my son. It has 140k on it.

I would say yes, the failure rate would be pretty close to the same between the two.

Although I would bet that 95 already has had the intake gaskets replaced.