fixinto

yah happens sometimes, see if it comes back after a couple of decent drive cycles, if not u should be O.K. Good luck Pat

ya, your thermostat probably petered out, or ^ said about the coolant leak. bad luck either way. If the TB was done 30k ago, hopefully they did water pump and bypass hose along with the thermostat. would be nice as u suggested. Although it is a consideration about the head gasket, and it can just leak from cooling channel to cylinder and such, i dont hear about too many head gasket bad joo joos with these. Hope you get er back on the road soon. I guess get er running, compression check er, and double check the little hoses that caused issues the first time. I figure if your head gasket was leaking it would be throwing misfire codes by now. so although keep that in mind, i would be looking elsewhere for your warm start issue. Hope you get her fixed soon. Im running out of suggestions.. ;P Pat P.S. when i bought my thermostat, i bought the kind thats engineered to fail open if it fails. would rather take a long time warming up or not get all the way upto op temp than have my radiator explode going down the road, that had to suck.

clogged heater core line will cause no heat at the vents too. The bypass valve on the cap should open when the engine cools off allowing your overflow tank to fill any void in the cooling system. "like if it were low" Don't really know where i got the info so take it with a grain of salt. i will browse the manual when i get a chance. havent had chance in a bit do to long hours and arse draggage. i would hit a yard for a new rad, while i had it apart i would take a look at the heater core lines just as a double check. when i say take a look i really mean " unhook the input line and output line, put in some cleaning solution thats friendly to soft metal, stuff the output line in an empty milk jug and hose clamp an air hose on the input line" Don't recommend going over 20 to 25 psi at the most. make sure that it flows the cleaner and left over anti freeze into the jug if it doesnt....that will be a fun job getting that dood out of there. If you are going to replace the thermostat, do the water pump too, u may as well. and if you are that far down, ya you guessed it, timing belt time. Just be crazy careful. double / tripple / check everything, because hell of a long way to go if something is wrong. Hate that happend to her. I am still trying to put together the heat soak / no start issue. everything I am coming up with is still in the fuel regulation area. either your regulator is defective, you have a vacuum issue involving the regulator circuit, "rubber and metal piping" or hmm im not really sure at this point. Sensors are pretty much out because you can start it with starting fluid........wait....something just hit me. Do you have a manual or auto trans? If its auto, maybe your neutral safety switch is going bad. cheap ohm meter would tell you, just measure it cold, and get your reading then when she wont crank measure it again. wont be the first electronics device that flaked out after heating up. hmm worth a look. and if its a manual trans, have a similar switch mounted where it will be pushed by your clutch. heat soak theory dont really apply to that being that it is located inside the cab. Good luck getting her back on the road. but im sure you can find plenty of good radiators at a salvage yard fraction of the $ as a new one. hmm now that i think about it, the neutral safety switch may not even let it crank over at all if it were bad, dangit, now i have to go read pat

According to our FSM, the downstream O2 didn't help your issue. "no influence on engine control systems during normal operation" So i would say you probably had a hella leaky gas cap? bad joo joo there hehe. pat

ya good call it does look greenish, rubber glove up and run your finger through it, see what color it is. smell it. you can tell if its antifreeze pretty quick. Is your heater acting up? smell anti freeze going down the road? if thats the passenger side view from under the truck " what it looks like" the return hose and the feed hose for your heater core runs over there. fat hose going to a metal tube that runs under your intake, "comes from firewall passenger side" if thats leaking you should be able to tell pretty quick with a visual. hope this helps out -pat-

Evap leak will be un-metered air depending on what is bad in the evap system. so if that is the case, you will see crap gas milage, from the injectors over spraying to compensate for the O2 reading of a leanish condition. This is that situation that software and a wireless obd2 would come in super handy as u can monitor the fuel trim by percentage or voltage or graph. i bought a 30 dollar obd2 from amizon and use torque, free app from playstore depending on your phone or whatever. it also reads maf, air intake temp and so on. really really handy when one symptom can be a lot of different failures. check the obvious stuff that is free first, cracked, split, or just popped off vacuum hoses, "pertaining to the evap system" or just pull the vacuum hose going to your intake for the evap and plug the hose with a bolt or something and cap the inlet to the intake to prevent air from getting in. "no suggestions here, just think it through and dont be afraid to use your imagination, im sure you can figure it out." see if your rides performance improves. if so, use that as a starting point. O2 code could be the cat let go from the extra fuel dump. but i hope not. maybe the o2 is just having issues. hopefully this helps you out. pat

Are you using an O2 socket? helps a lot, and be sure you have enough leverage to get a decent bite on it to break it loose. dw40, pb blaster or some kind of penetrating oil to help you along. spray it around the base where it threads into the manifold. If something is in your way, take a few phone pics to see how everything looked before you jacked with it, then remove whatever is keeping you from getting where you need to go. "most times it is easier to give yourself room than to try to work around things" if the angle is wrong and you cant get a good bite, get an extension that swivels so you can get a better angle. Thats about all i have for you bud. FSM, and think it through, take your time. pat

need bushings for sure, or w/e. but when u were shaking the exhaust it was making the noise. /shrug pat p.s. did you go go gadget hose clamps?

probably hella valve cover leaks, or oil pan gasket. go go gadget FSM before u buy wrenches. ;P

i think when i read in the timing belt section it said the cam gears were cut at different degrees from left to right and dont mix them up. /shrug. sounds like it worked out pretty well for you though. pat

quick and dirty idea, put a hose clamp on the metal hangers and clamp them where the flex isnt as bad or there is hardly any flex at all. the one in the video looked like it was very close but the sound sounded hollow to me so i was thinking the resonator or the muffler bumping the floor, or the tail pipe flexing a little to much and hitting your bumper from under the truck. hope u get it lined out, it would make it burn on the tip for sure listening to that over long periods of time. pat

sure, inside patch action. ;P hope it is, looked like a lot of tread on there pat

Also double check the fuel regulator hose to make sure it didn't ninja off again ;P ahah pat

support the rear of your trans with a jack remove the cross member, then lower the jack a little bit to give you room to work bud =) long as the bolts in the cross member arnt froze up you should be good. Pat

well after several hundred miles, the trans is still shifting as good or better than it did when i bought the truck. the to do list is getting smaller and smaller, down to front diff and xfer case oil change, clutch pp throwout bearing, and struts then she is all caught up. Pat

im not sure about the 04, but the 96 there are 4, 2 pre and two post cat. the pre control your air / fuel ratio, and the post make sure the cats are doing their job. pat

the bank one and bank 2 cats are directly off of your exhaust manifolds. i highly recommend testing some stuff before throwing too many parts at it, because you can get into a high dollar situation and still have the problem very quickly. so much so, that it would have been better to take it to a reputable mechanic. a little research and youtube should cover the basics on how to diagnose and replace the correct part or parts in this situation. its awesome doing your own work, and getting that sense of satisfaction when you replace parts and fix something, but that feeling goes up quite a bit and u save bundles of cash by troubleshooting it and replacing the proper parts to repair it straight away. p.s. there is a link to get your FSM somewhere on this site, i recommend that too, it will break everything down to exploded views, torque specs and even some flow chart stuff. goes a long way when you can have multiple parts for the same problem. hope this helps you out some pat

or someone had a vacuum leak or bad air meter for a while and the cats got fried by the extra fuel the motor put out. happens all the time. on the same note, i would at least check the o2s heater voltage and V ref while its running. you can also temp check before and after the o2 aand see if there is a large difference. If your ride is burning oil that will fry the O2s and more than likely the cats too depending on how much oil its burning. so while not probable there are several things that could cause a double cat failure. Luckily i live where they dont test so when i suspected my cats were toast. i hollowed them out with a counter sink bit. she feels like she is breathing better now. pat

if your bleeding the system, be sure the hose is submerged in fluid or the bleeder is closed when you let off the pedal, could have back sucked a little air. and leave a little fluid in the res so you dont suck air from the top side. Im sure you know that, looks like you do good work bud. Pat

gotcha, R50 this fill plug rule doesnt apply. Then it is a mystery indeed, as i had to jack the truck up to get it not to run out. at about 4 and 1/2 quarts, no matter how far i put my the tube into the trans, and i couldnt feel the fluid with my finger was the part that was strange. but i tilted her and filled it on up to where it should be. Anyone else with an R50 have it come out the fill plug at 4 and 1/2 qt or do i owe Murphy yet another punch in the face? hehe. drove it some today, couple of 2 mile trips nothing major, but made it 15miles home and the ride today and felt like a whole different trans. should have done this a while ago. got a pretty bad grinder boo boo at the beginning of the project, was planning on fixing some lingering exhaust leeks and doing the trans fluid. fixed one side of the exhaust the other side is fubar, im going to have to take it to the shop probably because i broke all three studs off the cat / exhaust flange. and my easy out pointed and laughed at me. the moral of the story is EFF exhaust work, just spend the 30 from rock auto. lmao. pat

Kyle, sorry seems i overlooked the aftermarket wheels, steels. gotcha, i still have 15" factory, on 31's so could make a difference, 17 is good for 70 at hwy if i go 55 to 60 hwy i get almost 23, 65 to usually 15 to 18. pat

I would be leaning toward a lifter, or injector, as stated above usually if you have an exhaust tick it dont go away at different rpm. i had an a lifter tick when i first started in the morning, and sometimes at idle for years and years, when i finally got down that far, there was a clogged hole in the guide plate that limited the oil to the number 6 lifter. /shrug there are my 37 cents "inflation" on it. par

Just letting you guys know that i HIGHLY recommend, Pennzoil's synchromesh for trans. well at least as of last night. I havent changed the trans fluid since i bought it about 6 or 7 years ago. about a year ago it got to where i had to double clutch it in forth or it would grind a bit, and about a month ago it started consistently grinding in first if your were rolling even a tiny bit an the 4th grinding got bad enough to where i just skipped it half the time. The reason i waited so long to change it is, it is super hard to find GL-4 trans fluid around here unless you order it from places like summit and even then its 90 dollars for the staggering 5.38 qt that the FSM says our trucks hold. or 10.75 pints. i found amsoil and heard good things about it, but i couldnt find a place to get it in my area, MT-90 heard good things about that too, but again, summit and 90 bux is a turnoff. So after much research, i came across synchromesh. when i drained my fluid it was dark, "nothing crazy" and smelled old like used lubrication. The fuzz on the drain plug magnet made me raise an eyebrow, but then again, i dont know how long its been since the truck had the trans serviced. I saw what was left of what looked like plumbers tape on the drain and fill plug so i am assuming it has been done at least once. after traveling to 4 different parts stores to pick up 6 bottles of the synchromesh i threw it in there and could tell an immediate difference in the way the truck changed gears and just felt in general. not sure if it was because my fluid was thrashed or synchromesh is just that good, but it dont grind in any gear or even act like it wants to anymore. so for everyone having a hard time finding something local, there is my opinion so far, every now and again i will through an update at this post to let you guys know how its doing. i also had another question, did the fill plug location on the trans being too low on some of the models effect all the way up to the 96? a little less than half of the way through the 5th bottle it started leaking out of the fill plug. i put my finger in to check the level and couldnt feel the oil, tried it 2 or 3 times. Finally i remembered reading the post about the fill plug, and also knowing what it said in the FSM i jacked up the front on the passenger side, and then did the same for the rear and added the rest of what was required with no problem. so i dont know if the FSM has a misprint or if the Fill plug was too low. but its taken care of either way and it feels fantastic. would have included a pic of the pennzoil and the fuzz on the plug, but i couldnt find my cord to hook my phone to my pc. have a good one pat

High idle times and a lot of stop and go driving will make a big difference in mpg. when they started construction here, i went from 17 to 19 to 13 to 15, just from all of the stop and go and sitting idle in traffice. i am not sure what fuel is recommended for the VQ, but on the VG, regular unleaded is what the beasts like. the higher the octane the less combustion you get. So if the factory manual recommends regular use regular, if it recommends super use super. super is designed for higher compression engines where combustion chamber temps can become an issue. so you actually get more bang for your buck from regular. If you already knew all of the, sorry for wasting your time =). Just most people assume premium is better for your engine when that isnt actually the case. i would judge whether or not i have a mechanical issue based on a few things. 1. does the ecu switch over to closed loop after warm up. 2. does your ride feel responsive and drive "correctly" no hesitation in acceleration and such. 3. all the fluids clean and at the correct level. most likely its normal if those 3 things are good to go. Not every time but most times. Pat

Unless your crack is super bad, or them nice looking meats your running on your rig make the difference, i just wanted to let you know i was getting 19mpg with mostly highway around 55mph / flatish driving conistantly with a crack all the way around the driver side manifold. upon inspection most of the spark plugs were worn to nubs like they were in there "i dont know, forever "