JackStraw1

I do it because thats what the FSM says to do

I'm thinking exhaust leak somewhere pre-cat. Thus the mixture reaching the O2 sensor appears lean and it is feeding back to the ECU to enrich the fuel mixture. As you well know, exhaust manifold leaks are very common on our trucks. If you've already replaced the studs, have a look at the Y - pipe area or flange. I had a small hole in that area that was stinking up my truck and was easily welded closed.

Do you have the part numbers for the shocks ?

Can the stock replacements be run with a suspension lift ? I'm looking at P/N: 58627 for rear and 37100 for front

When you replaced the bearings, did you replace the races at the same time ?

I don't think it does, but when I looked in there the driver sided 1/2 was almost empty and the passenger side 1/2 was nearly full. It's a new one as I mentioned. Dorman M39976

Recently, while doing brakes, I repacked bearings and had a good look at them. Looks like the races need to be pressed out/in. The bearings really didn't look bad but I was thinking about changing these these as routine maintenance. I've got 200K miles on the truck. Is this a good idea ? Anyone done this ?

Son of a beech. Adamzan was spot on ! Calipers were switched. That's got to be one of the biggest bone-headed moves I've pulled. Thanks for helping me figure it out !

Yes. Driver rear, passenger rear, ABS (unplugged), passenger front, driver front. As per FSM

Thanks Adamzan. I thought of that just a little while ago ! I'll check when I get home. It finally stopped raining here so hopefully I'll finish this today.

Ok. So I decided to replace the calipers. I also found a leaking hub seal and ended up replacing those and re-packing bearings. When switching out the brake lines, I just let the fluid run a little until I got it hooked up and tightened down on the new caliper. When I was done, I noticed that 1/2 the master cylinder reservoir was empty and the other half was full. I'm guessing the empty side was to the front brakes. So I refilled the reservoir and bled the brakes. Although I'm getting clean brake fluid out with no air at each site, I still have a very soft brake pedal that goes all the way to the floor. I have re-bled several times. I think I may have gotten air in the master cylinder and need to bench bleed this again. BTW, the master cylinder is new and was installed just a few weeks ago. It was working fine prior to this little adventure. Appreciate any thoughts or advice.

Yeah, thats what i was thinking. That rubber thing is just a dust seal anyway right ? there should be no leaking while compressing that piston. Just backward flow into the reservoir ?

I'm in the middle of doing front brakes and rotors today. I compressed one of the caliper pistons and was compressing the other piston with a C-clamp and a little bit of fluid came out from aroung the seal and the seal appeared a little "puffy". I was able to milk out a little more fluid until the seal/boot looked like the other one. There did not appear to be any fluid when I first took everything apart Is this going to be a problem ? Did I blow this seal/boot and will it continue to leak if re-asssembled ?

I dunno..... Not sure how many miles you ran with the joints open to the road but the wear/damage (if any) that was done cannot be undone or washed out. Sure you can keep it from getting worse but......... Having done it both ways in the past, I'm with the guys who replace the entire halfshaft with a reman if its in your budget. They are pretty cheap nowadays and a hell of a lot easier (and way less messy) than putting new boots on.

Well now that Spring is finally here in NW PA and daytime temps are hitting the 50's, the trip odo is comming on as soon as I start the truck. No more blinking until I'm 4 miles down the road. Definitely seems cold related to me. I was using the trip odo previously to periodically check gas mileage. It was looking like my mileage was getting progressively worse. Last tank I recorded the mileage of the main odo before and after and find that I'm still getting approximately the same mileage (~225 -250 mi/tank). So heads up to those who may be using the trip odo instead of the main or a GPS to calculate gas mileage.

You're right. It is a '94 SE. I'm not sure why it says 87 in my profile. I will correct it.

This started this winter. When I first start the truck the electronic trip odometer is completely blank. About 3 miles down the road it starts blinking on and off. About 4 miles down the rod it comes on fully and stays on. This happens everyday. Now, about 2 months back the alternator fried from leaking oil from the valve covers. I had thought that the blinking light was a sign of the alternator failing but it is doing the same thing with the new alternator (yes I tightened the valve cover bolts as best I could but i think the plenum has to come off in better weather to do the job properly) At any rate, there is no oil on the new alternator. I was using this trip odometer to estimate gas mileage. It seemed to be working despite the "blackout intervals" Is it just an old and failing LCD or is this a portent of electrical doom ?

My '94 will turn 20 next year and will have been with me 18 of the 20 ! She just rolled 196K + a few miles back. Starting to see a little more rust since relocating to NW PA.

I live in PA and drive the Michelin LTX M/S. Never have had any problems with winter driving and they run much better/quieter in warm weather conditions. Winter here has been pretty mild lately - unfortunately. I think the rear locker is overkill for this area but to each their own. Kinda depends where in PA you are going. Pittsburgh for example is very hilly and the problems there may be more related to manual transmission and hill-holding on snowy roads if you are not used to it. Other areas - like Philly are not very hilly for the most part and are easy going even in big snow. Safe travels !!

Well, I took all the belts off and replaced the alternator belt with the next size down ( a full 1/2 inch shorter belt !) It took be a little while in the cold to get it to stretch on but I got on it without beating it up. Now the tensioner only opens about halfway and the belt is tight ! Lotsa room to tweak it if the belt stretches out a little over time. I should mention that I am running the maxima 90 amp alternator with the pulley from the stock alty. I don't know if others have had to re-size the alt belt or this is just something strange with my truck. The strange new noise seemed to be coming from the A/C belt and I had a look at the idler pulley - it made a little noise when I spun it. I got one from AZ but it looked like crap compared to the original so I just cleaned the original with parts cleaner and WD-40. I noticed that there is a circlip on the back which I'm guessing allows you to replace the bearing. Has anyone done this? Do you need a bearing press or can this be pounded out with the right size socket? Anyhow, I put it back in for the time being and whadaya know ? No more high pitched whine. Now all I've got is the good ol' familiar high-pitched squeal from the PS pump. I wuz fixin' to replace that in the summer anyways. Thanks for your help

Oh it's beautiful today. The storm has passed and the sun is out. Spec-frickin-tacular !! Hope you get some soon.

Really? Both lights come on when the system is not charging ? I didn't think of that. The belt tensioner is maxed out and that's why I'm having trouble keeping tension on the alt belt.That plus the fact that the lower hole is stripped and now has a through bolt with nut on the end. I've been meaning to get the next size down belt and try to stretch that over. Guess I'll try that today. Thanks.

Today I decided to take my son snow tubing up the road a ways. It was pretty bad along the highway so i put her in 4H and rolled along with no problems. As we neared the ski resort, the tranmission fluid overheat light and battery(charging system) lights both came on. The road was majorly snowed in and there was no place to pull over. I put her back in 2H figuring it would lessen the work of the tranny. The engine started making a strange high pitched whine whenever I accelerated above 2000-2500 rpm. I crawled along about 2.5 miles to the resort and pulled into a convenience store. When I got out to check, I could see that the transmission cooler which is front of the radiator was partially iced up. The fluid level was normal and the fluid was pristine color and texture. Alternator belt was slightly slack but not slipping. Oil was down about a quart ! I poured in a quart of oil and figured I'd let the tranny cooler thaw out. So I let it sit for a couple hours while we horsed around and had a great time. When I restarted the trans cooler looked clear and all the dash lights cleared after about a minute and the car drove fine..........except for the high pitched whine which is still there when accelerating. I changed the oil when I got home and re-checked the belts --- all OK. I'm thinking this whine might be the tensioner on the timing belt. Appreciate all thought and comments.

I finally got around to replacing the door handles when we had a break in the weather last week. WD-40'd the snot out of both sides. The driver's side still pulses but usually only a couple times before engaging. Passenger side operates flawlessly. Looks like maybe a complete tear-down and cleaning come summer. Thanks for all the help and advice.

Does the stumbling happen only when the engine is cold? or does it also happen after the engine is good and warm and water temp needle is up off the bottom of the gauge?