Random questions

Picky, picky!

I start the bidding at $50.00

Do I hear 75?? lol

Okay, $75 it is.

But seriously folks...sometimes part of being a "seasoned expert" is knowing when to call it a day...or week...or six months. T`ain't nuffin inside one of these motors that's really complicated. Personally, I've long since learned to recognize the signs of mental fatigue...the shop wall starts taunting :fuck:, the tool you're holding dares you "psssst...hey go on and throw me " :boxing:Translation: if you're over 40, time to close up shop, grab an adult beverage and come back tomorrow, once the adrenaline level is back to normal. The simple problem, turned insurmountable, will have changed back by then.

FWIW, methinks you're too spread too thinly over too many projects at once. Everything has to go right on the first pass, or the stress level heads skyward.

I definitely have too many projects going on. I tend to do that all too often. Right now I'm waay overbooked. Trying to wrap things up for the riding season. This bike is one that needs wrapped up for sure. Hoping to get a couple sold off, a couple more ready to ride, or...store or sell maybe. And a couple more that I just want to be ready to ride.
I'm a pretty cool headed guy tho. Don't think I've ever thrown a tool...very far. When I get frustrated, I typically just abandon the job and go on to something else. I'm trying NOT to do that with this bike. It needs to go, and it's clean NOW. So I'll stick with it and see it through, for better or worse. It's a great bike, but it's not getting the love from me anymore. Hopefully it will go to a good owner who will ride it, improve it, and love it.

I thought I had posted info here after I was back into the lower end...a month ago maybe. The trans looked great in there, but I swapped in a different one anyway. The shift fork pins had a lot of wear, I replaced them with new ones and figured that was the likely culprit. Then I reassembled it with a different clutch. I was hoping I had solved it with the new pins. Then the motor sat, waiting as I cleaned up a correct set of hubs, and cleaned a couple years of dust off of everything else. Last weekend is when I was finally able to test the motor again. Then came post number 58..."my silvertag is still giving me fits"

Had a need recently to show how a brake cable brake light switch works, and didn't have a example to point to. So, here's a example.

The switch is pretty simple. The pics show how it's made. The spring inside is compressed when you pull the lever. It compresses as the 2 parts of the switch are pushed together...actually the side with the brass ring goes INSIDE of the other side. The other/female side has two brass strips that the wires solder to, inside of it.
When you pull the lever, it forces the male side with the brass ring, into the female side, where the ring makes contact with the 2 strips, which makes the connection between the two strips/wires. That allows power to pass THRU the switch, and on to the brake light.
When you release the lever, the spring inside of the switch, forces the switch back apart...light goes off.

"Photobucket changed its terms and wants me to pay $399/year for image hosting. They can go to hell. I'll have to figure out another way of posting my images"

I took the above quote ^^^ from a post over on Planetminis.

My question is: What the hell?
Now I'm worried about who's takin Care of all of my pics. I post a ton thru the Tapatalk app. Could they wipe out all of my pics? Rustynuts, the user on PM, appears to have lost all of the pics that he had posted in his threads.
I don't have mine saved anywhere other than in my threads and such. To lose them all would be pretty painful.
To try to go back and upload them from lh would be pretty painful too.
Should I be worried?

Yes, you have reason for concern. At $400 a year, I'd tell Photobucket..."photobucket" too:fuck: Now, I've not yet checked this out, firsthand, so details are absent. However, I stopped using them a couple years ago when they began changing their terms...smelled something bad coming, so it seems believable. Sadly, it appears that web access is about to become expensive, here in the corporate states:29: Computers & "smart"phones are being turned into vending machines...keep shoveling-in the coins. We've gone back to payphones...only we have to buy the device(!) -rant over-

There are other services out there. Check `em out, read the terms (if you can stay awake long enough), you probably give up ownership of anything you post. And, by all means backup your work. MicroSD cards and portable HDDs are cheap and getting cheaper. Seagate included 60gb of free cloud storage with their portable HDDs...that's a lot of web-sized photos!

Sounds like ransom to me.

New to me 2001 Chevy, 6.0L #3 cylinder.
It had one really bad plug wire that I THOUGHT was on the #5 cylinder, but it might have been on this plug...not sure.
So my random question is... What causes this?

That's ugly. I've never seen a plug look like that. Are you sure you didn't fill your tank with concrete?

In the old days, when reading a plug was easy, that would have been the textbook photo labeled "scavenger deposits". "Detergent" additives have been in pump gas for decades. I can clearly recall seeing entire sets of plugs with this type of fouling, only heavier...if you can believe that...~45 years ago(!). Doesn't appear to me that there's an oil control problem with this cylinder. I'd replace the plug...along with the wires, cap & rotor, if they're more than 3-4 years old. Could be nothing more than a plug that's overdue for replacement and too much low-speed/light-throttle driving.

What FI setup is on this motor? GM used some really funky fuel injection setups in the `90s & early 2000s. Throttle body injection was more like a high-pressure, 2-BBL carburetor...and subject to the same kind of uneven fuel distribution as a carbureted engine. Then there were those "central port" (ugh) setups that used one injector, with 6, or 8, outlets & "poppet" valves...hidden inside a 2-piece plastic(!) plenum/manifold (ugh squared).

Lol.
6.0 LS. Vortec V8
EFI with a injector for each cylinder I think, but I'll have to look at it a little closer tonite.
There is a coil for every cylinder, and 8 identical plug wires. Easiest tune up I've ever done.

I've been looking around online and the most likely cause seems to be a leaky valve guide or seal. Small amount of oil being burned, over a long period, leaves deposits from the additives in the oil...zinc, magnesium, etc.
I believe the plugs had about 70,000 miles on them. Every other plug looked really good...nice color and no deposits to speak of. The motor has approx 230,000 miles on it now, and the PO said he has always ran "Valvoline synthetic and changed it every 5000. The engine bay, engine , and the oil inside...with 2500-3000 miles on it, are all impressively clean.
I've had this truck for maybe a couple months now.

That does look bizarre kirrbby. In all my years of tinkering, never seen that one before. My first thought was that an injector was totally clogged and just dry firing for YEARS.

I like those 6L Vortec's. They run pretty strong, but really drink the gas. Some wrapped shorty headers and Flowmaster system(3in single) will really help with that and pay for itself eventually.

Valve seals can be replaced, without removing the heads and, if that's the issue, I'd have that done...well worth the modest cost, imho. 70K is a lotta miles for any spark plug but especially a conventional plug like this. If this motor has "real" fuel injection, as you're describing, you should be in good shape for a long time to come.

cjpayne said:

I like those 6L Vortec's. They run pretty strong, but really drink the gas. Some wrapped shorty headers and Flowmaster system(3in single) will really help with that and pay for itself eventually.

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There's something to be said for the Vortec series engines, even the 4.3 V6; I've seen `em still running well at the 400K mile mark. But with a big, heavy, vehicle that has the aerodynamic profile of a cinder block contemporary mpg numbers just are not part of the deal. Tube headers, in the MI environment, are rust waiting to happen. A year, or two, of road salt exposure and they'd be rotted. Stainless, if you can find them, will co$t plenty. IDK, maybe a pair of cast iron shorties...if Sanderson makes a set that'll fit the vehicle. They might have to be port-matched. Some Vortec heads, of that era, had 0.100-0.090" raised ports. Port matching cast iron headers is a brutal chore, ask me how I know this...

racerx said:

There's something to be said for the Vortec series engines, even the 4.3 V6; I've seen `em still running well at the 400K mile mark. But with a big, heavy, vehicle that has the aerodynamic profile of a cinder block contemporary mpg numbers just are not part of the deal. Tube headers, in the MI environment, are rust waiting to happen. A year, or two, of road salt exposure and they'd be rotted. Stainless, if you can find them, will co$t plenty. IDK, maybe a pair of cast iron shorties...if Sanderson makes a set that'll fit the vehicle. They might have to be port-matched. Some Vortec heads, of that era, had 0.100-0.090" raised ports. Port matching cast iron headers is a brutal chore, ask me how I know this...

Click to expand...

Never thought about the salt.lol
I had a 4x4 suburban with an aftermarket Dynomax 3in exhaust with shorty's. I did eventually have to replace them with stainless because of what you described....rust. It also was stroked to a 383, K&N, GM performance intake. All of that was done just to make it run and sound better, but MOST of all was getting better MPG. It went from 14 to 17......on the highway.lol

First check of mpg on this truck showed the same as my old, similar truck...11mpg. That's my routine driving...city/highway.
Heavy 3/4 ton, 2wd, extended cab, 8 foot bed.
It's a gas hog for sure. Maybe a touch better now that all 8 cylinders fire.

I'll probably pull a couple plugs, including #3, in a couple weeks to see how they look. I'll do a compression check on a couple cylinders too.
I'm just starting to get familiar with this truck, learning its perks and quirks. I don't want any surprises this winter.
I'm not sure how to diagnose why I have oil getting in to this plug without tearing into the motor. A bad seal might be apparent, but I imagine I'd have to pull the head/valve to check the valve guide.
It's also pretty easy to just change plug(s) often.
Maybe I should try my little Chinese, cell phone boreoscope. Try to take pics of the piston and valve. Doubt I could see the valve tho.
Hope they look better than the plug did. lol

Yeah, that's pretty typical fuel consumption. A friend of mine purchased a more recent (2015) vintage GMC van, the long body version...gets ~14mpg and that's it.

As for replacing valve seals, pretty easy for an experienced shop. An air fitting goes into the spark plug hole, then compressed air is used to hold the valves closed while the springs get R&Rd to allow seal replacements. IDK if the General used the old umbrella-type valve seals this late but, if they did, it's really easy to see if one has failed, with the spring out of the way. They're just neoprene and shed big chunks when they turn brittle. I'd try this before pulling the heads. Worn valve guides are not a typical problem for these motors, AFAIK.

Most likely cheap gas deposits, not oil. Sure does look like cement. They appear to have more than 70k on em. A nice complete tune up like Bob said will do you good.

I read where some folks were saying cheap gas, but that theory was only holding water when ALL of the plugs had this kinda crap on them. My engine only had one single plug that was bad. The rest look exactly like this.

I pretty much always get fuel from the local Marathon station. I don't put too much thought into it tho, I just prefer the girls that work at that station