zrex

  Finally got around to pulling the cylinder head off my truck. The head gasket was intact and not blown out. However using a straight edge I was able to get a 13 thousands feeler gauge under the bar. Oil is good and no coolant in the cylinders. Truck over heated when a core plug failed. Zero compression on cylinders two and three. Very little one and four (30 lbs) With the head so warped how did the head gasket not blow ? I’ll be taking the head and block to the machine shop soon. 

 Thanks Mike for the suggestion. Pulled plugs spun it over and no water came out. Starter still straining to crank, 

  My truck overheated last night on the freeway. Didn’t quit peg the temp needle but over heated good. Called triple AAA and for the 2nd time in 15 years got towed home. The freeze plug above the oil filter is gone, truck has 386K miles, the motor turns and the oil hasn’t been compromised. This morning Bumped the starter over and it sounded strained and the engine didn’t fire up. I’ll do a compression check and go from there. 
Bummer .. 

 I went through 3 Chinese junk manifolds in 3 years. Finally started looking in the junk yards. Found that some D21 manifold fit perfectly, pulled probably 3 or 4 manifolds off I think 87-88 hardbody’s that where all cracked on the back side. Finally found a exhaust manifold that wasn’t cracked. It’s been 5 years with no issues ..  

I’m surprised San Diego County  doesn’t have two or three full time straw  compliance enforcer staff all making 100K plus a year. Give Nathen Fletcher a few more months and we probably will. 

   There’s a connector under the passenger seat, not the cab light delay relay look under the carpet there’s a connector. Separate and clean pins real good. Worked for me when my fuse kept blowing. 

I’m hoping non of you guys have to deal with  Cal-OSHA and their new rules that took affect 1/1/2021 regarding covid-19, Had a 2 hour webcast yesterday and my head is still spinning. 

John, Jimmy’s is staying open so is Junction 52.. my wife and I do the patio with the dogs often at a Jimmy’s .. we’ve been spending a lot more money than usual at the mom and pop restaurants in Santee and El Cajon trying to do what we can to keep the small businesses open.

That’s a bummer, one of my favorites. I’m a kid of the 70’s .. Connery, Micheal Cain, Gene Hackman and Eastwood my favorite actors. I’ve obviously never met any of them but I’d really like to have a beer with any of them.. RIP Mr. Connery !!

Running lights working now, cleaned the 10 pin connector real good. Thanks Mike for the assist.

   Mike, a update, I dug under the carpet and found the 10 pin connector .. unplugged pin and notice a lot of corrosion in a few connectors. 
new fuse didn’t blow and I have front running lights. I’ll clean up the 10 pin connector and go from there.. thanks for the help.

Rex 

  Mike, thanks for the directions, unplugged everything as you said. The 10 pin under the passenger seat was actually a 5 plug room lamp timer. Is this the plug your referring to ?I have the seat out and I’m not seeing another plug. As always thank you for your expertise. Fuse is still blowing 

Rex 

We’ve had to quarantine several staff in the restaurants. Thankfully no Covid-19 positives yet. We follow all the protocols either mandated or suggested 

by our Health Dept. What keeps me up worried every night is what I can’t control. 
 

Good point . My 85 720

Exactly !,  working in the restaurant business day in day out I’m  sure I’ve been exposed to Covid-19. However being conscious of what I’m touching,  where I’m standing, having a bottle of hand sanitizer hanging from my neck and most importantly frequent and good hand washing practices has so far kept me and my family safe. I’ve turned into a Covid-19 protocol subject matter expert out of necessity to keep my staff, customers safe and our business operating.

 Crazy times !!

    I have a blown fuse for my running lights, side lights, dash lights. Put in a new fuse and burned immediately. I did replace my water pump a few months ago and wiggled the battery a bit when installing upper radiator hose. I checked the fusible links and had voltage on both sides of the links. Any suggestions as to where to start looking for the short ?
 

thanks 

   I’m in the restaurant industry, supervise 9 locations 450+ staff... some come sense steps I’ve been using regarding door handles.

Keep napkins in your pockets. Use the napkin as a glove to open the door  than without contaminating your hands fold the napkin toss it in the trash.

Immediately look for a sanitizer dispenser use it. Simple  courtesy i see people approaching a door I politely open the door from the inside for them. Avoid touching panic bars on any door. Most commercial doors  have a ADA door handle  and many have a finger pull built into the door .. 95% of people use the door handle. Don’t touch the door handle !  Hand management has taken on a whole new meaning ... stay safe everyone 

    On my 78 620 That unfortunately still needs to pass smog, I have a crack on the egr pipe. It’s on the straight portion thankfully. Anyone have suggestions on repairing this. I was thinking a sleeve and tighten the hell out of it with clamps. I’ve given up trying to find the correct egr pipe. 
 

thanks 

Rex 

       An fyi regarding the ACDelco 252-018 water pump. The front machining of the pump doesn’t have the correct step down for the alternator bracket. At least on my 85, I probably could of used a cut off wheel to remove enough material to get the bracket on but decided not to. First time I’ve had a Rock Auto part not fit out of the box.

85 4x4 stock wheels and tire size. Perfectly flat freeway speed 70- 75 on a good day.

50-55 on a 4% grade Completely stock engine, also been using Shell Rotella T4 for a few years now. 

 Didn’t consider coolant in the exhaust pipe before I pulled the head off the 2nd time. 
 

      My 620 was puking coolant out the exhaust. Pulled the head expecting a blown head gasket, gasket looked good however. Cleaned the head and block surfaces and put in a new gasket. 30 seconds after start up clouds of coolant again. Pulled the head off again used a machinist straight edge to measure flatness of the head. A couple of things there’s a small crack between the valves on #3 and between cylinder numbers 2 and 3 I’m measuring a 6 thousandths valley. This is on my 78 so I still need to smog every 2 years. I have a real good A87 in the garage, will the A87 head without those steal liners work with those  exhaust tubes? Another question is that crack a game over for the W58 head ? Not a large crack it’s a hair line but clearly visible.. 

  thanks for any input 

 I never had good luck with the Dorman/Chinese exhaust manifolds. After pulling several manifolds that had the same cracking i found a 88 hardbody that wasn’t cracked. 
 

Bummer!! Thieves suck ! Hope you get your truck back..

Looking good sir !!