1996 GMC 5-speed

[Barry Donovan]

good storm

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we got 18 inches i guess.. not sure how hey measure it.
lots of snow anyway.

photo before driving it out

the lower windows have snow upon them.. about 3 feet from ground.

the height of the pile I drove through to get out of the driveway.. itis almost evident.


below zero before dusk, wind is howling.


will be leaving sunday for a warmer place, via airplane.

[Barry Donovan]

back home

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truck sat for 9 interesting days while I was in florida. A trip of my lifetime.

Back home was way below zero, up to 58F, 1.5 inches of rain, back to below zero..today we landed in snow (allegiant pilot was very skilled. Glad to be onboard.)

packed the truck up, doors were sticky to the ice and thaws and ice and thaws and ice.. and plain old arctic.
starter broke, found a cracked solenoid upon dropping. All 8 plugs, the iridiums did something weird, and were gas soaked.

I took a heat gun to the top end while my bro-n-law volunteered to help with his 2008 gmc spark plugs he keeps as spares.. a whole box.

not sure which one of us did it right, we could guess both together.. it started right up.

the length of the LS plug is about a 1/16th shorter..
I figured rough idle to a more truthful cylinder chamber, and that is what it got.
The LS plug flush fits in the chamber, no basketball hoop to catch debris.


the original monster is back to targetting the FPR.
below zero to 58 must have released a dumper, long before trying to start.

the starter as it turns out had a cracked solenoid for years.. the plastic filled itself with rust dust.
it was very funny, We spotted it at the advanced auto counter, as I turned it in for a core.

72 dollars, new starter installed. Sounds nicer, no dead spots.

not all that glad to be back home, but it is place i learned to live in.
I am making a push for florida, the big housing boom has a place for me.
not about a vacation.. both lungs at full capacity does a lot for any human.

edit:
the random no start was a crack in the starter solenoid. Hence the need for barometer changes, not just wet, to make a no start condition. I swapped all relays, plugs, tune up stuff...
anyway. I had seen the random start problem posted at gmt400 many times, with no answer.

For me it was a crack in the start solenoid.. remained elusive.
I also found for safe run, the spark plugs that fit the 2008 LS 5.3 is perfect on the 96-99 vortec head.

back to some fun

I like this channel, he bought a dale truck.. gm400 looking body.

[Barry Donovan]

analyzing iridiums.. old gen new gen

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as my truck sat there flooded (cracked starter solenoid went thief)
my bro-n-law, who has been a service writer for 25 years and built in much better environments than me...
made a beeline to the plugs, like an old carbed sbc.
We did not have time to talk this over, I waited til now to analyze.


I have the iridium LS motor plugs in my 1996 gmc...41-110 (new on the left)


look close.. the longer cone is heat value change.
the LS plug is hotter.

so that is all I did. the one on the right is the patented first gen iridium, the first ac delco ever carried, 1995.

the newer gen also has a fancy spot welded at the ground side. the old one is just chunk of iron like 60 years already.

I had joked with him about adding equal length wires in the rain, did not feel like messing with all the offsets.. and I said "it runs more like an LS now- the computer does not know length change anyway, blows headgaskets on the back cylinders eventually"
this finished off the sarcasm.

idle is a sputter random, but that is after airing out cylinders in january. One longer ride it is right back to normal.
I noticed themrostat avoided the 350 surge and spew.. smoother transition even at 12F.
Must have inadvertently given the full wet cylinder walls on the 305 a good choice.

going to keep using them.

[Barry Donovan]

the wettest ever.

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I have not seen this in years. it is so dewpointed at 31F hovering in the slop all over everyhting..

truck didnot start easily, but did.
I left it running went back in, and found the rock hit was the source of a crack spanning the windshield. did it all by itself.

The cold smoke just hovers.. seeming minutes. The little 305 may as well be a locomotive.

Called USAA, they are very fast on the claims. going to get new glass through insurance.


the no start random.. no clue. the starter was only part of it.
I am thinking of having a heat gun. Even with a tarp over vents, underhood is drenched in dewpoint..
steam climbing off once it started.

Not sure what to do. I am assuming ground loops to drenched .. only way out is to dryoff top end of intake with all the gadgets.

I noticed a visitor also kept vehicle running outside.. must be more than me with the underwater effect of this 31F rain and ice.

[Barry Donovan]

new air filter, cracked windshield and away it goes.


old filter in the new filter box.

hard time starting, ice 31F never let go.



at the crack of dawn went out for a ride to to old town maine, down rte 16,where even loaded tractor trailers were doing 35.
that new filter might get the random starts and po420 code.

all is new.

getting windshield through insurance, expecting a call at noon for an appt.
I simply turned defrost n high after getting it started in the sloppiest I have seen in years. Again steam rolled off the engine.

came back out to a crack spanning exactly at my eye sight...stemming from a rock chip. It has 3.
glass was old, and looking forward to some new safe-lite.
my subaru started right up, plow guy now for the driveway is awesome.. scraped right down pretty good in the 1 ton dually dodge.

[Barry Donovan]

new windshield

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got an appt with safelite.


they have done 122 windshields on just my model of truck this year..
must be thousands still on the road.


deciphering the old glass has it as factory original.. bur date coded april of 1999.
warranty work back then? possibly.

been a long run.

[DanStokes]

I bet you'll be thrilled at the new clarity. We put a windscreen in ME's HHR just because it was refracting the light in weird ways - turns out it was sort of sandblasted after 8 or 9 years. It's REALLY better now as I'll wager yours will be.

Dan

[Barry Donovan]

I bet you'll be thrilled at the new clarity. We put a windscreen in ME's HHR just because it was refracting the light in weird ways - turns out it was sort of sandblasted after 8 or 9 years. It's REALLY better now as I'll wager yours will be.

Dan

I always ignore that stuff. may be dads northern trucking.
I figure it is between 250k-500k miles, if not the years.

my subarus glass is original 31 years. They made it thick to add to structure of the rally.

everything I got is the sandblasted.

Looking forward to the new glass.
it was cool to find the date codes.

april 1999.
around 2003 the dealer records began for my truck at car fax.

this means 300k+/- miles and 18 years... one windshield in the north.
odds are terrible.

I spoke of the cab hitting 135-140F in the summer.. my thermometer this year has 23.6F below as the low.
ice storm did it in. defrost on one side and heavy storm on the other at 31F...stayed there all freaking day, and then went down to single digits.
cracked all by itself while I wa sin the house letting it warm.
The rock chip it chose to spread from, I was driving when that hit.. left a chip.

this truck has evidence of garage. the previous owners really liked it.

I also remember the frame shrinking routine from an old square body.
my truck is doing similar things. Glass may be strained to the original squared up frame rails.. too old to do so.
juts adds to the strain.

[Barry Donovan]

dome over ride

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a gmc thing I presume.. not sure.
I remember this from an older style truck. Not sure why.
A gmc that had to avoid dome lamp kicking on.. or it wouldn't start.


The dome light kicking on is on a timer then slow fades to off. This somehow invades some of the cold starts.
no shorts, all wires good.
an electron stacking problem.

I keep the dome over ride engaged = Explosive cold start.
this truck is so efficient, it is making the moisture and white smoke in seconds.

even the exhaust smells new. that sweet cat smell.
19mpg highway, 15 or so city. Right by the book.
Hardly surprised, my subaru had a primitive timer on a fuel pump.
when that failed..and i wired a good way, all starts are right away. My only burden is the old style choke that works automatically. I have had to pop the hood and give it a flicker.

These are the mysteries I take on. sometimes gaining answers unintentional.

I was thinking of the subaru optical disty mystery on cracked windshields. My recent cracked glass on the gmc got me wondering of past insanity.
The truck is much more resilient and forgiving.. gets away with a lot.
doesn't care about the weird things..

electron stacking, order of precedence. Every machine has to be right however.. even a truck.
I always target things that need no key first. This GMC, it is always the lights.
All LED now, took a big load off the old truck.

dome over ride is just a helper.



I also remember the copper bare piece on the starters.. that is static relief to a hazardous condition when starting. engineers added that many decades ago. I bet it prevents the disty cap from exploding off the disty etc in certain conditions.
the gmt400 can use the starter shell, orsolenoid cover and partially covered wire version.. they are NEVER sealed in completely.

I learned that with a 327 in an 84 gmc. Bizarre lesson.
compression was too high for 87. those old high static values.. the LS crowd pretends to know them.

I am leaving my solenoid uncovered. My new starter does not call for a cover.

the starter above being all painted, is the rod at arrow chooses the engine block. I have a different version...does the same thing a different way.

[Barry Donovan]

too cold.

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counting on the gadgets wasn't enough.
random high trim almost flooded the cold start again this morning.
3 below at 7am a surge now to near 40 by 1pm.


the trim is nearly pegged counter acting a sticky FPR.
Glad it started.


I then removed lid for air filter, increase IAT.
This is what they called todays CAI (its a hot AI morons)
and watched intake air temp finally rise above 40F.. it has not seen 90 IAT since september.

MAF cleaner by CRC, some marvel fule additive for the upper cylinder lube, and some other injector cleaner.

I let it idle until i saw 180 on the coolant.. again not seen since september.

Coldest winter for me and this truck, and we got 6 weeks of getting even colder.
Air temps do not matter anymore.. unlike Minot and an ice box queen, maine is just getting started as it heads to buckling a 6 foot frost.
short story: it gets even colder.

when air intake hit 90F I opted to go down the road.
a most impressive noise, like the old rochester four barrels in good tune.
rowing the gears to boot... you might think it was an old hot rod coming.
Very impressive sound.

I'll put the lid back on in April.

Not enough air intake heat.. could be choking on car wax for all I know.


the random no start is indeed an FPR getting too sticky.
no cure but a heat gun or a mallet smacking the intake in the right spot... like an old carb engine.
still random, no cause, no cure, n o leaks, no abnormal anything, no codes.


the dome light over ride helps keep ground down to gain a start as well.

non-arctic people would have no clue what I just said.

[Barry Donovan]

monster ground

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first warm day since july, I decided to poke around and diagnose the random no start.

the turning off of dome lamp on dome lamp over ride helped a start. So I beelined to engine to frame ground and chassis to frame ground.
very brittle.


both broken.

if something breaks once, you gotta go 100 times bigger to fix it.



I rummaged through my cable bin and grabbed my subaru starter cable.
two eyelets, high grade copper.. why not.
bolted into factory spot behind passenger head.. they even used a fancy brass looking nut on a stud.
it "un-ironically" shares a ground coming from distributor.
I will wager random no start is fixed.

the camaro door dinger is super smooth.. only thing to notice thus far.

I bolted into a spot about ten inches from original

I have confessed, as insanity pursues it, that I am a strange nuclear problem with my hands.

No joke:
within seconds of touching the broken ground, my towns power went out.
spooky. Ghostly.... mythological.

[Barry Donovan]

followup on the monster ground

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this truck likes the big ground.
a subaru starter wire is just right.

the startup is very robust. I was already impressed with this at all temps.. now even better.

I concluded the wires broken must have been my last bomb's away engine wash.
I usually reserve that for summer.. but the corrosive effect must have taken this long. It looks like someone took scissors to them. Precisely broken.

better than ever.

I am also keeping air lid removed to add 5+ mpg..and aid in the new plugs seating in.
I never change spark plugs in the winter. It gains little monsters that need July to rid them.
Removing lid should help the little sputter at an idle by increasing IAT...this also keeps coolant circulating more.
at 10f and below, this 305 literally runs air cooled...just weeps into radiator a tiny amount. It stays ice cold at the radiator.
Cabin heat is always good, gm's design has been great for decades. People in the cabin first. We don't need to wait for the engine.

excellent power, seems it has even more.
and sounds awesome.

and my experimental hose form charcoal can to air cleaner.. I removed that and gave it a better plug than gm's version.
I was trying to find random no start.. and did not rule out the can as a source. Well it wasn't the problem, I put that back to factory.
It is labelled "air cleaner". Nothing to notice with it hooked up.



meanwhile, the 12F frozen puddle surrounding the LT tire. Truck gets through it all. My neighbor just puffed up his late model mini van tire yesterday. An engine to frame ground is good in this photo too, I presume. As I had found, it did not necessarily care about wet.. just certain peculiar environments, to gain a random no start.

[Barry Donovan]

map sensor

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goofy inadequate looking thing.. but for 8 bucks i have this oem one on the way.
this is just for the sake of quick swap and not quibble with the two types of connections gm used.
I think it hits zero on throttle open, and gets goofy reading the wrong way... like it cannot stop at zero.
40 inches of vacuum is not humnaly possible. I am glad the stack in functions ignores it.
it is needed at an idle and partial throttle however...and itis doing good there.


this is a direct fit.

I have a dfi, 1 bar.. and it looks just like gm sensor, as that is what they called it. I can add that more robust looking one on a nice day.
For now, we are in the midst of the monster..
and I am really impressed with the truck.

I was fueling up and heard a leaky exhaust 4.3 rowing the gears.
I look up to a work truck, even older than my SLE.
impressive.

If there is any mistakes at all.. this time of year will show you, at the worst possible time.


my cold start was right away, and then went through a marvel gas additive smell, fake flood, a pop.. then running normal.
sneezing some calcium chloride i presume.

I must be cleaning at the wrong time too.
I do keep IAT raised up by leaving lid lifted and latched, so far working great.

we have an arctic spell for my windshield appt, below zero evening to high of 8, then back to below zero.
I may remove lid entirely those two days..

as of now, no codes, random po420 goes ignored.

[DanStokes]

I usually don't need a MAP sensor. I just print off directions from Mapquest and that seems to work OK.

Dan

[Barry Donovan]

I usually don't need a MAP sensor. I just print off directions from Mapquest and that seems to work OK.

Dan

I am finding the map hitting zero.. the ecm moves onto other functions. so the crazy numbers after zero are ignored.
I bet it was in their design anyway.. I simply found one of those engineering eggs (stuff they get away with)



some updates
the mystery no start seems to be gone. went from wet and 28.8F to arctic squall of 5 inches, now whistling to below zero.
starts right up. Beefier than ever.



this is the light snow in the forecast I awoke to. Same old shit.
I again smelled a whiff of the marvel fuel additive.
seems to be kicking out ionization odors. Male critter genitalia/wet trash bag smell.
That is my number one odor in all my years here.
Marvel does the most to rid of it..that and oxides.
that stuff is right on. Especially for small chamber heads, bigger performance engines.

I also noticed it is quite beefy in the runtime.. like a sharpness and full.
just idling outside in the adversity.. you know its a gmc.
little iron locomotive.


tomorrow morning is a below zero windshield install. I am up at the crack of dawn to drive to the safelite garage.
I may be without an inspection sticker for a time I guess..
I am sure I'll survive.