Greetings...and problems...

[alphadeltaromeo]

Today Jon and I pulled the radiator. I'll post a few pics up tomorrow of what we saw. Anyway, we've cleaned it thoroughly, flushing out the entire system. There was certainly enough gunk to prevent the fan clutch from realizing that it needed to be on. As a note, we've never had the fan come on, so our first step in determining what may or may not need to be done to the cooling system was a complete flush and cleansing of the components. We did purchase a new thermostat with gasket to install tomorrow.

Tomorrow we reassemble and see what the effects of our cleaning will be. Oh, we'll be putting the new OE harmonic balancer kit w/crank seal on tomorrow as well.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Pleased

Today Jon and I finished the install of the harmonic balancer. I'm quite pleased with how the engine responded with the replacement. Quite a bit of vibration dissipated. The old HB was dry rotted, so we were pleased that we invested the time to make the change.

Thanks to Mangus580 for making the suggestion. Regardless of what he says about me behind my back, I still think he's great lol

We also completed flushing the radiator and cooling system. I was surprised at how much gunk came out of the system, both the radiator and engine cavities. Additionally we put a new thermostat/gasket, as the other one hadn't been changed in ages. I've attached (2) pics that show the radiator and associated gunk on the outside of it.

I was fortunate to have a friend with the full version of the scanner software on his laptop. We set the injection timing correctly and it's running very smooth! Last tank of fuel we achieved 16.77mpg. This mpg was achieved with quite advanced timing. I was able to get the timing set correctly and was very pleased with how smooth the engine ran, improving also the responsiveness of the throttle.

As a note I'm running 4.10's. I'm curious to see if mpg will improve with the correct IP timing. I do want to change to a 3.73 rear end to further improve the fuel efficiency.

I'm getting a waste-gate solenoid code, but a new one coming first thing tomorrow a.m. Over all I'm really pleased with how the burb is running now. My cruise control is still not functioning though. A day last week I had cleaned under the hood and when trying the wipers, after I had shut the switch off they still ran until I killed the engine. I may have a switch issue for the CC, as I'm not pulling codes other than the WGS now.

 

[Brooklyn Tow]

Good progress brother!.....Which HB did you use...OEM?

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Thanks much, Louis It seems that we're working really hard to get all the air out of the system. Just took a long drive and stopped a dozen times to let out air. Just got home and have opened the system to let the cooling of the system purge out the air as the coolant gets sucked in.

To answer your question, yes, we used the OEM HB. My primary reason for this was that with 185k miles...I'll probably get another 150k+ more before a rebuild will be needed. At that point I'll invest the money into the Fluidampr, as well as other performance upgrades.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Additional Note: I posted prior that I was getting a DTC 36 Injection pulse width error (response time long). I've started using either 2cycle or non-detergent 30w oil (1 qrt/35 gallons). I'm still getting this particular error, but mostly when accelerating.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Reading other threads, some of the input is that this may relate to an alternator issue. Now, the ALT is 6 months old, but is a gasser pully. Do you think it possible that having the gasser pully could be causing a voltage issue with it spinning faster? I've not payed much attention to the voltage quite frankly.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Can anyone tell me where the fuel solenoid is?

[edit] ok scratch that...just put a new PMD on the truck, which I guess is technically an FSD...being that it's a remote kit.

 

[NVW]

There is a fuel sol. on the IP at the end where the inj lines are, and the fuel shut off sol is the cylinder like thing on the top front of the IP.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Update:

The vehicle seems to be running well over all. I am constantly getting the Injection Pulse Width Error...but it's not running poorly at this point. It's just more annoying that the SES comes on frequently because of that error.

I have two main issues that I'm trying to work with now.

The first issue is that I've found a coolant leak that appears to be coming from the water pump. We put dye in the tank and used the black light to see the coolant/dye. It's leaking onto the new harmonic balancer. I"m thinking through whether or not I want to put the upgraded water pump on or the OEM. At 185k miles on the vehicle, I've not come to a firm conclusion yet.

The second issue that I'm wrestling with is the air conditioning. From what I understand I have a single compressor system (correct me if I'm wrong please). The front air runs ice cold but the rear air isn't cool at all. Can I get some input as to how to best troubleshoot this particular issue please? Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Any thoughts for me to consider?

Appreciated,

Andy

 

[btfarm]

Andy there were several (at least 2) threads about the rear AC issue within the last year. There might be some info that applies to you. You'll have to spend some time searching for it though.

 

[buddy]

I dont know about the AC, but if I were changing a pump I would absolutely put the later model pump on. Me personally I would put the latest one on, from 2000 because its supposed to have the best flow balance. However, that also requires a thread on fan clutch. It would be a good time to replace the fan as well though, to at least the later model 9 blade. Others have had plenty of success with the 97-98 high output water pump that maintains the same fan clutch. The clutches are maintenance items as well, and if yours is or looks original may want to replace it anyway before requiring it to do anything serious.

If the flow imblanance favored the passenger side I dont think anyone would ever cared to change the water pump design. But since the imbalance favors the drivers side, absent the turbo, and where the gauge sender is, it really could be an issue. The passenger side could be several to many degrees hotter. There have been members that tested the normal high output pump and temps on passenger side compared to driver side were very close compared to the low flow water pump. Although Heath only sells the thread on kind, because his flow tests (not just temp) showed the most balanced flow.