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What did you do with your GMT400 today...or yesterday....

I wish I had a welder. there are some random holes here and there on the frame. I have not looked exactly where they are at, but I am hopeful one is where I can just use a single grade 8 bolt and not need to do any drilling. the LP isn't that heavy so I would think one good bolt will work good enough for the bracket so long at it won't rotate on me. even it one hole does work out. an second 5/16 hole to help steady the bracket will do to hold it.
 
I wish I had a welder. there are some random holes here and there on the frame. I have not looked exactly where they are at, but I am hopeful one is where I can just use a single grade 8 bolt and not need to do any drilling. the LP isn't that heavy so I would think one good bolt will work good enough for the bracket so long at it won't rotate on me. even it one hole does work out. an second 5/16 hole to help steady the bracket will do to hold it.
I just use the license plate bracket bolts. Most often they're long enough, I just add a nut.

Depending on the heat sink, I've had to attach a piece of angle or something to the heatsink, to get it oriented as I so desire. With the plug facing the hole but back just far enough to be recessed back from the hole in the bumper
 
Replaced the lift gate latch and actuator assembly on the 2014 SR5 which has 350K miles. Latch assembly was rusted and getting stiff, then the actuator itself finally went out. Replaced it with a Chinese Knock Off by Himiki for $52 off Amazon. Guys are asking $120 for used, rusted OEM units on eBay, but why buy someone else’s problem. Once installed, the Himiki unit works just fine. Pretty straightforward job.
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NO. Never weld on a frame if you can avoid it.
Drilling a couple 3/8” holes is no big deal. Welding to it changes the heat which changes the hardness/ brittleness. Way more damaging than drilling.
Never drill in the flange and never in between spring hangers. Other than that you’re fine. Damn sure don’t weld there.
 
Finally got to replace the driveshaft support bearing on the 93 today. I was honestly surprised that I was able to get it off hole. I had to cut the one off the 95 when I did it. it was beginning to make some noise but I figured it wasn't too bad yet... WRONG!! once I get the shaft out from under the truck I slipped off the rubber from the bearing and tried spinning it. it was extremely sloppy and sounded like a ratchet or a pocket full of loose change!

I guess if I had attempted to make the trip to the coast, this thing would have seized up and created all kinds of problems for me.
 
Well guys, today was a success! we left for the coast, Rockport TX this afternoon (150 mile or 2-1/2 hour drive) in the 93 truck. I stopped about mid way to fuel up and check the oil. It hadn't used any on the dipstick yet so I continued on... we pulled in to the condo we rented for the weekend around 10:30 tonight. The 93 made it out here without any issues at all! I will check the oil and other fluids in the morning and see where it's at.
 
Made the truck my daily driver. 2016 Touareg is GONE. Too many quirks but mainly emission issues over the past 2 years. DEF injector leaked down and filled the CAT in 2022. Last year it was the Particulate Filter that coded off and on for months; put me in limp mode and took over 100 days to source (VW part only made in the Ukraine….) This week it wouldn’t pass emissions. Tester couldn’t communicate with the car, kept saying CAT, DPF, EGR/VVT, etc. ‘wasn’t ready’ and needed a ‘drive cycle.’ 500 miles of rinse and repeat ‘drive cycleS’ and 5 re-tests and still not ready.
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That’s a lot of Foreplay to ‘get ready,’ even for a German. Turns out the he NOX sensor died without a warning light so… Repaired, 350 more ‘drive cycle miles’ and it finally passed yesterday. I kicked it to the curb w/in an hour.

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Made the truck my daily driver. 2016 Touareg is GONE. Too many quirks but mainly emission issues over the past 2 years. DEF injector leaked down and filled the CAT in 2022. Last year it was the Particulate Filter that coded off and on for months; put me in limp mode and took over 100 days to source (VW part only made in the Ukraine….) This week it wouldn’t pass emissions. Tester couldn’t communicate with the car, kept saying CAT, DPF, EGR/VVT, etc. ‘wasn’t ready’ and needed a ‘drive cycle.’ 500 miles of rinse and repeat ‘drive cycleS’ and 5 re-tests and still not ready.
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That’s a lot of Foreplay to ‘get ready,’ even for a German. Turns out the he NOX sensor died without a warning light so… Repaired, 350 more ‘drive cycle miles’ and it finally passed yesterday. I kicked it to the curb w/in an hour.

View attachment 86806
Repeat after me: never German again.
 
Repeat after me: never German again.
especially if it's newer than 2010! Heck that statement goes for any make and model nowadays.

I like how the 2006 VW jetta is with the diesel, it has its fair share of quirks but it hasn't stopped me from doing my own diag and repairs with the help from the forums!
 
Well we made the drive back home without any issues. I will fill up hopefully tomorrow and see where the mileage is. this truck cruises at 75 like an old caprice classic, just floats on the freeway. and with this GV OD unit the RPM is around 2k at that speed even with the 245-75-16 tires.

the engine only used almost a quart on the trip. when we departed, i double checked the fluids and it only needed a slight amount to fill to the mark so I left it to check again mid way. On the mid way point I checked and it and the level was just down to the first dot below the full line, figured that was about 1/2 quart so onward we went.

The only thing that came up was after arriving home and unloading the cab, I noticed the floorboard between the front seats was quite warm. Felt like clothes that just came out of the dryer! I slipped under the truck and felt around seeing what was hot, found the GV OD housing was very warm, not scalding hot but a little warmer that I would like to see.

I need to find out how warm these things are supposed to get running on the freeway for around 150 miles.
 
Drove the 93 to work and back home today, got out and found coolant pissing from under the truck! Looks like the gaskets on the crossover to the drivers side head have let go. I will most likely have to part the 93 until I can get this fixed, but overall I am glad the gasket held together for out trip :)


I took the 95 out to pickup dinner tonight, she ran like a champ. all except she reminded me real quick how bad the steering is. Hopefully I can afford to take her in to a shop for this to be looked at in the next couple of weeks.
 
I had topped off the coolant last night only to walk outside this morning to find a huge wet trail from the 93 on the concrete out to the grass! needless to say I drove the 95 with the bad steering to work LOL.

hoping I have time this weekend to pull the crossover and seal the leak. it's a simple job, but I also want to do a full flush. all I have done to it on the cooling system since bringing it home was cut out a split on the end of the heater hose and pour fresh coolant in on top of whatever it had in it sitting for the last three years. looking under the hood today I also noticed the crossover bolts have a stack of washers on them! I guess the bolts were too long? I might end up using the bolts and possibly the crossover from the 6.2 engine depending on what I find when i pull it off.
 
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Well this afternoon I decided to pull the crossover off. each of the 4 bolts holding it in place had 4 bronze flat washers on them as if the bolts were too long. I cleaned up the gasket surfaces on the crossover only to find that the passnger side has had the ear snapped off and welded back. mind you the drivers side was the side leaking!

So I pulled the crossover from the 6.2 block. inspected it and it was in good shape. cleaned it up and went to install along with the same bolts that came off the 6.2 engine. No gaskets, just some of the right stuff, a very thin application. well to my dismay as I was bolting it down I realized the bolts were bottoming out in the head on both sides! What gives!!! these were the same bolts holding it on the other engine.

So I backed out each bolt and added back the flat washers that were on them to begin with... did this one bolt at a time. got it all buttoned up and at the last minute I figured I better pour the same coolant that came out, back in just in case... Well good thing I did!! after filling the radiator back up, all I had to do was squeeze the upper rad hose and watch coolant oose from the drivers side where the surface of the crossover meets the head!!

when I had things apart nothing looked cracked, plus this is a different crossover. same leak and at the same place. I guess I will be tearing this thing down further, getting the belt tensioner and alternator out of the way so I can closely inspect that area of the head.

Why the bolts are bottoming out like this and this leak like it is has me baffled. has anyone ran into this?
 
When I pulled the bolts out, each one had some sort of goop on the ends. kinda like silicone but it was softer and I could smear it like grease between my fingers. I figured it was that permatex #2 stuff that never hardens. I plant to tear it down again tonight and get a good look see. the leak is on the drivers side towards the front face of the head where the two surfaces meet. Or if you had the head off, it would be on the end.

when I discovered the bolts were bottoming out I removed one that I had tightened, when I looked at the threads, the very end at the starting thread you could see fresh scraped metal. while I have it apart I will use a straight pic and compare the hole depth between this and the 6.2. seeing some of the intake bolts also having stacked flat washers, I am wondering if this engine possibly has aftermarket heads. the block is supposedly from a 99 year model truck.
 
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