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

My advice on the manifold bolts is based off of personal experience. Had a diesel specialty shop in town, that "knew" what they were doing on the recommendation of my normal mechanic, replace my bad PMD on the IP of the '94 work horse. Evidently, dropping it off that morning, it was started on before lunch and got as far as getting the intake manifold back on (without gaskets!!) and all the manifold bolts back in finger/ratchet tight - then went to lunch. Evidently after lunch their Tech saw the manifold in place with bolts, forgot that they weren't torqued, proceeded to put the rest back together and they called me mid afternoon to say it was "done". Oh, in checking it over, they noticed the harmonic balancer was on its last legs, so they installed a new one, too. $920 bill for parts and labor, my little 6.5TD sitting there among the Kenworths and Peterbilts.

Month or so later, I notice I'm leaving oil drips when I hadn't before. Up on the lift during the (sometimes twice) monthly 2,000 mile oil change, my mechanic notices the trail of oil down the back of the motor, dripping out of the torque converter cover. We all assumed at 174,xxx miles, it was the rear seal going, and at the quart of oil I was using every 1,000+ miles, I could keep putting a lot of oil through it before it could become bad enough to warrant the cost of pulling the tranny to replace the rear seal.

Needless to say, a year and a half later when it cracked both heads and I went to pull them is when I found that the "diesel experts" shop not only hadn't torqued down the lower intake manifold to head bolts, they didn't even bother to (at the least) (re)use the intake gaskets and it was REALLY obvious where the "rear main" leak was really coming from - CDR blowby gurgling out the intake-head ports, down into the valley, then down the back of the motor and out the torque converter cover!
 
Ever since I was old enough to learn to change my own oil, as my dad taught me lots of what he knew. I grew up not trusting any mechanic shop to do a job you wanted done right. The more horror stories I hear even from shops here locally to jiffy lube places around. I cringe at the thought of taking any of our vehicles somewhere when I am unable to do the work myself. I only hope that when the day comes where I can’t physically do it anymore that I’ll still be able to sit outside and help my boys as they do the work for me. Lol

I wish all of us here on TTS lived closer together were we can team up helping each other not to mention meeting up at that coffeeshop and beer pubs to shoot the $hit and have fun!
 
It wasn't "rattling" loose, but three or four of the bolts had no resistance when I went to pull them with the socket and ratchet and the rest were barely " wrist turn wrench tight" - and certainly not torqued tight - when they broke loose to come out. But the biggest problem was not using new, or even reusing the old, intake gaskets. Any irregularity between surfaces/loose bolts was a seepage point. Never really noticed a major boost loss (but never had a gauge on it) by the seat of the pants, perhaps oil gurgling through a 0.001" crevice kept the boost up.

Yup, first and last time I used that diesel specialty shop, they didn't know crap about our 6.5's, just the big Detroits, Cummins, Navstars, Catapillars. Stuck with my tried and true mechanic since. I try to do as much as I can of my own wrenching as possible (timing belts on my and my daughter's mid/late 90's Camrys, strut replacements, wheel bearings, exhaust replacements [she got hit by the Catalytic Converter thieves], brake jobs, suspension work like ball joints, steering work like racks, tie rod ends, etc.) because of costs and pride. But at 60, the body isn't just as cooperative as it was 20 years ago!
 
I got the itch today to try and undo the optic bump I had done a while back and set the TDC offset. found out apparently I never moved the OS sensor in the pump. tried to reset it and found that there is apparently a set grove on the underside. tried to bump it back and each time I snugged the bolt up it moved back into the same position! (posted about it on another thread) tweaked the IP over just a tad and set the relearn to go from a -0.7 to now at -1.58. I hope that's good enough. I posted a snapshot of the pcm readings the thread.

I do have a new to me project I want to learn about, I've been reading into some do it yourself PCM tuning for our trucks learning all I can from different forums. found all the software for my pc, even toyed with some eprom bin files I found. Haven't tried purchasing any chips or programmers yet, but I have to say "WOW" it's amazing to see all the things listed in there for our old trucks (pre-96) that can be customized. I still don't know what I'm doing though so I have to do more reading and learning :) on that sense I am trying to be as careful as I can because I know there's others here who make money doing this, and by no means do I want to step on anyone's toes trying to learn.
 
I got the itch today to try and undo the optic bump I had done a while back and set the TDC offset. found out apparently I never moved the OS sensor in the pump. tried to reset it and found that there is apparently a set grove on the underside. tried to bump it back and each time I snugged the bolt up it moved back into the same position! (posted about it on another thread) tweaked the IP over just a tad and set the relearn to go from a -0.7 to now at -1.58. I hope that's good enough. I posted a snapshot of the pcm readings the thread.

I do have a new to me project I want to learn about, I've been reading into some do it yourself PCM tuning for our trucks learning all I can from different forums. found all the software for my pc, even toyed with some eprom bin files I found. Haven't tried purchasing any chips or programmers yet, but I have to say "WOW" it's amazing to see all the things listed in there for our old trucks (pre-96) that can be customized. I still don't know what I'm doing though so I have to do more reading and learning :) on that sense I am trying to be as careful as I can because I know there's others here who make money doing this, and by no means do I want to step on anyone's toes trying to learn.
I once had a program that I can not remember the name of it. Had to download the BIN files into it for each vehicle that a person wanted to run. It was all OBD1. After the proper BIN file was loaded, could set up a dash board to monitor all the systems. I had it set up for the 1988 Puick Century and also for the 1993 GMC K1500 that I used to have. Too much bridge has passed under the water since then so I forgot what all a person could do with that system.
I also have a DIY Autotune EFI controller that I put together from a kit. I thought it would be a nice thing to build my own EFI for the 1988 MG B Roadster. That didnt work out so good and I near had it on fire so I quit on that plan and reverted to twin SU carbs. If I do EFI the MG I'll most likely go with the Patten Machine system for the twin SU carbs, and it keeps the carbs looking pretty much stock.
 
Oh yeah, on that DIY AutoTune system, once a person has the controller hooked to the vehicle, it can be tuned for better fuel mileage or more performance, on the fly. That was why I had installed the LAMDA heated O2 sensor onto the MG-B.
 
I once had a program that I can not remember the name of it. Had to download the BIN files into it for each vehicle that a person wanted to run. It was all OBD1. After the proper BIN file was loaded, could set up a dash board to monitor all the systems. I had it set up for the 1988 Puick Century and also for the 1993 GMC K1500 that I used to have. Too much bridge has passed under the water since then so I forgot what all a person could do with that system.
I also have a DIY Autotune EFI controller that I put together from a kit. I thought it would be a nice thing to build my own EFI for the 1988 MG B Roadster. That didnt work out so good and I near had it on fire so I quit on that plan and reverted to twin SU carbs. If I do EFI the MG I'll most likely go with the Patten Machine system for the twin SU carbs, and it keeps the carbs looking pretty much stock.
That would be a nice addition to our 6.5's to have a dash monitor! just to be able to see real data would be a plus! I know they sell add-on monitors for the OBD2's that can display real time and average mpg's and such but nothing for our OBD1's that I've found so far.
 
Oh yeah, on that DIY AutoTune system, once a person has the controller hooked to the vehicle, it can be tuned for better fuel mileage or more performance, on the fly. That was why I had installed the LAMDA heated O2 sensor onto the MG-B.
Now you have me wondering if these DIY autotune thingy's can adapted to bo a good use on our trucks lol

I know some of the more luxurious older OBD1 cars in the day had mpg monitors on them but they were all gassers. I'm sure if someone with the smarts could add the provisioning in the bins for our diesel trucks for them to work. they basically do a mathematical equation taking some readings from the PCM and then display the data on the ole' green displays they had. some older cadillac's had them.
 
Those 'MPG readouts' basically took the flow to the injectors and the odometer reading to give you "Instant" and "Trip" MPGs. On a long, mountain downhill grade with your foot completely off the pedal, you could get "Instant" MPG readings of 90+MPG. As soon as you started up the next climbing grade, your "Instant" MPGs dropped to 12MPG and your total "Trip" MPG comes out to 23 MPG.
 
I liked the one that was in my old 4runner. It helped me keep my foot out of the floor lol I'm not sure if GM made any odb1 gmt400's with them but I would like to see if one could be adapted to work on our trucks :)
 
not on the gmt400, but got to take my youngest son out in the jetta tdi. at 14 years old and his older sister in the back seat lol he got to drive some through the town :)

sister was freaking out when he turned out on the main road and whipped the car into the bike lane (not used to the steering wheel return on it's own) lol. We made it home in one piece DC01EBE4-2959-4E48-9F6C-26E6BC638137.jpeg
 
My first LEGAL Street driving, I was a 14 year old High School Freshman in 1975 taking Driver's Ed at my High School after class that Fall. In Nebraska, you could get a School Permit that allowed you, if you attended a rural school and lived over 5 miles from the school, to drive to school and to any officially sanctioned events like a football or basketball home or away game. Never mind that dad let me take the wheel, while sitting on his lap, of the Sprint car while taking some practice laps on the track in the middle of the week to try out a couple of new changes, back when I was 5 years old! Or driving tractors or the earth scraper when we cut that 120' x 150' pad into a hillside for a new pole barn!
 
My first LEGAL Street driving, I was a 14 year old High School Freshman in 1975 taking Driver's Ed at my High School after class that Fall. In Nebraska, you could get a School Permit that allowed you, if you attended a rural school and lived over 5 miles from the school, to drive to school and to any officially sanctioned events like a football or basketball home or away game. Never mind that dad let me take the wheel, while sitting on his lap, of the Sprint car while taking some practice laps on the track in the middle of the week to try out a couple of new changes, back when I was 5 years old! Or driving tractors or the earth scraper when we cut that 120' x 150' pad into a hillside for a new pole barn!
Yup, there are hills in Nebraska. I have seen them. 😹😹😹
 
Oh yeah. Not the K3500, the grand daughters 1995 toyota SUV thing. She could hear a buzzing sound coming from the blower motor.
Simple task dropping the BM. Fount this real tiny Y sprig stuck in the squirrel cage, then, the GD looking in from the drivers side spots a leaf up in the hole. How in the world she could see from where she was I have no idea. She told Me where it was, I still could not see it. Told her to come and pick it out, sure enough, there is this leaf she pulled out of the housing. 🤷‍♂️😹😹😹 Her buzzing noise I could not hear was gone. That Y twig was like what cherries is stuck together with but smaller. And the leaf was deteriorated away to near nothing. How she could have heard that I have not a clue.

After she left, I took a old bow, case, arrows and a target out to the local bow/firearms shop. Handed it all to Him and told him he might know some youngster that could have a need for some such as that.
On the way back to the highway, going past a place where the farmer does feed mill grinding, asked if I could weigh my truck, sure no problem. Surprised me greatly. I was thinking the truck might be about 5500 pounds, WRONG, 7084 pounds and that is mostly empty except for a sears tool set, jumper cables and a couple of other small items.
Me and the dog was weighed in there too. I am next to 200 and the dog at about 75 last time to the vet. So that still is about 6800 pounds.
 
Hey Deejaaa welcome back!
I know the pain- figuratively and literally. Definitely the #1 thing that has been in the way of my progress for some time. Weekend spent recovering so I can go to work the next week and just happy to make it through the week at all often.

I wish most of us that endeavor these engines lived near each other to share the parts and and wrenching tasks. I Learned something way back younger- getting beat up wasn’t fun, but getting beat up alone was worse. At least when a buddy and I could laugh together the next day about it taking 6 of them to get the 2 of us, it was more tolerable. Haha.

yeah, oil in the valley - makes me think oil pressure port or if you’re sending unit is there, that it is leaking. Hit it with the can of degreaser and rinse from a garden hose. Then check on it. How bad is the leak- how many miles before you have to add a quart?
it’s about a quart a minute.
 
if in the valley area, could it be the OPS or maybe valve covers? I deleted my FFM and went with a firewall mounted fuel filter. with that out of the way it's easy to see in the valley. mine is a 95 but I'm not sure if the 93 has the OPS in the same position, but it's much easier replacing that vs a rear main seal!
my ffm has been on the fender for years now. def makes it easier to get in there. i will check those areas.
THANKS EVERYONE FOR the WELCOME BACK!
 
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