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

[dbrannon79]

Hahaha! she just loves to investigate lol loves boxes too!

 

[Husker6.5]

Careful she doesn't accidentally gets boxed up in a return shipment!

 

[MrMarty51]

What? You ordered another Purr-o-later fuzzy filter? Was there something wrong with the other one?

That is funny, I dont care who You are.

 

[Big T]

Had a drip from the lower radiator hose at the radiator. It was a PITA to get that squeeze clamp on and apparently it was not sitting squarely, nor completely on. Pull the inner fender to gain access and got seated properly. Drip has now stopped.

 

[Stoney]

Last February when it hit -31°F here during that Arctic blast, the windshield washers on my 2005 Camry (non-heated) worked just fine to clear the light frost off. I use it year around because the high methanol level also makes cleaning juicy/sticky bugs (like honey bees, grasshoppers, etc) off the windshield while driving much, much easier, too

Hold up @Husker6.5 .... negative 31 in Nebraska??? WTF...I thought that was the bread basket, not the ice chest

 

[Husker6.5]

Hold up @Husker6.5 .... negative 31 in Nebraska??? WTF...I thought that was the bread basket, not the ice chest

Bread basket and meat locker. It was a much warmer -26°F the night before!

 

[deejaaa]

@deejaaa Leroy will know a lot more that I would lol. if you are able to get it up on a set of ramps and rig you up a button to crank without starting it. you might at least be able to pinpoint the leak. I haven't been around the 6.5's very long but I'm not too sure a rear main would leak that fast unless the seal was completely blown out of it's grove in the block. I am thinking more about the oil pressure sensor breaking or maybe the plug on the back or the valley where the oil pump drive gear and shaft is. I think there is a cam position sensor there on the older models.

thank you for your thoughts. i plan to look at it this weekend. we have a good weather pattern right now so it will be a great time to tackle it.

 

[Big T]

Had a drip from the lower radiator hose at the radiator. It was a PITA to get that squeeze clamp on and apparently it was not sitting squarely, nor completely on. Pull the inner fender to gain access and got seated properly. Drip has now stopped.

Still have a slight drip. Ordered a lower radiator hose from Rock Auto and will also replace the hose going into the T. Is there a recommended way to preserve much of the brand new coolant?

 

[Will L.]

Start by pressure washing the area so it is clean.
Depending what you have as a petcock, some have a ln opening you can slip a hose onto. Then the hose into a drain pan so it doesn’t get on everything.

If it is a style that you can’t add anything to- you need a larger drain pan, open the petcock and it will hit some of the stuff but if you cleaned it first, there will be no dirt or grime to contaminate the coolant.

Thats the no cost but a lot of headache way out.

Doing this only a couple times would make it hard to justify buying an evacuation/ refill tool. But if you plan to keep doing work on multiple rigs for years to come, factoring in flushes and repairs along the way- it could be easily justified.
This is the kit I bought https://www.amazon.com/Mityvac-MV4525-Coolant-System-Diagnostic/dp/B000RFLZPM
With this kit you remove all the coolant through the radiator cap opening and pump it into a clean 5 gallon bucket like from Home Depot. Then do all the repairs, and hook it back up- and put the system under a vacuum using it. Wait a few minutes to see the vacuum gauge doesn’t drop - if it does you have a leak and can fix it before the coolant goes in. No loss of vacuum- then it can suck the coolant back out of the bucket and fill the system.
This also eliminates needing to purge or burp air from the system (a nightmare in some cars).
I made this video for a hummer owner that couldn’t get his system to purge, when he asked what tool to get. I just describe it, didn’t have a rig to show it on that day.
Some pro tools are worth owning in the diy garage, this one is imo.

 

[MrMarty51]

I use one of these drain to pan funnels.
Not necessarily from that supplier, throwed that in for reference only. I got Mine from NAPA.

Lisle Transmission Drain Funnel 17892 - Advance Auto Parts

Save on Lisle Transmission Drain Funnel 17892 at Advance Auto Parts. Buy online, pick up in-store in 30 minutes.

shop.advanceautoparts.com

 

[ak diesel driver]

I take cheesecloth and fold it so I have multiple layers and then transfer the coolant I drained out into a clean container using a funnel with the cheesecloth in it. Clothes pins work well to hold the cheesecloth around the edges of the funnel. I don't bother to clean anything off the vehicle except for the bigger chunks. I usually let it set in a 5 gallon bucket to separate before filtering.

 

[Husker6.5]

I have several different one foot lengths of clear poly tubing of different ID's and OD's to use as extension tubes for radiator drain petcocks. I can't remember which vehicle it was, but one of them the petcock was more like a spigot - no hose barb to slide a hose over - so I found a ID/OD combination that was able to slide up into the spigot mouth with an interference fit to hold it. On another vehicle, I found it easier to just drill a ¾" hole through the splash shield to insert the drain hose through and onto the petcock hosebarb, than to R&R umpteen fasteners for the shield removal/install to gain access.

I always have a couple of empty and partially filled (70/30 mix of green and red each for top offs) left over antifreeze jugs and just stick the tube to drain the radiator into an empty jug or two (depending on radiator size). Keeps everything nice and clean and so easy to refill radiator/overflow afterwards with the drained coolant.

 

[MrMarty51]

I take cheesecloth and fold it so I have multiple layers and then transfer the coolant I drained out into a clean container using a funnel with the cheesecloth in it. Clothes pins work well to hold the cheesecloth around the edges of the funnel. I don't bother to clean anything off the vehicle except for the bigger chunks. I usually let it set in a 5 gallon bucket to separate before filtering.

Cheese cloth works real good.
I usually have an old T shirt laying around, that too works but it is a lot slower to drain through than cheese cloth.
I also keep several gallons of apple cider vinegar on hand. Use it for soaking parts in to clean and derust. When I’m done I screen it through a chunk of scotch brite in a funnel when pouring it back into the jugs. That gets out the bigger size chunks.

 

[dbrannon79]

May attempt to install motor mounts tomorrow if the rain stays away. Drove into town today and is seems the exhaust pipe is bumping the trans crossbar. It almost sounds like I have an exhaust leak on the down pipe. I’ve been having thoughts of cutting the down pipe just below the turbo flange and using some flex pipe to eliminate some stress on that clamp. I’ve had nightmares about it breaking the turbo flange!!

 

[Stoney]

I never understood why you can't use flex on a crossover pipe. They usually only rust out towards the bottom (like mine did). Should be easier to cut the pipe on both sides where it comes down then just put flex on there... It usually bends pretty good.. maybe to much pressure?

 

[dbrannon79]

Yeah the down pipe is a tight fit in there. When I installed the 4” exhaust kit it was like a jigsaw puzzle getting it all to line up lol. We use flex pipe on the big rigs at work and never had any issues

 

[Will L.]

Figure the size of the pipe on semi trucks lets a lot of the heat pas by. The smaller pipe means a-lot more of the heat gets to the flex and heat is what kills the flex.

As to the cross pipe- you want the exhaust flowing as smooth and quick as possible while retaining all the heat it can to drive the turbo. You can ad flex there but it really isn’t needed.

Most everywhere you see flex used, it is not to absorb vibration. It is to help fitment issues, or in cases like rear center mount- it is because of expansion/ contraction issues. Hummer/van manifolds goes basically straight back on each side, then the up pipes are less than a foot long. So they have bellows in the uppipes to handle the metal expanding in length when it heats up. The down side of this besides turbulence in the exhaust foow we wish was smooth- is those bellows break and you can’t weld them. So hummer guys know whenever they remove the doghouse to do other work, always inspect the flex part and be ready to buy another set and last I saw they were about $130 each. Flex always fails faster than pipe unless the pipe cracks because it NEEDS to flex. So no way would I add it where it isn’t required.

If you do add it, the type with the 2 pipes one inside the other that slide and have the bellows on the outside is the way to go. It is more expensive but lasts much longer and flows better.

 

[Jaryd]

When I installed the 4” exhaust kit it was like a jigsaw puzzle getting it all to line up lol.

How long did it take you to figure out the alignment of the exhaust kit? I tried for several hours to get my diamond eye to line up how I wanted when it comes out behind the back tire. It would never look square behind the tire no matter how I adjusted it. For about a month I have been running the down pipe, the longest piece and the muffler replacement piece. It runs straight to about my axle and that’s it. I gave up trying to make the last couple pieces look good that day and haven’t tried again since. I need to figure it out because there’s a big drone in the cab the way the exhaust is now.

Got any pictures of the alignment of yours coming out behind the tire?

 

[MrMarty51]

Figure the size of the pipe on semi trucks lets a lot of the heat pas by. The smaller pipe means a-lot more of the heat gets to the flex and heat is what kills the flex.

As to the cross pipe- you want the exhaust flowing as smooth and quick as possible while retaining all the heat it can to drive the turbo. You can ad flex there but it really isn’t needed.

Most everywhere you see flex used, it is not to absorb vibration. It is to help fitment issues, or in cases like rear center mount- it is because of expansion/ contraction issues. Hummer/van manifolds goes basically straight back on each side, then the up pipes are less than a foot long. So they have bellows in the uppipes to handle the metal expanding in length when it heats up. The down side of this besides turbulence in the exhaust foow we wish was smooth- is those bellows break and you can’t weld them. So hummer guys know whenever they remove the doghouse to do other work, always inspect the flex part and be ready to buy another set and last I saw they were about $130 each. Flex always fails faster than pipe unless the pipe cracks because it NEEDS to flex. So no way would I add it where it isn’t required.

If you do add it, the type with the 2 pipes one inside the other that slide and have the bellows on the outside is the way to go. It is more expensive but lasts much longer and flows better.

And I think those Bandit clamps is much better than regular old exhaust clamps, and, they too can be reused.
Not necessarily this brand or this supplier, for reference only.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076J5HSNJ/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_99AB34MEQ1X7GZW3MQTV

 

[Will L.]

Yes, we used those all the time on semi and heavy equipment. Those are really good. Some brands require a little filler piece at the junction of the band- those suck. I prefer the ones that are a little more expensive but don’t have the little separate seal piece.