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'89 Sierra problems


Kory Fox
05-25-2008, 07:54 PM
I have an '89 GMC Sierra 1500 2wheel drive, 4.3L. I bought it used about 2 years ago. It's just a truck that I use to go the landfill and do measurements for my work occasionally. About 6 months ago, the water pumped failed. I was about a mile from home and the temp. gauge starting fluctuating back and forth but never went into the red zone. When I got the house, coolant was running out of where the pump mounts to the motor. I changed the pump, hoses and thermostat. That's when I noticed that someone had dumped a bunch of stop leak in it at some point. (My fault for not checking that when I bought it I guess.) So, I went and had the system flushed out after I got it put back together. They flushed it twice and still couldn't get it all out. After that, every time I drove it, it would come up to temp. stay there for a minute, then spike to about 250 for 30-60 seconds, then come back down to normal and stay there the rest of the time I drove it. Even if I stopped and restarted, it would never get hot again. I decided to change the radiator to get rid of as much of the stop leak as possible. Still, same deal after that. Heat up for a minute or so then come back down. Finally, about a month ago, I went to go do a measurement, got the end of my road and it got hot and started blowing a ton of white smoke out the exhaust. I turned around and went back home. I figured it had to be a head gasket at that point. Sure enough, I pulled it all apart and one cylinder was completely full of coolant. I got the heads hot tanked, surfaced and new valve seals put in. Also had the intake cleaned. Oh yeah, the water passage in the intake next to the cylinder that was full of coolant was packed full of stop leak. Got it all put back together today. Started it up, ran it for about 15 minutes. It doesn't get hot, runs normal temp., but I'm still blowing a ton of white smoke and it seems to be down on power a little bit. Second issue (you'll laugh at this one) I have 3 brackets that I know go to accessaries on the front of the motor, but can't figure out where they go. I have all the accessaries attached to the point they're staying and the belt is fine, but I was wondering if there's a more detailed manual than the Haynes one that I have that will show me where they go. I think that's pretty much it. Oh yeah, I also have no heat or A/C, it just blows room temp. air I'll call it.

Kfox

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