I'll try and keep the story short, not happening(problem has been since early September)...but thought you guys would like to hear the troubleshooting process...always willing to add a thread for research purposes and help other's problems get solved quicker than mine.
June 2nd, 2004: decommissioned her and ripped her heart(5.3) out. Lots of work, new heads,pistons,cam...blah blah...oooh...Radix w/3" pulley. Rebuilt tranny, rear end...yadda yadda yadda...tons of stuff.
July 26th, 2004: recommissioned as Nikki(cuz she's a whore and F-'s ya for $. With a fairly mild tune from Allen it ran great...some small tinkering and i would of been super happy. Hell it was great just the way it was.
Late August, 2004: Broke Driveshaft at 10 mph I stomp on the gas and KA-BOOM!!!! That ka-boom also bent the ouput shaft on the transfer case and cracked the adapter plate between the T-case and trans..
Since that day until this saturday I have been having timing issues(computer ALWAYS pulls timing and gives KR under any throttle %), performance issues, runs like shit, I mean a real bad horrible smelly shit. Popping and backfiring in the headers, misfires. I took that Fuel Pressure Regulator(FPR) out and dipped it in vasoline 10 times. Everything pointed at a fuel problem, it's just suspicious that the problem arrived with the broken driveshaft. I pulled the heads (bought from More Performance Inc) did water test on valves and the exhaust valves were leaking really bad. After a close inspection these stage 3 heads didn't even have a 3 angle job on them! Let alone other things that showed a poor head job, bad valve seats, ect. Only thing obvious was that were definitely CNC by a computer but clearances were horrible. Sent those back to have redone. For sure this was the problem....exhaust vavles letting fuel into the headers on the compression stage! NOPE. Problem still there. Found other things wrong...fuel pump was a little weak...just a little. Replaced, problem not solved. 2 spark plug wires had voltage leaks, but not all the time...just sometimes. (custom made by More Performance Inc). Replaced, problem still not solved. I even hit a pot hole with tons of water in it and the problem got way worse right before the plug wire swap...you'd of thought...the popping and backfiring seemed to almost go away but performance is just plain horrible. I all of a sudden started throwing serpatine belts. If you'd romp the throttle fairly hard...romping meaning going form 0 to 15% throttle to all of sudden 75% or more, bye bye belt.The other symptoms was my 4L60. I have replaced that adapter plate between the t-case and trans 3 times because of a crack. I have lost 3...THREE pumps in that damn transmission now. THREE. Well on the second one, I went to new transmission tech and he said the converter is bad. Must have bad bearings or something because it is pushing into the pump. Huh? But I'll take whatever opinion I can get, however...ready for this...it's a Yank! Yanks don't go bad?!?!?! a TT3000 at that! That thing is supposed to be indestructable! It's price surely dictates that. So I sent it to Dave at Yank. Great help...he took it apart and found that the bearings were indeed bad. Hmmmm. He repaired under warranty but honestly he really didn't have to. No pump, no fluid. No fluid...converter bearings will fry...even if you are sitting still and idling. BUT this had to be the vibrations I was feeling at 70 to 90 mph since the shaft went and the computer pulling timing due to some knock it saw. HAD TO BE IT!!!!
NOPE. Not even 250 miles on this next rebuild (the 60 was trashed the last time. Aluminum was every where) and I lost fluid pressure AGAIN. Pump went out again! Still vibrating, still bad performance, and now it's eating transmissions (at least the pumps). That vibration has to be the tell all symptom here...just what is it coming from?!?!? I have taken the rear end apart all the way down to the axel bearings. Transfer cases...I have 3 now. Front axel...tore down and inspected twice. Front driveshaft, balanced 3 times. Let's not forget that 72 inch monster of a rear driveshaft...balanced quiet a few times. I am sure you all have read about critical speed and all....that 72 inches is impossible to keep a balanced shaft...but it should be fine, the drive should always be fine. WHAT THE HELL?!?!? Motor was sent off to a machine in the beginning and cleaned, CNC'ed where needed. Balanced crank, rods...blah blah..real professional job by a local speed machine shop.
This truck is supposed to be a daily driver. I drive 45 miles to work 5 days a week plus small local driving...thats 500 a work week plus about another 100 on the weekends. For all of us that suck at math thats approx 2400 miles a month. Since June 2, 2004 I have only put 4100 miles on poor Nikki...the whore! She has spent more time on a lift than most race cars I know.
All because of a bad thrust bearing. The crank has been allowed to move 3/8" forwards and backwards since more than likely the broken shaft. Crushing the converter into the trans, putting the harmonic balancer out of line with the rest of the pulleys, causing the piston arms to be out of line with what they are spec'ed at...obviously giving the computer something to think about when it comes to knock. THREE EIGHTH'S OF AN INCH...the spec'ed tolerance is 7 thousandths of an inch. Inspect all of the rod bearings today for wear.
Thanks for reading my small book, I know this is an extreme case, but if someone is ever experiencing symptoms of bad performance and they are knocking out trans pumps...then their search stops with this thread. Hopefully the thousands...I mean thousands I have spent in misery will cost someone else less.
Your's Truly,
Nikki's Pimp
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