Diagnosis on the F8L 4x4
07-26-2004, 10:53 PM
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Diagnosis on the F8L 4x4
For those who care,
As some of you remeber I had and engine fire rigth after I took delivery of the truck after the STS install. The truck ran awesome all the way home till I tried to launch in 4wh Hi and even then it ripped off the line like a raped ape but soon fell on it's face due to the oil filler cap blowing off and spewing oil everywhere. I cleaned everything up at the filling station but spilled some oil near the back of the motor when refilling it but said F' it. It was 2:30am and I was tired so i drove off to finish the last 40miles home. Long story short the engine caugth fire and I had the truck towed back to my place then my mechanic came and picked it up and towed it the 150miles back to his shop.
We replaced the intake manifold which had a hole the size of a golfball due to me ripping the Vortech cover off durring the fire but everything look semi clean underneath so everything was hooked back up. We fired it up and it started running really lean and clanking a bit so we shut her down and looked things over. Everything seemed fine so we fired her up again and soon after the motor got really hot and milky oil started coming out of the turbo and the small exhaust leak I have in my header/Y-pipe connection. Then the white smoke started filling the bay so I called it a night and told him to take the heads off and lemme know what he finds.
Turns out some gravel had indeed made it into the motor and when we fired it up it cracked 2 pistons
. You could even see the dimples left by the gravel. It looked like a firggin beach in my motor. 
I am getting a "new" 5.3L with only 20k on the clock and using better head gaskets, head studs, and lower ther boost a bit but with a bigger turbo and see how she runs.
I should have her back next week and I tell ya I can't wait! The guy working on my car has been great but the insurance company lags so it has taken a long time to get this far. Plus I sold my Vette and been working on making my ex-race car (the Trans Am) road worthy again.
We'll be puttin it on the dyno again with the bigger turbo and she what kind of #s it pulls but I'll probably keep it around 10psi so i can actually enjoy the truck before I start trying to push any serious #s. I should still be in the 440rwhp range though.
As some of you remeber I had and engine fire rigth after I took delivery of the truck after the STS install. The truck ran awesome all the way home till I tried to launch in 4wh Hi and even then it ripped off the line like a raped ape but soon fell on it's face due to the oil filler cap blowing off and spewing oil everywhere. I cleaned everything up at the filling station but spilled some oil near the back of the motor when refilling it but said F' it. It was 2:30am and I was tired so i drove off to finish the last 40miles home. Long story short the engine caugth fire and I had the truck towed back to my place then my mechanic came and picked it up and towed it the 150miles back to his shop.
We replaced the intake manifold which had a hole the size of a golfball due to me ripping the Vortech cover off durring the fire but everything look semi clean underneath so everything was hooked back up. We fired it up and it started running really lean and clanking a bit so we shut her down and looked things over. Everything seemed fine so we fired her up again and soon after the motor got really hot and milky oil started coming out of the turbo and the small exhaust leak I have in my header/Y-pipe connection. Then the white smoke started filling the bay so I called it a night and told him to take the heads off and lemme know what he finds.
Turns out some gravel had indeed made it into the motor and when we fired it up it cracked 2 pistons
. You could even see the dimples left by the gravel. It looked like a firggin beach in my motor. I am getting a "new" 5.3L with only 20k on the clock and using better head gaskets, head studs, and lower ther boost a bit but with a bigger turbo and see how she runs.
I should have her back next week and I tell ya I can't wait! The guy working on my car has been great but the insurance company lags so it has taken a long time to get this far. Plus I sold my Vette and been working on making my ex-race car (the Trans Am) road worthy again.
We'll be puttin it on the dyno again with the bigger turbo and she what kind of #s it pulls but I'll probably keep it around 10psi so i can actually enjoy the truck before I start trying to push any serious #s. I should still be in the 440rwhp range though.
07-26-2004, 11:05 PM
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Everyone was just asking where you had been! https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196732
Glad to hear you are getting it worked out...and sorry about your luck! It seems like if it can go wrong it will! Keep us updated, and try to catch yourself up to date on the "soap opera" around here.
Glad to hear you are getting it worked out...and sorry about your luck! It seems like if it can go wrong it will! Keep us updated, and try to catch yourself up to date on the "soap opera" around here.
07-26-2004, 11:18 PM
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That's too bad about your old motor. 
At least you can find used 5.3's cheap. I went by Rick's shop last week and saw your truck sittin there, I was hoping to get a taste of what the turbo sounded like lol. Hope to see you back on the road soon!
At least you can find used 5.3's cheap. I went by Rick's shop last week and saw your truck sittin there, I was hoping to get a taste of what the turbo sounded like lol. Hope to see you back on the road soon!
07-26-2004, 11:50 PM
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It's always a Soap Opera around hurrr :p
I have been really busy at work and getting the Vette ready to sell. Then I ended up with no drivable car after I sold the Vette so I worked my *** off to get a tranny and get the T/A back on the road. And any free time I had I was playing my online video game and didn't even wanna talk trucks because it just made me sick knowing I wouldn't have mine back for awhile
I am slowly scrolling through all the threads and it seems a lot has been goin on and I need to catch up.
The fire was a real long story. I posted it up when it happened so you might do a search if ya relaly wanna know the stupid, funny, sad details. Cool thing is my hand healed up nicely and I'll only have discoloration "scars" and nothing big at all.
The gravel came from me trying to put the fire out. I burned the **** out of my hands while trying to rip the fiberglass crap off the FIREWALL so I gave up and almost let the truck burn to the ground when i found all this nice dirt underneath all the gravel I was parked on (was deep in the country on the side of the road at 3:30am with no shirt and some saggin shorts and singed hair after getting almost trapped under the hod while the fire was roaring LOL ). I had to rip the Vortec cover off the intake because I had not tools and needed more clearance between the windshield cowl and the motor to throw dirt/gravel in between the motor and the firewall.
^^ God I shouldn't try typing a response while freaking out on Rockstar
I have been really busy at work and getting the Vette ready to sell. Then I ended up with no drivable car after I sold the Vette so I worked my *** off to get a tranny and get the T/A back on the road. And any free time I had I was playing my online video game and didn't even wanna talk trucks because it just made me sick knowing I wouldn't have mine back for awhile
I am slowly scrolling through all the threads and it seems a lot has been goin on and I need to catch up.
The fire was a real long story. I posted it up when it happened so you might do a search if ya relaly wanna know the stupid, funny, sad details. Cool thing is my hand healed up nicely and I'll only have discoloration "scars" and nothing big at all.
The gravel came from me trying to put the fire out. I burned the **** out of my hands while trying to rip the fiberglass crap off the FIREWALL so I gave up and almost let the truck burn to the ground when i found all this nice dirt underneath all the gravel I was parked on (was deep in the country on the side of the road at 3:30am with no shirt and some saggin shorts and singed hair after getting almost trapped under the hod while the fire was roaring LOL ). I had to rip the Vortec cover off the intake because I had not tools and needed more clearance between the windshield cowl and the motor to throw dirt/gravel in between the motor and the firewall.
^^ God I shouldn't try typing a response while freaking out on Rockstar
07-27-2004, 12:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Black Blown 02
Keep us updated man!
Did you get the bigger turbo yet?
Did you get the bigger turbo yet?
We will be putting it on as soon as the new motor is in and then hitting the dyno and seeing if the exhaust housing size was the problem.
