dewmanshu

iTrader: (4)

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 ***** 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 ****, I mean a real bad horrible smelly ****. 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'ed by a computer but clearances were horrible. Sent those back to have redone. For sure this was the problem....exhaust valves 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!!!! A bad converter could definitely be a speed related vibration.

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 *****! 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

greentahoe

iTrader: (2)

Damn. You make me want to rethink my decision to do this big build up. So who's fault was it? Or was it something that happened when the driveshaft shattered and just was never properly diagnosed?

dewmanshu

iTrader: (4)

I am thinking only one of two things...defective thrust bearing or the torque specs on the crank...specifically where the thrust bearing is were done incorrectly. Now I have called two GM squealers and both said opposite things...too tight would cause this and the other said too loose would cause this. The real problem is, nobody will fess up to this mess. Just like More Performance Inc not willing to give give back money or cores or even pay my mechanic for taking off or even just reinstalling the heads. They are just willing to rememdy their product...after YOU SHIP it to them. Nobody in the performance world is willing to pay another installer to go back in a customers motor a second and even third time....there is just too many variables. The risk of the big build. No financial support. But, again, this seems like an extreme case. Id' imagine most big builds if done by the "book" will go just fine.

L-EATER

iTrader: (2)

Ah-Ha, someone else finally having thrust problems too. Sorry to hear bout your bad luck. I have been there done that. The first time the thrust went out it set a crank sensor code. I got the book out to see how to diagnose that code and one of the causes was excessive endplay in the crankshaft. I said "nah, not me, but that is easy enought to check" So I popped the hood and the very first thing I noticed was the blower belt had jumped a rib. I reached down and grasped the crank pulley and was able to move it back and forth at least a qtr of an inch.

I went through this 3 times with I think 4 different blocks, 4 trannies, 4 diff converters, etc etc. I finally bought a new crate motor and so far so good. About 5000 miles was the most I could get on a thrust and one of them lasted less than 500 miles !! I never did really figure out what caused it. I just know that a different tranny, a new converter and a crate motor has had me running since August, I think.

one03sierra

iTrader: (1)

damn it man i thought i had bad luck.

dewmanshu

iTrader: (4)

Nope. hehehe


Wow...you too eh. Well, I finally got the oil pan off....which by the way is a pain in the ***. I didn't have my camera but the rear side off the bearing was shaved quite a bit. The front balance and rear balance had wear patterns on them from scraping the block. The crank is obviously shot. But I think the drive shaft litterally exploding caused this. It all happened at the same time. If it was a bad install at the machine shop then I would of expected to see the front and rear side of the bearing shaved. But nope, just the rear is beat up. I think with a new crank, new crank mounting blocks, and of course new bearings she should be good to go. I sure would love a crate motor...but I think we have exhausted that idea. I have an 80e on the way as well.

L-EATER

iTrader: (2)

It is always the back side-that is the side that takes the thrust. The first time it happened I didn't realize the crank was ruined. I bought a new block from GM, custom pistons from Diamond etc and took it to a supposed reputable machine shop for machining. They balanced the crank before finding the thrust surface was destroyed. At that point I picked up everything from that place and proceeded to take it all to a shop that I knew for a fact is good, but is like a 2.5 hr drive for me. At the time my original 5.3 was just sitting in the floor so I robbed the crank out of it for use in the 6 liter. I think that motor ended up lasting around 1000miles before the thrust took a crap (and ruined the crank again)

As a side note, I later bought a crank off Ebay and put the 5.3 back together and used one of the trannies and torque convs that had been in a thrust failure combination. I put this setup in my old worktruck with a supercharger on top and have but about 20,000 miles on it so far with no probs. I wish I knew for sure what caused it.

dewmanshu

iTrader: (4)

Really?!?! Hmmm....now I am suspicious. I didn't know which side was the actual side that takes the force of typical thrust. Well, I am definitely a little farther away from why it happened now. I can't get out of my mind that I lost my driveshaft at the same time though.

What's the suggestions for this repair...obviously a new crank...but what about aftermarket cranks? I mean if I am going to do it...I want to do it right. I mean the only thing I didn't replace was the original crank and piston arms. Everything else is new and built for the supercharger. I don't want to pull the block if not neccessary. Hmmmm.