A few issues...

I have a few issues going on with my truck, after talking with several people, wasting a whole bunch of time and money I figure I should ask for some help from people that know whats going on...

• Just a quick history on the vehicle: I bought it about 6 years ago from my grandfather's estate when he past away. I learned how to drive on the thing so there is some setimental value in it... When he was alive he had a 26ft Camper Trailer and when you were towing it, you'd forget it was there. Now if I so much as tow an empy car trailer I have a problem accelerating onto the freeway, once at speed it seems to take an awful lot of gas to maintain speed and forget about trying to pass someone...
  
• I know part of these issues are from neglect (I don't drive the vehicle very often due the horrible gas milage ~ 6 mpg +- 1). I did drive it to Colorado approx 3000 miles round trip and had the tranny loose the "sun sprocket" or something along those lines leaving me only drive 2 & 3 as well as park... Well manually shifting while very tired will let you slip and put the shift lever in park while getting on the freeway... This will make park no longer work for any of you guys out there who want to try it... So I replaced the transmission about 10,000 miles ago with a rebuild from the chevy dealership...

The main problems are as follows...

1. Almost no power, I feel like I'm driving that good old Ford Courier my dad had... When towing my boat (2260 lbs) I can barely get up hills without it dropping all the way down to drive 2. (Nothing like going 60 mph then having the truck drop to drive 2. Talk about some rpms...)
2. My entire dash assembly (lights and guages) all flicker up and down when the turn signals are on... The volt guage goes all the way down to 8 and up to almost 18... (put a voltmeter on the battery, cig lighter, and ign wire harness and the voltage doesn't change.) I'm assuming its a ground issue, but have no clue where the ground wire is / bolts to...
   
3. My suspension seems way to week, about 300 lbs and its squatting to the overloads with my mud flaps hitting the ground... Any suggestions or is suppose do that?
   
4. Seems to not want to start when cold, will take 2-3 tries... Think its fuel related because if I just turn the ignition on and off 4-5 times it starts on the first try.
5. I think the power brakes are going out, It just seems like it isn't helping as much as it should, and whenever I release the brake pedle (@ idle) the engine idles up...

Things I have already done:
   

1. Replaced Cat (Vehicle had problems starting, thought this was related, wasn't but did help the power issue some...)
   
2. Replaced Muffler (old one rusted out...)
   
3. Replaced Transmission (rebuld)
4. Standard Tune-Up (plugs, wires, cap, rotar)
5. Replaced starter (engaged but wouldn't dissengage, drove about 2700 miles this way before it gave up...)
   
6. Replaced battering wiring (was old and starter wasn't starting too well, read above)
   
7. Replaced battery (1800 cca)
8. Replaced Alternator (bearing went out in old one...)
   
9. Replaced fuel pump (that gave me my fuel guage back too )
10. Replaced Master Cylinder (peddle dropped to floor and wouldn't return, seal inside MC had gone bad...)
    
11. Replaced Calipers (leaking)
    
12. Replaced Slave Cylinders (leaking)

I just feel like I've replaced about everything I could think of and it still has some issues... Any help would be great!!!
I know its a lot to read, but figure I should put as much detail as I can out of the gate...

Dave

how many miles?

Whats its oil pressure?

178,000mi
Bought it with 159,000mi

A note I forgot to mention, it sat for almost a year (probate and all) before I was able to take it home... The last I drove it, before I bought it, was at 151,000 with that same trailer and it had all the power I could need...

Oil pressure sits right at 30 on the guage... (Thats another thing thats been replaced as well, it started spitting oil at ~1 qt per 10 miles, needless to say I only made it about 16 miles to get home, then replaced it...)

Do you remember what the oil presure was when it was running well? The reason I ask is because low oil presure can sometimes be an indication that it is time for a rebuild. 

try doing a decarb on it and see if that helps any, they usually sell it at your local auto parts store. you warm the car up and poor it down the throttle body a little bit at a time and you will see all that crap come out the tail pipe, if you have never done it befor it should put on a hell of a smoke show,

quote:

ORIGINAL: northey87

Do you remember what the oil presure was when it was running well? The reason I ask is because low oil presure can sometimes be an indication that it is time for a rebuild. 

The oil pressure has always been the same except for the day that the sensor went bad, the new sensor reads approx 1/2 a psi higher but other than that no they are the same...

quote:

ORIGINAL: 06chevy5.3

try doing a decarb on it and see if that helps any, they usually sell it at your local auto parts store. you warm the car up and poor it down the throttle body a little bit at a time and you will see all that crap come out the tail pipe, if you have never done it befor it should put on a hell of a smoke show,

Will that hurt the new cat I just put in? And what is the called? I've never heard of "Decarb"...
PS 06chevy5.3 I responded to your question in a PM but for everyone else it has the TBI system...

no it will not damage the new cat, its all the carbon buil up from all the years and miles from the nasty gas.. just let it idle and start pooring it in real slow.. when u have gone through the hole bottle get in and give it gas real slow and it will bogg down like it is going to die, and by that time it will start blowing out smoke and then it will finally pick up and definately blow smoke!!! as far as what its called they have many different kinds, just ask the guy at the store and tell him you need some stuff to clean the carbon buil up on the valves.

You may want to try BG 44X. Its a injector cleaner, the same stuff the dealer uses, but in a liquid form. It extreme stuff (you can't get it at any autoparts store), and it is cat safe. Here is where you can some.
 
http://shop.autobahnpower.com/products.asp?category=BG%2044K%20and%20BG%20Products&product=BG%2044K%20fuel%20injector%20cleaner

ya that worked real good, that cleaned the nastiest valve we had at the shop... and nothing else would clean it so i would definately go with that if i were you

Ok so I just got back from the test drive after using 3x bottles of cleaner... SeaFoam, B-12 Chemtool, and Lucas... Not that much smoke ( I know what your talking about, I've done it before on other cars...) There was a small improvement, but could definately feel the empty trailer... Also, I replaced the air filter, I noticed that the one I had in there was a little smaller maybe 2.5" tall not 3.5" tall... Still can't seem to get the power from it...
I'm beginning to wonder about the torque converter... It seems that the motor is running great. It has an excellent idle, climbs up into the r's pretty quick (especially for a v8) and returns to idle pretty fast too... Could be wrong though, wouldn't be the first time and I doubt it'd be last...

I noticed though that it did seem to start much faster... I let it sit for about 15 minutes before I drove it. When I turned the key, it was almost instantanious to start (hasn't done that for a long time!)...

hows the fuel pressur?
 

Not sure, I know its TBI and should be between 9-13 or something like that, but I have no way to test it... It doesn't act like its starving for fuel, I drove for about 4 months with the old fuel pump going out. Then one day it wouldn't start (took like 30 minutes and a couple jumps, barely made it home). Replaced the pump the next day... That was a couple years ago though...

Can you tell if the trans is slipping? It may be time for a trans rebuild.

The trans is a rebuild from GM and only has 10000 mi on it... I'm not as comfortable with this trans for some reason as I was with the original, but no, it doesn't seem to slip. Last night I was a able to light the tires up so to speak on my test run, now thats not saying much as my trailer was empty so it had very little toung weight, the ground was damp and I was turning, but that is the first time in a long time it has even been able to do that...

The only reason I mentioned the TC is that it is the only peace that I didn't buy factory or aftermarket new... My "buddy" gave it to me and well you know how that can go... A few people around the bar suggested it may be culprit for the power loss, but don't really wanna pull it out as I could just be wasting my time again...

I am goin to the parts store today to get a fuel pressure tester, will let you knowhow it comes out....

Ok, update...
Drove the truck for about an hour today, after about 45-50 minutes of driving the "Service Engine" light came on... I pulled the codes and it pointed to the o2... Ran the voltage test on the o2 and it came back high i mean real high... almost .9v should be between .45-.65... I replaced the o2 and wow what a difference, still not great but damn close... I drove around the block and spun my tires at every corner... (Need new tires...) Anyway I'm thinking I've got most the power back... The rest I can attribute to the miles/age...


The remaining problems...

---

1. My entire dash assembly (lights and guages) all flicker up and down when the turn signals are on... The volt guage goes all the way down to 8 and up to almost 18... (put a voltmeter on the battery, cig lighter, and ign wire harness and the voltage doesn't change.) I'm assuming its a ground issue, but have no clue where the ground wire is / bolts to...
   
2. My suspension seems way to week, about 300 lbs and its squatting to the overloads with my mud flaps hitting the ground... Any suggestions or is suppose do that?
   
3. I think the power brakes are going out, It just seems like it isn't helping as much as it should, and whenever I release the brake pedle (@ idle) the engine idles up...

Any suggestions would be great, not sure about where the ground is for the dash lights, not sure what I need to do to get the suspension back. Is there a simple part on the power brakes that goes out or do I need to replace the whole unit?

---

ok the rear suspension shouldnt sag that low unless you have one heavy a$$ trailer, you can replace the rear shocks and coils to stiffen the back up or go with a nice air ride system in the back so you can control how high and how low you want it to sit, umm ass far as the brakes go its possible you need a new booster, pull the vacuum line off the booster and see if there is any brake fluid in it, hope that helped some,
 
john

I mean if i have my dad (160 lbs) and my brother (160 lbs) both on the bumper, the mud flaps drop about 2.5 to 3 inches are about 1/2 an inch from the ground. I know I need shocks but I didn't think that they supported the weight of the vehicle on them. Do you mean addon coils?

I pulled the line off and don't see any brake fluid in it, nor am I missing any from the resivoir. Should there be brake fluid in the booster?

No there shouldn't be any fluid in the booster. There maybe a leak in the line running to the booster from the engine. And yes you are correct, the shocks (by themselves) do not support the truck, they only dampen vibration as you drive down the road. It sounds like either your leaf springs are shot (which I have never heard of) or there is something loose/broken on both sides of the axel.

yes see if there is a way u can bolt on coils or an airbag system.. if there is nothig broken under the back half of the car your sjocks should be hanged to a more stiffer shock. he said there was no fluid missing from the resevoir. it could be the seals in the master cylinder allowing the fluid to pass by instead of pressurisig it.