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Two "problems" and no ideas...

BAT

BAT

Full Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
4,567
Location
Leicester, MA
I have two issues, one electrical related (I assume) abd the other engine related. Rather than have two seperate threads, I put it here. The engine one concerns me more...





Last night for the first time, the odometer and gear selection was "out". The truck ran and drove fine, just not displaying. Any idea?

Since Saturday, after a prolonged start up (first thing in the morning and after it sits for a few hours), a big puff of smoke has come from both sides of the exhaust. I checked the oil level this morning and nothing is out of the ordinary (about a quart low, which is "normal" since the day I bought it). Again, runs and drives fine with no loss of power.
It's not a "small" amount of smoke either... it's similar to a diesel startup on a cold morning.

Any one???
 
BAT said:
I have two issues, one electrical related (I assume) abd the other engine related. Rather than have two seperate threads, I put it here. The engine one concerns me more...





Last night for the first time, the odometer and gear selection was "out". The truck ran and drove fine, just not displaying. Any idea?

Gotta be a fuse

Since Saturday, after a prolonged start up (first thing in the morning and after it sits for a few hours), a big puff of smoke has come from both sides of the exhaust. I checked the oil level this morning and nothing is out of the ordinary (about a quart low, which is "normal" since the day I bought it). Again, runs and drives fine with no loss of power.
It's not a "small" amount of smoke either... it's similar to a diesel startup on a cold morning.

Any one???

Depending on how many miles you have on it I would suspect valve guide seals.
Click to expand...
 
What color smoke white or black
 
White smoke....

flipped 60,000 miles a week or so ago.

I looked at the motor, of which is clean (I cleaned it Sunday afternoon) and it shows no sign of leaking anywhere...
 
If it was blueish that would be oil, if it was black that would be fuel, white is water or water vapor how's your coolant level
 
MichiganSilver03 said:
If it was blueish that would be oil, if it was black that would be fuel, white is water or water vapor how's your coolant level
Click to expand...

dunno..... I'll check during my lunch break.

For what this is worth.... as I left a GTG Saturday afternoon, I had to "get on it" to pull into traffic.... that's when I noticed the first signs.... as I looked into the side mirrors, I saw I left a cloud of smoke. Everyting was fine (the ride home) and later that day I left to take a ride... and that's the first time it happened on start up. It did it again yesterday afternoon and again last night. Same thing this morning leaving for work.

As for the ODO... first time was last night and again on the way to work this morning. It comes and goes...
 
coolant level seems fine..... right where it should be according to the markings on the container
 
The ODO light intermittent sounds like a bad ground rather than fuse.

I don't know about the smoke, my 4 cyl S10 blew a rear seal and coolant was dripping out of the exaust pipe cold, evaporated off hot. There was no sign of a leak on the engine until it really blew and poured, no harm done if you watch your oil & coolant and get it fixed promptly.

I couldn't detect loss of coolant for months but I knew it was there.
 
Flint4x4 said:
The ODO light intermittent sounds like a bad ground rather than fuse.

I don't know about the smoke, my 4 cyl S10 blew a rear seal and coolant was dripping out of the exaust pipe cold, evaporated off hot. There was no sign of a leak on the engine until it really blew and poured, no harm done if you watch your oil & coolant and get it fixed promptly.

I couldn't detect loss of coolant for months but I knew it was there.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmm.....  by chance do you think the ground problem would also have something to do with a speaker/ radio problem too? I ask since I also have a buzzing/ humming noise with certain options on the head unit.... something tells me the shop that installed the speakers did something wrong. Granted, it's been about a year. I also noticed several weeks back, the light under the passanger side footwell was flickering.... haven't seen it since though. Maybe it's time for a complete search and correction...

I'll be sure to monitor the oil and coolant levels on a daily basis.

Thanks
 
Is it humid or damp in your area
 
MichiganSilver03 said:
Is it humid or damp in your area
Click to expand...

What if the two are the same problem ? A little coolant leaks in the engine oil and leaks out on a ground, evaporates off but it's oily water causing a temporary short ? I don't know, it's not impossible though.

It's hard to trouble shoot an intermittent short
 
MichiganSilver03 said:
Is it humid or damp in your area
Click to expand...

Humid.... no. It was "hot" for a few days but only in the low 80's.

We did however have massive amounts of rain all last week.
 
Loose nut behind the steering wheel can cause both issues :)

Panel stuff may also be signs of ignition switch.
 
The nut behind the wheel is getting tighter and tighter everyday.

Ignition switch was replaced about a year and a half ago.... no other symptoms are present regarding that.

The thing is I haven't done anything to the truck in a long while. If I was playing with the cluster I could see a possible problem..... this is all out of the blue.
 
I don't want to alarm you, but I see you have a 2002 is it out of warranty I would have it checked if it is sucking coolant into the cylinders that's ain't good. Maybe do a compression test.
 
Would I notice any change in performance if that was happening?

I've been down that road before with my other car..... water/ coolant in the cylinders, as it now as a replacement motor in it. I don't want to travel that road again.
 
MichiganSilver03 said:
I don't want to alarm you, but I see you have a 2002 is it out of warranty I would have it checked if it is sucking coolant into the cylinders that's ain't good. Maybe do a compression test.
Click to expand...

sorta what I was saying, if it's minimal and you get it fixed soon enough then no real harm done. Long term even a little coolant in the cylinders will ruin an engine. 
 
Ever have the original PCV valve replaced with the correct one?
 
BAT said:
Ignition switch was replaced about a year and a half ago.... no other symptoms are present regarding that.
Click to expand...

Don't fall in to the "It's recently replaced, it can't be bad" rut.
 
PCV has been replaced less than 12k miles ago...

I'm calling the dealer tomorrow to look at it..... I need the intermediate shaft "addressed" again too anyway.
 
who replaced PCV valve and is it the correct one...?

White smoke tends to eb coolant and can be from a blown head gasket..

does exhaust have any funny smell?

Oil is blue and will stick all over truck...so wpe bumper... does it have oil on it?
 
I replaced the PCV with the listed part number from the local auto parts store. I've never had an issue with the wrong numbers and I did compare it to the old and it looked identical.

I called the service department and explained the situation. The ODO they need to look at. As for the smoke....
he asked how far I usually drive. I live 9 miles from work and that's the majority of the driving it gets. His thoughts where condensation in the muffler (only does it after sitting for long periods of time). We recently had massive amounts of rain and a big temp swing over the last week+.
The steering shaft..... I'll have to pay for. It was replaced 10/4/04 and is well beyond the 12 months/ 12k miles. Not a biggie since the part lists for $121 +/- plus labor.

Either way, I'll drop it off to them late this week or early next week to have it all addressed. In the mean time, I'll continue to monitor it. I added a quart of oil this morning since it was down a quart and the idiot light came on to remind me.  :2:

This morning was the only time no smoke came out.... however the ODO was off and then on again.
 
CodeBlueEMT said:
Could the ODO problem be related to a bad stepper motor?

Shayne
Click to expand...

Not the odometer.  Stepper motors affect the needle operations.
 
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