Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

Maint. blues

Trailblazer and Envoy related, but not off-road related...

by navigator » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:20 pm

all I've had to do outside of routine maint is a camshaft position sensor. I've had 2 of those go bad.
I think it is time to change the Tstat too, I'm at about 90k.
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by NC_IslandRunner » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:26 pm

navigator wrote:all I've had to do outside of routine maint is a camshaft position sensor. I've had 2 of those go bad.
I think it is time to change the Tstat too, I'm at about 90k.


I replaced both front axles, Tstat, Tranny I abused, and O2 sensor.
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by navigator » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:55 pm

I did an O2 sensor also. I guess it is a fine line. Is a sensor (O2, Camshaft Position etc) a maint item or are maint items just fluids, belts, hoses and plugs?

I guess the big thing is no major repairs.
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by NC_IslandRunner » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:59 pm

navigator wrote:I did an O2 sensor also. I guess it is a fine line. Is a sensor (O2, Camshaft Position etc) a maint item or are maint items just fluids, belts, hoses and plugs?

I guess the big thing is no major repairs.


I think they can be filed under maint item due to their high failure rate. This is universal to almost all vehicles.
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by MrSmithsTB » Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:49 pm

I'm at 140k. I can say that I've seen probably less than average repair costs. Probably from doing all of the work myself. Even at that, I am surprised by how little I've had to replace or repair. That doesn't include trail damage, through.

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by bdp1978 » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:26 am

SO, heres a question for you guys. I just changed my fan clutch, and other than the fan being louder than before it seems to be working. Code is gone, jet engine noise is gone. However Ive been averaging 17.4 MPG around town. I just did 3 hrs of expressway driving Saturday (72mph) and my MPG DROPPED to 15.6..........?????? I usually get about 19.3 on the expressway. Any ideas on that one???
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by Infamouz » Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:26 pm

bdp1978 wrote:SO, heres a question for you guys. I just changed my fan clutch, and other than the fan being louder than before it seems to be working. Code is gone, jet engine noise is gone. However Ive been averaging 17.4 MPG around town. I just did 3 hrs of expressway driving Saturday (72mph) and my MPG DROPPED to 15.6..........?????? I usually get about 19.3 on the expressway. Any ideas on that one???



Im not very knowlegable on alot of this stuff but ive read that a dirty throttle body or maybe the t-stat have alot to do with it. Or maybe check ur tire preasure make sure its not low.
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by bdp1978 » Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:55 pm

Infamouz wrote:
bdp1978 wrote:SO, heres a question for you guys. I just changed my fan clutch, and other than the fan being louder than before it seems to be working. Code is gone, jet engine noise is gone. However Ive been averaging 17.4 MPG around town. I just did 3 hrs of expressway driving Saturday (72mph) and my MPG DROPPED to 15.6..........?????? I usually get about 19.3 on the expressway. Any ideas on that one???



Im not very knowlegable on alot of this stuff but ive read that a dirty throttle body or maybe the t-stat have alot to do with it. Or maybe check ur tire preasure make sure its not low.



T-Body was cleaned about 2k miles ago, new theromostat 14k ago and new tires about 3k ago and are at the proper pressure.

Problem has to be related to the fan clutch but its not throwing codes and the jet roar has left the building.
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by Infamouz » Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:01 pm

Sorry dont know to much about that, since my fan clutch went out I just went to e-fan conversion. Saw a very small difference in mpg.
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by bdp1978 » Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:23 pm

Infamouz wrote:Sorry dont know to much about that, since my fan clutch went out I just went to e-fan conversion. Saw a very small difference in mpg.



I'm def interested in making this switch but my electrical knowledge is squat. I can spin some wrenches but hand me a multimeter and I'm about as effective as a 2yr old.


I actually ran without a fan for about 6 weeks....got great gas mileage during that time!!! Just had to avoid traffic jams :mrgreen:
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by Infamouz » Mon Nov 21, 2011 2:00 pm

Lol its crazy im the same way, trust me on that one. I asked, read, searched like crazy, and when all the stuff from pcm for less came to my house and I read the instructions it was simple. Took me a few minutes to get it in. just had to buy the fans seperate and a switch for the on and off. Then get the pcm tuned or patched so thers no codes. If you did happend to do this just pm me and I can answer some questions you need help with.
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by navigator » Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:56 am

ok, changing my tranny fluid.
I see the manual and the thread below says to torque to 120lbs
http://forums.trailvoy.com/articles.php ... e&artid=88
when I was removing the bolts though they were easy to remove, like not even grabbing the ratchet good easy.
I set my torque wrench and started to tighten the bolts to spec anyway and the gasket started squeezing out of the rear, is this normal?
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by djthumper » Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:58 am

navigator wrote:ok, changing my tranny fluid.
I see the manual and the thread below says to torque to 120lbs
http://forums.trailvoy.com/articles.php ... e&artid=88
when I was removing the bolts though they were easy to remove, like not even grabbing the ratchet good easy.
I set my torque wrench and started to tighten the bolts to spec anyway and the gasket started squeezing out of the rear, is this normal?


120 in-lbs not 120 ft-lbs

120 ft-lbs will put too much stress on the threads...
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by navigator » Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:29 pm

thanks Larry, so is 120 inch lbs = 10 foot lbs (120/12) or do I need a different wrench?
I just tightened them good and tight even all the way around and no leaks.
Honestly I've never torqued anything, I just tightened to what I thought was right felt right based on how hard something was to take off, how big the bolt was, alum vs steel etc. I only have a torque wrench because I thought I was going to have to do a head swap one time and knew I would have to have it.
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by djthumper » Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:33 pm

If your torque wrench goes down that low you are good to go. I don't use a torque wrench too often anymore, except on the critical things.
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by navigator » Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:42 pm

yeah, I over-tightened them for sure.
I wonder if I should let it go and keep an eye on it or just get a new gasket.
I wanted to put a drain plug in that pan anyway, it might be a good excuse for me to pull it back off.
I just did a drop and drain with a new filter so that would give me more clean fluid as well.
I plan to just drain and replace 5qts every 25k or so and then change the filter at 100k. I figure that should keep the fluid in good shape.

I tried to use my vacuum pump to pull it out of the dipstick tube but for some reason that wouldn't work. I had to neck down from the normal tube to a smaller tube to fit, that might have been my problem.
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by djthumper » Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:22 am

how many did you torque down that tight? I would be checking them and the bolt holes to make sure everything is still all right. I would replace the gasket to be safe.
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by navigator » Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:31 am

I tightened them all pretty even but not to 120 ft lbs.
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by v7guy » Fri Nov 25, 2011 6:33 am

personally, I'd remove it all and replace the gasket. I don't have a ton of years on me, but the experience I have has said that if things questionable enough for you to have nagging doubts you should probably redo it. The consequences of not doing this procedure are pretty severe. You can get a HF torque wrench for wicked cheap and it should get you in the ball park. http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarte ... -2696.html

I'm not one to judge, I, like most fellas, have done some very questionable stuff. But as I get more experience (about 10 yrs at this point) I've learned to try and do it right the first time. In some situations you do what you have to do, but generally you can "do the right thing"... in life and mechanics... it's equally hard on both fronts.

My experience has taught me you can never learn enough, prep enough, or be thorough enough. You may not regret redoing it, but you could very well regret not doing it correctly.
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by navigator » Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:13 am

I might just get a new gasket and the smaller torque wrench and redo it.
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