Well. Crap. I thought I was done with problems for awhile, guess not.


Noise-

When it's cold, and I turn on the runner to head to work without heating it up because I slept through my alarm, I shift into 1st (very difficult) and my vehicle (I say vehicle, but it sounds like it's from the tranny) makes a sound almost like a gurgling... I shift into second, kinda hard, and it goes away, as if it never happened.

Starting-

So when I fire up the engine after not driving all night, days, weeks, it fires right up.

I drive to work, turn it off, go do my work thing, and go to leave for lunch about 3 hours later it's a pain in the butt to start. It will fire up, bog down, die. Fire up, bog down, *sputter sputter* give it gas *sputter sputter* and then go back to normal.

Any ideas greatly appreciated. I'm on my last nerve with this thing, haha.

Alex

 

take / eat lunch at work?

 

1) check tranny fluid, proper type.
2) hard to say, the cold start injector leak or stay open when it should stay closed?

 

I will do ANYTHING to get out of that office man... NOT an option. Driving the wifes car may be though =p



Tranny fluid... Sounds like fun. I have really never messed with that. Probably the problem. Maybe Jason can lend me a hand. I will bother him on MLK day.

I was thinking injector leak. That would explain why it does fine after it sits. The fuel has time to dry up...

 

Okay fine...
Noise-
manual/auto? When was the last time the fluid was changed?

Starting-
What is the idle speed when you start it 1st time of the day and when it warms up afterward? ... and the 2nd time and after it warms up again?
What is the resistance of the cold start injector time switch the first time you start it? ... 2nd time?

 

Manual. The fluid was last changed at a time unbeknown to me.


When I start it the first time it is at about 1200. Warms up 900-1000 (I know it's high)

Second time. It goes to about 500, then to 0. Try again. 500, give it gas, 1000.


What is the resistance of the cold start injector time switch the first time you start it? ... 2nd time? No idea what you mean there.

 

On the front edge of the intake manifold, pointing towards the radiator, should be two sensors, one green plastic and the other black or brown. The green is the temperature sensor for the ECU, the other is the cold start injector time switch. It should read 0 resistance, give or take, when the engine temperature is at or below around 65F and should be open or infinite above that.

 

Another question I forgot to ask is when you go to start the engine, how long do you have to crank it before it starts?

 

In the morning, it turns over maybe once, then fire up. When I have problems before lunch, 3-4 times usually I would say.

 

What's up Alex? I haven't messed with the cold start injector. But I have a multimeter we can check resistances. And let me know if you want to hange out your tranny fluid. That's easy.

I work tomorrow, but I will dive into the fsm to see if I can come up with any ideas, or just a plan of attack. I work Monday Wednesday this week, then off til next Monday. I can help you any day I am off. Let me know what you need.

 

That the truck fires right up in the morning makes it sound like it's not the cold start injector leaking. If it were, the fuel lines would lose pressure and it would take several seconds of cranking to get them re-pressurized before it started.

That said, I don't know what the problem is.

 

Yeah, man. I'd check the resistance on that switch and the cold start injector. How many miles on the tranny, not that it matters if you don't know when the fluid was changed last, but I would DEFINITELY change it out anyways. Its a quick change as long as you have a pump to get it into the tranny(just makes it easier than the squeeze the fluid thru a tube trick).

 

I may be giving you a call on Tuesday, if that's cool with you.

BBP... I do not have a pump. We'll see what Jason and I can figure out.

 

I usually buy the big jugs of oil and pick up one of the pumps. However, if you buy the little quart jugs, pick up some tubing so you can squeeze it into the tranny!

 

I will be around tomorrow, we can change the fluid for sure, and experiment the rest of the time.

 

sounds kinky...

 

And you know it will smell pretty, too. over

 

heehhe. over.

 

Regarding the tranny, probably the fluid. None of the gear oils flow well in extreme cold, not even the synthetics. But of course the syns do better than the mineral oils, which thicken up terribly due to the wax that they contain. Thick oil will squeeze out of the way and stay out of the way, leaving gear teeth to grind against each other with little to no protection.

For the manual transmission, which needs a GL-4 fluid, the best and most available choices are the full synthetic, ester-based Red Line MT-90 and the full syn PAO-based Amsoil MTG. Both flow relatively well down to -40 degrees, with low temp -40C Brookfield viscosity of 32,000 cP and 44,200 cP respectively. (The max allowable is 150,000 cP but at that viscosity the oil is already failing to lubricate effectively.) Both the Red Line and Amsoil GL-4s are great oils, but the Red Line has an edge over the Amsoil in cold flow performance. Summit Racing is a good source for Red Line products.

The differentials require a GL-5 and that's where it gets sticky. These oils, even the synthetic ones, are much thicker at cold temps. The best low-temp performer (for which I could find specs) is Amsoil Severe Gear 75W-90. It has a -40 brookfield of 68,150 cP.

Surprisingly, the ester-based Red Line GL-5 Gear Oil rates 110,000 cP at -40C. Not what I would expect from an ester, but those are the specs.

While most conventional mineral gear oils do terribly below 0 deg F (Coastal is really bad), Valvoline's mineral GL-5 75W-90 Gear Oil performs well with a -40 cP of 106,000. They must have de-waxed it really well. One would expect their full synthetic Synpower GL-5 75W-90 Gear Oil to do even better, but they don't give the spec, hm.

For Canadians, another good choice is Esso GL-5 75W-90 GX Extra with a -40 cP of 90,000.

An intriguing alternative is one of Red Line's lighter weight "Shockproof" gear oils. They have particles of a solid extreme pressure additive suspended in lighter weight, lower viscosity fluids, giving the oil the performance of heavier oils while still flowing very well at lower temps. But the specs don't seem to be available for those, either.

For the transfer case, you can use either a GL-4 or a GL-5. If you live in a region with extreme cold winters, I'd recommend using the same GL-4 that you use in your tranny, since it will flow better than any of the GL-5s. If your winters never go below 0 deg F, a GL-5 would give a little more protection.