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Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » A week to go to our Yellowstone Trip (And all hell is breaking out!)
A week to go to our Yellowstone Trip [message #254192] Wed, 02 July 2014 20:49 Go to previous message
Jon payne is currently offline  Jon payne   United States
Messages: 495
Registered: May 2008
Karma:
Senior Member
So here we are one week until our long awaited family trip out west in our GMC and she is falling apart!
First, I replaced the AC compressor for the third time but this time I installed the new S6 compressor that Applied sells. This compressor is s direct fit as Applied advertises and is only half the weight of the A6. Looks to be a nice unit. So I installed the new compressor but I wanted a pro to flush out the old oil, replace the drier and properly service with refrigerant. Found a great shop local to me and it turns out they are authorized dealer for these S6 compressor and is very familiar with them. Anway, they did a great job and was soon blasting cold air. Well first trip we took in the GMC, back in June, the AC lost all its refrigerant! Took it back the shop and he found one of my new hoses (replaced 4yrs ago) was not crimped properly and sprung a leak. In fact you could see the oil dripping out of the hose. Point here is new hose and failed a few years later, less then 6k Miles. So I had a new hose fabricated and reinstalled, this was yesterday.

It gets better....This morning I took the GMC back to the shop to have it serviced after the hose was replaced. As I left the driveway I had no brakes and the brake light came on.I pumped it up several times and immediately got full pedal back. WTF. Note, everything from the MC to the rear brakes replaced 3 years ago (~3.5K miles). Okay I have the brakes back and the shop is 3 miles from the house so I'm pressing on. On my way to the shop the engine starts to sputter under acceleration. If I floored it the engine would stall....NOW WHAT! I switched to AUX and the problem went away (I installed in tank fuel pumps this spring). Hmmm...sounds like the main fuel pump took a crap. Oh great.

So I press on to the shop, they serviced the AC and leak checked, all is good with the AC. Now, on my way home from the shop I noticed when I applied the brakes and just as I come to a stop I heard a low rumbling noise...holy crap...what the hell is that! I am now seeing my long awaited family trip to Yellowstone fading fast.

So I get her home and looking through the slots of the Eagle wheels I see the passenger side rotor is heavily scored! WTH! The brakes pads have less than 7k, how can they be so worn. I just inspected this spring and they looked fine. I think they are down to the rivets. I haven't taken the wheel off yet to inspect, I'll do that later. Could this be the reason I got the momentary loss of brake pedal?

Back to the fuel problem. After I discovered the rotor is scored I did some trouble shooting on the fuel system. I disconnected the line to the carb and placed it in a fuel can and found that with the main fuel tank pump on, the flow is half when compared to the AUX fuel pump. Since I lent out my fuel pressure gauge to a friend I can't check the pressure but it is obvious the flow is half of the Aux and the main pump is the problem. So looks like I have to drop the fuel tanks and of course the fuel tanks have about 40 gallons of fuel!

I'm really stressed that I have to drop the tanks, possible replace the MC and deal with the brake pads just one week until our trip. None are to difficult but I have very limited time to work through this problems.

Most frustrating for me is that all of the above problems are caused by parts I have replaced with "new". For me nothing is more frustrating then having to replace a part that was just replaced with a new or "rebuilt" one. In fact most of the problems I have had have been with the new parts. Water pump lasted two years, AC compressor two years, Ignition module three years, AC hose 4 years, possible I have a bad MC, replaced just 3 years ago and an electric fuel pump, one month. I guess there is nothing we can do about these Made in China crap parts but it sure has costed me money and more importantly my time!

And a note to our suppliers, the comments above about the parts are not directed to you in the least bit. I think I can speak for most of us when I say that we all appreciate the services that you provide and would be much more difficult maintaining our GMC with out your support!

Whew, I feel a little better after venting here. Thanks for listening to me.

Jon


Jon Payne
76 Palm Beach
Westfield,IN
 
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