Bad week, and needing parts.

[texanidiot25]

In short, fuel filters breaking inside themselvs causing the carb to be flooded with dirt, and the spare filter having a hole leaving me a night with out work (pizza delivery), dire need of an oil change (tomorrow) with the idle oil pressure being low compared to normal.

Tonight slammed into a pot hole on a dirt road (didn't see it coming) and destroyed a bump stop, feels like the alignment is off and the steering box seems to have a lot more play than normal. I feel I'm also paranoid about the steering box.. But it also leaks fluid so a new one wouldn't be such a bad idea. Cept that I have little money.

On top of the rust issues (read: cab swap looks good right now) I need to battle this summer, I'm stacked up and stressed out. Not to the point of selling by any means, or quiting. But the CST10 is my income (pizza delivery) and these little things are amplified by driving...

Going to open a WTB later, but where can I find a cheap pair of bump stops? Stock or a set for a lowered truck, as I've got 3" drop springs up front. Also need a new set of front drop shocks, as back in december we payed no attention that these were nitrogen shocks and they were mounted upside down... (d'oh!) they are Doetsch(?) Nitro slammer and ride GREAT when they were good. Steering box can wait, the truck still turns fine but it just feels like there's a lot more play in the input shaft. But again, paranoia takes over

[Longhorn Man]

the steering gear box should not get damaged by a pot hole... you need to look at your ball joints tire rod ends, pitman and idler arms, cross shafts.... everything under there needs inspected.

[texanidiot25]

From the tie rod ends to the pitment arm it feels good, no play. Haven't had a chance to lift if off the ground yet to check the ball joints (Though their brand new). It's more likely paranoia on my part with the steering box.

With my grad money I'm picking up a new set of shocks as well. They were great at preventing bottoming out.. But the hole was deep and my headers kissed the ground it sounded like on the way down, so it got me worried.

[mikajo39]

Oh boy work can really stress you out can't it. Hope next week is a lot better.
what kinda fuel filters were you using? brand wise?

[texanidiot25]

Back when I 1st got the truck on the road, and was going threw a fuel filter every fue days (dirty fuel lines), the cheapy Fram clear filters. As time went on and I no longer needed to change them every week they slipped my mind. The filter was still clear when I changed carbs a few weeks ago. What I think happened to the one was that it stretched some (heat) and the filter had enough room to unseat from the base. This caused a rush of dirt to hit the carb and stalled me out a stop sign... in the ghetto. Great right? In my cute little pizza boy clothes...

At any rate, spark was good, fuel supply at the carb was seemingly good (with the air filter off you could see the fuel misting when the carb was pumped) and it FINALLY cranked back up and got me out to the shell gas station along the freeway, barely. Threw on an old filter i had laying in my milk-crate-o-crap in back, started cranking but imediatly noticed there was no fuel pressure and then quickly got out to see it leaking fuel... Thankfully I kept my rag under the filter on the 1st start.

So I called work, got another driver to take my order and my mom ran and bought another fram filter (to get home) and came with 3... 3 more spares eh? Got it home and went to autozone to get a metal fuel filter and called it a night. 2 hours wasted. Thankfully my autozone actually carried this fuel filter yesterday... Typically never have one for a 3/8 line.

[mikajo39]

Yeah my truck has chewed up quite a few fuel filters in its life. I remember stalling out when getting off the freeway once. Wasn't cool, It was back when i had my quadrajet (which is in a box in the garage) and it had its original in carb fuel filter that thing was clogged bad then I stripped its fuel inlet(damn pot metal). That was a bad weekend as I remember it. Hopefully your three spares won't be needed and you can get a nicer fuel filter when it stops going through them every couple weeks.

[Longhorn Man]

as for the filters... my first thought would be to get another brand fuel filter.
Fram doesn't have such a bad name in fuel filters as they do in oil filters... but if you have had a problem with quality on 2 filters now... then why you still buying them? Is auto zone the only place in town, or just the cheapest. (It ain't cheap if you have to do it twice as often as you should need to)

[texanidiot25]

The filter-a-week thing ended a long time ago, thankfully lol. This metal one should be the end of that mess for a long time I hope.

[mikajo39]

Hopefully, the metal filter is beefcake and I would probably avoid the fram ones for a while now if two of them failed consecutivley, thats saying something bout QC. At least your not using antique glass filters lol

[texanidiot25]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

as for the filters... my first thought would be to get another brand fuel filter.
Fram doesn't have such a bad name in fuel filters as they do in oil filters... but if you have had a problem with quality on 2 filters now... then why you still buying them? Is auto zone the only place in town, or just the cheapest. (It ain't cheap if you have to do it twice as often as you should need to)

I bought the metal filter after the 2 bad frams yesterday. Not going back to them. I used them a while ago when I had so much dirt in the fuel lines and was just letting the filters catch the dirt and clean the lines while driving. But that all stopped a few months ago.

AZ is the closest by around 10 miles. It's fine for when I'm in a pinch like yesterday when I needed to get back on the road by today. Advanced, O'Reilly's, etc aren't close to me.

[mikajo39]

Thats a bummer I have a NAPA, Kragen, and a few other small auto parts stores about 5 miles away from me at all times in town, so i guess I'm lucky there.

[texanidiot25]

When the truck was at my dad's it was sweet, not to mention a GM dealership at my hands. But at my moms out in the sticks, it's a bit tougher.

Using some grad-cash for new shocks and bump stops up front. Been needing it it anyway and it'll be a moral booster to ride nice again.

[mikajo39]

Yeah when I fix something or get new parts its always a moral booster. You'll be feeling better soon and have rewnewed faith in your truck. Just don't be unlucky like me when I fix something, something else always breaks right after. Eh! at least I'm busy

[texanidiot25]

Oil change later, and a load of royal purple.

Still have low oil pressure and it's burning my nerves. Not sure if the summer months have anything to do with it, but it idles around the 1/4 mark at running temp, and climbs to the farthest at acceleration. When I 1st threw it in, it was idling at the 3/4 mark and going off the lines when revved... A lot like a long time ago driving during the winter months. I honestly have no idea what's considered normal for these trucks. But a few months, even weeks ago it had higher oil pressure at idle it seemed..

The motor seems happier with new oil, but the oil pressure is burning my nerves.

Royal Purple 10w-30 with a Bosch filter.

[Longhorn Man]

1/4 guage (stock guage) is still 15 PSI... plenty fine. As long as it jumps up as you rev it.
When the engine warms up, the oil thins out due to the added heat and flows easier. In flowing easier, it takes less force to push it, and reduces the PSI.

[texanidiot25]

Right-on. Excellent.

I'm burnt out with graduation and other things in life, when the dependable truck waivers it gets to me quick. Thankfully since we're doing the pitment arm seal on the steering box soon, the alignment will come then anyways so it's not badly timed.

But, of course, there's still the rust. (Dun dun, dahhh)

Anyways, thanks LHMAN and Mikajo, keeping my mind a little sane.

[oldblue1968chevy]

hang in there lol im in the same boat 1 thing after another


new fuel pump
alternator
starter
switched to the old quadrajet im rebeuildin the edelbrock
had gas in my oil, YEAH lol
swithed to disc and gotta crappy beearing, now 2 bearings and 2 days later
IVE GOTTA RUNNING TRUCK WITH MATCHING WHEELS!! so excited gettin it lined up tomorow lol

then im off to find a reraend

it never ends

im really wanting to consider a neewer truck.......im 16 and parts are killing me

[mikajo39]

Originally Posted by texanidiot25

Right-on. Excellent.

I'm burnt out with graduation and other things in life, when the dependable truck waivers it gets to me quick. Thankfully since we're doing the pitment arm seal on the steering box soon, the alignment will come then anyways so it's not badly timed.

But, of course, there's still the rust. (Dun dun, dahhh)

Anyways, thanks LHMAN and Mikajo, keeping my mind a little sane.

No prob,things can get outof hand sometimes, and your oil pressure is right on thats what i got in the summer. But now i get 0 partially cause the engine is on the stand Just tore it down tonight, poor thing, two flat lobes on the cam, some badly bent pushrods, quite a bit of metal in the pan, and some nasty looking scoring on the crank's counterweight.
And if you really wanted to see your oil pressure jump up just get some heavier weight oil, used to run 20w-50 in mine of course thats really just a band-aid for a bigger problem if you have abnormally low oil pres but mainly i ran it cause it had zinc in it so my cam wouldn't go flat.. lot of good that did me. Don't worry to much about Grad stuff if you can enjoy your summer while you still have time, things will chill soon

[texanidiot25]

The reason it got to me is because 10w-30 was what was in it, and it always was higher up until this week. But that was off the dealership pump so I have no clue what brand it was beside what ever a GM dealership uses (I assume, GM Brand, lol). Went with royal purple this time for the sake of the cam and stayed away from the Fram filter after reading everyone's story. I believe them now as I used a fram on my cheapy beater (free 1986 Chrysler Laser) a few weeks ago, and the casing on them feels incredibly chinzy. Can see how they split so easy.

The motor feels a lot happier. Seemingly ran cooler too but I've only had 2 short drives today. But with the gigantic aluminum rad I have, I've never seen it climb past the half way mark too.

[mikajo39]

Yay for running cool! Mine ran pretty cool with my 4 row copper brass never got more than half ever! Supposedly, Royal purple cuts down on friction and runs cooler, I've never used it but supposedly its some pretty good stuff, and i would definetley stay away from those fram filters, bosch makes good ones so you should be set for the next 3500 miles, hopefully!