New Suburban Owner

[Arrowboy]

Hello everyone, my name is Eric and I recently aquired a 1989 3/4T 2wd Suburban, it has 123,000 miles 5.7 3spd auto. Heres the "condensed" version of the story. I purchased this off E-Bay about 2.5 weeks ago. I live in Massachusetts and the Burb was in New Jersey. So I buy it and rent a car 1 way down there, and plan on driving it home (I had seen extensive pics and talked to the guy numerous times) I couldnt believe how beautiful the body is on this Burb, Its a Silverado it is Pale yellow with Black beneath the lower molding. He had welded in new Quarters because of rust, but it is done professionally and looks undetectable. Anyway I get in and start driving home, I had stopped at numerous rest stops to let her rest and to evaluate it more. Its a 220 mile drive, I stop at the last rest stop before the highway ends (about 20 miles from my house) I go to start it up and I got nothing, I got all my power, light are fine never dim, no starter solenoid pic up or anything, I check all my fuses fine no problem, fooling around for about an hour then all of the sudden it starts right up, I didnt do anything to it, however now my heater doesnt come on. I was thinking it could possibly be the Neutral Safety switch? or a loose wire in the column?

Also much to my dismay I found out the tailgate hinges are rusted off by the where they hook onto the frame, the brackets that go onto the tailgate are fine, but where they hook to the bottom are rusted off, luckily i can still put the tailgate down, also my back window is power, but only goes down not up, tried a new motor (he gave me) same thing.....now I am thinking it might be the switch inside the cab, anyway is it easy to convert that to a manual crank window? Thanks in advance

Eric

[a28doc]

the window problem is prolly the tailgate not being aligned right since the hinges arent sitting correctly causing the window to not follow the correct channel to go up the starter problem is prolly the inline fuse block on the firewall when they sit for a period of time they get corroded causing intermittent connection I had this happen to my K5 Blazer.
welcome to the board also and lets see some pics of your new toy
Doc

[Arrowboy]

thanx for your input, I had all the switches "defeated" with the gate open and it only go one way, I put in the new motor and it still only goes down but not up. This thing is immaculate under the hood with no corrsoion seen anywhere......i dont know we'll see i guess









Probably the best $700.00 i have spent in a while...

[jprovence]

that is a great buy for only 700

[orvillespooner]

One of the switches does not allow the widow to go up unless the tailgate is fully closed, not ajar at all. If you lower the window untill it just clears the track, you can open the tailgate and the window will still be up a few inches. In this condition the window will only go down (with gate open) not up. So you need to look at the switch that closes when gate is fully closed. Nice truck for $700.00!

[Arrowboy]

I had both switches defeated with the gate open, maybe the switch for the gate is faulty....who knows

[Arrowboy]

Is is easy to go from a power window to a crank window? Tailgate window i mean

[aggiedave98]

great burb! i've got an '89 1/2ton. saw you don't have floormats... make sure to get them!!

[screwballl]

looks good! I have a 91 3/4 ton with 454 and I have the barn doors so i cant help there...
as for the starting problem, mine has an intermittent starting problem as well... I was told that these trucks had a problem with the starter getting hot without a heat sheild. I do if I drive somewhere and the engine gets up to normal working temp, shut it off, come back a few minutes later and it starts but if i make another stop after that it will not start. It is always on the 2nd or 3rd time shutting it off that I have this problem.. so I am looking for a heat sheild for mine to see if that helps at all.
As for the door, I would guess that it is time to replace the rotted portions and maybe replace the whole door with a manual one...

[Bandit76]

Good score.

My 87 burb had the "shut off at the light dead" syndrome. Come to a stop in traffic and she'd die. Give her a few, wiggle a wire at the starter and away she'd go. Found my start circuit had multiple shorts to the solenoid. Heat shield was on originally and I left it off while pulling the starter in and out umpteen times trying to figure this out. I needed to get somewhere so I wired a fancy hot wire with a pushbutton and just made sure the key was switched to on before I started it and it started first try every time from there on after. Until it was wrecked.

I was going to run a SIS type wire #14AWG or so from the last good spot at the firewall to the solenoid and run it clear of the hot parts en route to the starter. Burbs get pretty hot in any season and the path for the wires by the manifold does them in. Good high temp insulated wires and some of that spark plug wire heat wrap.

Check them out if you can.

[special-K]

wELCOME!!You got a good deal.That interior looks new.Don`t be modest,post some pictures on the "Here`s Mine,Let`s See Yours Thread".

[86burb]

Nice truck, Arrowboy, at twice the price! I bought a $1000 truck in far worse shape body wise, two years ago.

As for the tailgate, I am just finished with a tailgate replacement and tailgate mount repair (along with all new body work and paint.....). I have a manual window crank on my 86 3/4T 4x4.

Anyway, the window regulator is different for electric, and you would also need a crank and assembly. I don't know if they will drop right in, but all other parts look the same in the LMC catalog. When you are inside your tailgate, check for rot in the bottom inside and replace the window seals. Usually water has been sheeting down that big piece of glass and through those old seals, and sitting in the bottom of the tailgate.

The tailgate hinges bolt to the tail pan support assembly, which is a notorious salt and mud collector. Put a new one in and your tailgate and window will go up and down much better.

[screwballl]

luckily late 80s to 90s they also had drainage holes in many of the doors and tailgates with moving windows. Looking at the underside of my 91 doors it has oval holes about 1" long and 3 or 4 along the length of the doors, front and back. As I have barn doors there is none back there.

[rheinz]

I had the same Problem on my 87 suburban
I only paid 700 also,
I have spent a total of about 8 hours on the window wiring
and learned alot along the way

You keep saying you had the switch defeted? But have you
checked the wires for continuity?
The tan and the blue wires are the power up and power down
the orange/black is always hot for the power key switch, they run right next to the hinge and might have been cut or broken internaly !!!

Also check the ground ?
If you look insde the tailgate next to the passenger side latch you will see the
latch switch the latch must be fully locked to engage it
Stick your little finger or a screw driver to close the latch. If it works
Just dont let the window fully extend with the tailgate open!!
the glass cant handle its own weight and will brake!! Believe me I know !!! (DOH) http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/i...ohthedrama.gif

[special-K]

The problem I had on my Blazer came down to old side channels.All the fuzzy was rotted/worn off and the track was a bit crusty.With the gate open and switches defeated,It would go about 1/2 way up.Then,I`d support the glass upoff the channel and it would go all the way.The glass kinda takes a curve at one point and will bind without good felts in the channels.