454 problems

[low&slow]

Got a stock 454 from a '73 Chevy, put in a '69. Ran fine for a really long time, until the carb quit on me. So, at the time I had put an Edelbrock carb on it. (4 barrel) Shortly after I had put this new carb on, it started over heating about 15 minutes into running and had a small whistling type noise. It was high pitched, but could barely here where it was coming from. At the time I didn't have any money to dump into it, so I parked it. Now for this past few weeks. My dad took the carb, so I had a holley double pump rebuilt and put on. Ran fine for about 3 weeks or so. Drove it all over the place. I was just about to sign the title over to another guy in trade for a '72 longbed 4x4 when my truck started to do the whistling noise again. This time it is still very high pitched, but it's really loud now and makes my ears ring. Needless to say I didn't get the trade. So back to the noise, my neighbor said its the torque converter because my transmission leaks, my dad said its my water pump (also for overheating issue), but as for what I think, I have know idea. The throttle linkage was set pretty high so it would idle a little higher, so I turned that down a little and as soon as I did that, the squeal stopped. But this morning it started to squeal again for about 30 seconds and then stopped. I went to town and back and it hasn't squealed at me yet.

So as for my rambling in as much detail as I can think of, Does anyone have any idea's??

Please help. It's my daily driver and I should be starting work again soon.

[specialtyretail]

vacuum leak....

[LockDoc]

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Even now that you have the Holly this could still apply...

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_...carb_faq.shtml

LockDoc

[Alex72nova]

i found mine to be the pcv hose screaming because it was loose

[low&slow]

I'll check all that again. I've checked all the vacuum lines and did the spray around the carb and all that was fine. It didn't rev up or anything, but I'll check it all again.

Not sure if I said this in the first post, but it doesn't do it all the time. Just the other week when it started squealing again, it squealed for a few days. I drove it all around today and it never squealed. It just does it every now and then.

[LockDoc]

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Are you sure it's not the fan or power steering belt? Check them for tightness. That would squeal and could also cause overheating...

LockDoc

[D.PASSMORE]

Thoughts:
Overheating can be caused by a few items, blown headgasket, leak in the coolant system or thermostat not opening correctly. Your water pump either works or it dosen't. If the bearing is going out on the water pump, it usually starts leaking before it goes completely out. Gas/fire really has nothing to do with overheating or running hotter than normal.

Bearings usually start whinning when they are getting near the end of there life. You have a bearing (s) in the water pump, alternator and power steering pump and A/C clutch. So, diconnect some belts or spray some lube on the belts to see if it quiets down. You can narrow down the problem from there.

Vacumn leaks can checked by unplugging vac lines and putting your finger over the in/out ports and see if there is a change in engine performance. If there is a leak from that hose, you will notice a change in idel.

[landsurvey1]

Maybe part of the heat problem is the carb. running too rich?

[Lemield]

If the noise is coming from the transmission, it might just be what I had in my C20 right after I bought it. It was a high pitched whine.....I dropped the pan and changed the transmission filter and fluid...no more noise. Filter appeared to be pretty clogged up....just a thought...

[low&slow]

Originally Posted by Lemield

If the noise is coming from the transmission, it might just be what I had in my C20 right after I bought it. It was a high pitched whine.....I dropped the pan and changed the transmission filter and fluid...no more noise. Filter appeared to be pretty clogged up....just a thought...

I did change the fluid and filter. The fluid was nasty and so was the filter. It can't be the transmission squealing, because it squealed on me for a few seconds today as well.

Originally Posted by landsurvey1

Maybe part of the heat problem is the carb. running too rich?

Honestly, I don't know if its running to rich or not. My neighbor did mention that every time I shut the truck off, it smells like unburnt gas.

Originally Posted by D.PASSMORE

Thoughts:
Overheating can be caused by a few items, blown headgasket, leak in the coolant system or thermostat not opening correctly. Your water pump either works or it dosen't. If the bearing is going out on the water pump, it usually starts leaking before it goes completely out. Gas/fire really has nothing to do with overheating or running hotter than normal.

Bearings usually start whinning when they are getting near the end of there life. You have a bearing (s) in the water pump, alternator and power steering pump and A/C clutch. So, diconnect some belts or spray some lube on the belts to see if it quiets down. You can narrow down the problem from there.

Vacumn leaks can checked by unplugging vac lines and putting your finger over the in/out ports and see if there is a change in engine performance. If there is a leak from that hose, you will notice a change in idel.

I do have a few leaks in my radiator. I'm not running a thermostat. I put one in a while back and it overheated shortly after starting the truck, so I'm no longer running one. There is no water in my oil, so I don't think it's a head gasket. My water pump isn't leaking or anything, but it could still be going out.

As far as the other things you have mentioned, I will check on those things.

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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Are you sure it's not the fan or power steering belt? Check them for tightness. That would squeal and could also cause overheating...

LockDoc

My belts are tight. I'm not sure how tight they are suppose to be, but when I shut my truck off today, it spuddered and shook and squealed and blew some smoke out from under the hood.

[72 K20]

The overheating problem would most likely be from running no thermostat. If you put one in and it overheated I would say that the stat was bad or too low of temp.

The whistle soumds like a vacuum leak,, but it sounds like you have checked and eliminated that possibility. Have you tried unhooking all the vacuum lines ,plugging the ports and then checking for the whistle ? Might be worth a shot !

Hope it all works out !!

Tom

[D.PASSMORE]

Post a few pictures of your engine bay. Take a look at your set-up...

[low&slow]

Originally Posted by 72 K20

The overheating problem would most likely be from running no thermostat. If you put one in and it overheated I would say that the stat was bad or too low of temp.

The whistle soumds like a vacuum leak,, but it sounds like you have checked and eliminated that possibility. Have you tried unhooking all the vacuum lines ,plugging the ports and then checking for the whistle ? Might be worth a shot !

Hope it all works out !!

Tom

I'll have to try all that and see what it does. As for the stat, I'll go buy a higher temp one. The one I had was the best one I could buy from Autozone.

Originally Posted by D.PASSMORE

Post a few pictures of your engine bay. Take a look at your set-up...

I'll post some pictures either later today or tomorrow.

[low&slow]

The overheating problem is defiantly the water pump and probably not with much help to keep it cool, a few leaks in the radiator.

But I still can't figure out the squealing noise. I put my air cleaner on it yesterday to drive it to town. It started squealing instantly, so at the first stop sign, I took the air cleaner off. After I did that, the squeal stopped about 2 minutes later. Didn't squeal on me after I got to town and didn't squeal on the way home.

[So.Cal.Super]

Does the truck have A/C?
if you open the radiator cap can you see water circulating?
Could the whistling be from steam boiling off from the leaky radiator?

just a few thoughts