What did you do to your truck today??

[LeesTruk]

Good Find!! Those are hard to come by.

[Boog]

'91 must have been a changeover year for the instrument cluster. My original 91 has the "moonies".

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by Boog

'91 must have been a changeover year for the instrument cluster. My original 91 has the "moonies".

From what I've read, they offered the tach for maybe half of '91. The '91 tach gauge cluster fits the same connector as the 88-90 moonies cluster, and then in '92 they went to a different connector. They did make some slight changes to the connector pinout though, so I'll have to move some wires around. Reminds me of upgrading from idiot lights to gauges on my '68.

I'm assuming the gauge cluster change in '92 was in preparation for the upcoming change from the 4L60 (700R4) to the 4L60E, which required changing from an ECU to a PCM.

[special-K]

I ordered the tach in my '92. Then I guess they became standard after that. Must have been in '95 with the new dash. I ordered a few options that within a year or two I was seeing on every truck.

[special-K]

That could be. Mine was the late in '92 introduced 6.5TD with an NV4500. Minimum electronics. At first I had to call it a '93 at parts places. It took a few years for listings to show for '92.

That truck took just about 6 months to be delivered. I never got an explanation. I got false alarms at least three times before it actually came. Actually, I knew there would be an extra wait up front, which ended up being about 6wks to start. I got them to give me the fleet color Woodland Green, but had to wait for enough orders for a batch to came in. Ordered in Jan, received in June.

[LeesTruk]

PJ/Special-K, I have one each, of those clusters. The '91 cluster differs from the '92-'94 in that the odometer/trip meter on the '91 shows a 6 digit trip meter, whereas the '92-'94 has 7 digits. That's on the cluster face. At the rear, the '91 has a steel backing plate, and the '92-'94 has an open back. Also, the harness interfacing connecters are different. I've included pics of all of this. Sorry for the blurred pics of the odometers. What you CAN do is swap the odo/trip from one to the other simply by removing the cluster face, remove a couple of little screws and unplug the odo/trip motor. The '91 cluster actually hides the tenth of a mile digit. The cluster on the left is '92-'94, the right, '91. So, PJ, if you want to keep the truck mileage original, just take the Moonie odo/trip and swap it into your tach cluster. Even that can be done. Ain't GM grand?

[LeesTruk]

I forgot to mention, the '92-'94 speedometer uses an external DRAQ that receives its signal from the VSS. The '91, like the Moonies, has internal circuitry that must be altered for the speedo to read correctly. But I have to assume you knew that going in

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by LeesTruk

I forgot to mention, the '92-'94 speedometer uses an external DRAQ that receives its signal from the VSS. The '91, like the Moonies, has internal circuitry that must be altered for the speedo to read correctly. But I have to assume you knew that going in

Yep. There's a handy chart in the link I posted earlier that explains how to make the speedometer adjustment. I just had to swap the positions of two of the fuses that are soldered to the PCB.

That's good to know about the compatibility of the odometers.

[special-K]

Yeah, thanks for the great information on nitty gritty differences

[pjmoreland]

Finished installing the '91 tach cluster in my '89 today. Ended up tweaking the speedo calibration a little after test-driving it. Everything appears to be working correctly. I did the rearranging of the cluster connector pins without cutting a slot in the dash like the guide said to do, but it took a lot of extra time to do it that way.

[Just call me Sean]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with the 99. Sometimes it runs bad and I'm getting codes P0339 and P0341, crankshaft sensor and camshaft sensor. I'm better with OBDI than I am with OBDII. They're not the same codes I got when the cam sensor was out of sync with the crank sensor.

[Just call me Sean]

I fixed the check engine light to help with diagnosis, so I can see when the computer is triggered. I stole the bulb from the security light spot since that one always stays on and annoys me. I defeated the security system a while back.

[LUV2XCLR8]

Drop Spindles given to the PowderCoater over weekend. Pick up next Monday...

[pjmoreland]

Replaced the floor mat with one that has no holes or rips in it that I found at the wrecking yard for $6

[Just call me Sean]

Checked the power and ground to the crankshaft sensor, that was good. Didn't check the signal yet. Thinking about pulling the timing cover and inspecting the reluctor wheel and timing chain. The sensor looks like it has been contacting the wheel and there's an oil leak in the front anyways.

[special-K]

I bought and installed a new battery. Last winter I noticed it cranked slower when it was cold in the morning. I figured a new battery was on the horizon. But it kept on cranking. When the cold weather came around this year, same thing. It's been a mild winter with only two very cold snaps. Last week was one and it almost didn't start.
On a warmer morning since, it just wouldn't crank fast enough. Hooked up the charger. I had to hook the charger up again yesterday morning when it wasn't very cold. Last evening I needed to go to town and it was dead after sitting a few hours. I put it on the charger early so I could do what I could last evening. I tried to start it an hour or so after charging and it was about dead. Charged it a while again and it managed to fire up, so I hustled into town, now for a battery as well. I was worried it didn't have enough charge but I made it. Put the new one in hoping I was correct that it was obviously the battery, since I had shut it off. Fired right up like it hasn't in a couple years. I hope this new battery is as good as that old one. Date written on top was 9/12/13!

[Boog]

You more than got your money's worth out of that one.

[Palf70Step]

I had the same issue on my DD since I have owned it. When it got cold it was slow but always fire until we got the super cold (for us anyway) single digit temps. Got it started Christmas eve, went and got new battery. mine was dated 10/15.

[special-K]

Some turn up better than others. This was a Car Quest battery. Nothing special. I bought the Suburban in late Dec '14. so it was a little more than a year old then.

[Palf70Step]

Wow, I didn't think you had the Burb quite that long. Seemed like only couple years ago. Oh well, there's that old thing creeping in again.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Wow, I didn't think you had the Burb quite that long. Seemed like only couple years ago. Oh well, there's that old thing creeping in again.

I've put 120k on it since I bought it. It's at 240k now. I put the 6 month old tires from my '92 on it, went through a new set, and on a set I bought a year ago. The dual exhaust I had run on it when I got it is shot. I was a young man when I bought it and now I'm old . I've had friends who bought new cars back then already replace them. Not too shabby for $3k. Who says the Suburbans aren't economy cars??

[special-K]

Time has become a fooler for me. It seemed like I only had the Suburban a couple few years until I realized I've actually had it quite a few couple years . I keep thinking of '15 as being about 5 years ago but now it's heading for almost 10 (just past 8).

[Just call me Sean]

I'm working on my cubby plate, made from galvanized sheet metal. I'm mounting my power mirror switch there, which is a style that didn't come in these trucks.

[Just call me Sean]

I should have let the paint dry longer but I rushed it together.

[pjmoreland]

Nice! That looks really clean.