Quote:
Originally Posted by mosesburb
Cool!! A two-tone!!
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More like a tone of many colors. I've got rusty patina on the roof, as well as faded original green and underlying red primer up there. There's also gloss black where I scraped out the original roof seam sealer, coated it up with POR-15 and then applied new seam sealer. Then there is white around the windows, blue on the hood, primer most everywhere else and bondo/rust in some of the lower sections.
As far as updates go, I replaced the A/C condenser not too long ago. My 41 year old original had been nicked and didn't hold pressure (as I found out when I went to get the system charged). I bought a new replacement from Brothers Trucks (they aren't stocked, rather made by their supplier when the order is received) which is advertised as being more efficient. All I really cared was that the dimensions were the same as the original because my engine oil & transmission fluid coolers had been mounted to or near it. They were nice enough to contact the supplier for me and confirm all of the dimensions.
After the new part was in, I was ready to drive back into town and get the A/C system charged. Instead I haven't been driving the Suburban at all. I've been frustrated by the fact that it wouldn't start without popping the hood, removing the air cleaner, opening the throttle plates, spraying in starting fluid, climbing out of the engine bay and into the cabin, turning the key and trying to feather the throttle in hopes the engine would catch and run. If that didn't happen the first time, I'd repeat all of the above steps until it did run and then replace the air filter assembly, close the hood and drive away. Not a very convenient scenario each time you want to hop in and go somewhere.
Last week I decided to retrace and rethink the way things were wired. Before actually tracing anything in the vehicle, I determined that making a fully fledged wiring diagram would be handy for both the present and the future. I tried downloading a couple of programs meant for laying out circuit board diagrams (google's best suggestion), but they weren't populated with all the automotive symbols I'd need and they didn't seem to have color-coding capabilities. I gave up on them and decided to make mine in Illustrator. It started much the same way the real wiring job did, at the front working toward the rear. I'm still plugging away at the transmission and A/C wiring, plus I need to confirm a number of connections against the actual wiring in the vehicle, but it is pretty close to being done.
Of course, the Illustrator file is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8000 pixels wide which wouldn't fit here very well. Last night, while double checking a few items on the new diagram, it dawned on me that the Suburban might not be starting because the injectors weren't getting power with the key in the 'start' position. Checking the layout so far seemed to confirm my hypothesis. It looked like the injector circuit and the radio circuit were both pulling power from the same source. I know that in my DD the radio cuts out when I'm cranking the motor over, and it seemed that this same thing might have been happening on my Suburban, but killing power to the injectors instead.
Excitedly, this morning I started poking and prodding the fuse box with a test light while turning the key in the ignition and watching the bulb. It turns out that the both the radio wire and the fuel injectors were getting power while the key was in the 'start' position. I was a little dumbfounded for a while. Then I remembered that the ECM fuse was also in the same vicinity. Poke ECM fuse with timing light, turn key to 'on', bulb lights up, turn key to 'start' and bulb goes off. EUREKA!
After that all I had to do was pull power to the ECM from another fused source that would remain energized while the engine was cranking. Now my Suburban starts immediately with the key. None of this fiddling with starting fluid nonsense. While I've got the gauge cluster out (its easier to access my spaghetti monster this way) I've got a couple of other minor wiring related items to have a look at, but soon I'll be loggin some more miles.
