Finally have this girl home, now what?

[Thesiger]

Posted I bought this suburban a while ago. (1990 V1500 350) only just got it home. As a novice, I don't know of to address a few of the issues I've encountered. I had a good while to get to know the truck on the 150 mile drive home, here's some of the quirks I noticed:

Steering feels very boaty, borderline dangerous, its a lifted truck so I expected some, but a 3rd of a turn of play? how much could be attributed to worn out parts?

Engine needs major tune or going over. on stretches of the highway the truck would miss cylinders terribly, and shake the entire truck. But when off the highway, or at lower speeds it ran very well. Overall it seemed to be struggling, trans shifted good, but seems like it was failing to keep speed and shift at the correct times, again, at low speed preformed perfectly.

Breaks, had some sponge and pull to the left, truck doesn't leak at all but a believe the fluid was simply low fulling helped a lot. But the main thing is the brake check light stays on, what triggers this sensor? What should I be checking?

These where the three major things I noticed. Overall the truck was good to drive, but now I want to know how to fix some of the problems that came out of the wood work on the long drive. suggestions?

 

[Frankenchevy]

Steering feels very boaty, borderline dangerous, its a lifted truck so I expected some, but a 3rd of a turn of play? how much could be attributed to worn out parts?

Check rag joint, tie rod ends, drag link, steering box and frame near box

Engine needs major tune or going over. on stretches of the highway the truck would miss cylinders terribly, and shake the entire truck. But when off the highway, or at lower speeds it ran very well.

Check timing and distributor advance functions. Check plugs and wires.

Breaks, had some sponge and pull to the left, truck doesn't leak at all but a believe the fluid was simply low fulling helped a lot. But the main thing is the brake check light stays on, what triggers this sensor? What should I be checking?

Check soft lines. A good bleed won’t hurt. Prop valve may be acting up too.

 

[gmbellew]

Posted I bought this suburban a while ago. (1990 V1500 350) only just got it home. As a novice, I don't know of to address a few of the issues I've encountered. I had a good while to get to know the truck on the 150 mile drive home, here's some of the quirks I noticed:

Steering feels very boaty, borderline dangerous, its a lifted truck so I expected some, but a 3rd of a turn of play? how much could be attributed to worn out parts?

Engine needs major tune or going over. on stretches of the highway the truck would miss cylinders terribly, and shake the entire truck. But when off the highway, or at lower speeds it ran very well. Overall it seemed to be struggling, trans shifted good, but seems like it was failing to keep speed and shift at the correct times, again, at low speed preformed perfectly.

Breaks, had some sponge and pull to the left, truck doesn't leak at all but a believe the fluid was simply low fulling helped a lot. But the main thing is the brake check light stays on, what triggers this sensor? What should I be checking?

These where the three major things I noticed. Overall the truck was good to drive, but now I want to know how to fix some of the problems that came out of the wood work on the long drive. suggestions?

bad hwy manners can result from larger tires without adjusting the DRAC settings. is the speedo off?

start with the basics - check timing, vacuum (with a gauge) and fuel pressure. check condition of vacuum lines to TBI and routing to make sure they are correct. check plugs, wires, cap, and rotor.

the drivability manual in the reference library is a very good resource for all things TBI. and I'd recommend an ALDL cable and the ALDLDroid app if you use Droid instead if Apple. it will let you see what the ECM sees at each sensor and a variety of engine parameters. helps a ton with diagnostics.

steering could be worn components in lots if places. have someone turn the wheel while you look around for where the play is.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Fuel system supply issues can also cause some of the driveability problems. A fuel filter for these isn't expensive and can definitely help, especially if the Burb's been sitting a while. The flex lines on the fuel system (from the filter up the back of the engine to the TBI unit) could be suspect due to age. This isn't something most people would replace, but I had to do that on my '90 Burb R2500. It's a pain in the a$$ and other places cause you have to lay on top of the engine, but when it runs so much better and doesn't leak, it's worth the effort. It's also helpful to have an assistant on this job,to watch out on the lower end that it doesn't get caught up in the rest of the truck.

 

[Thesiger]

Yes, all VERY good things, Since the truck was so cheap, I can afford to put money into it.

Yes the speedo reads 5-7 too high.

The upper and lower front left ball joints where replaced, I know that can be a factor messing stuff up, probably needs a good alignment?

 

[Albrigap]

I brought home a 90 R1500 GMC which spent it's first 20 years in a heated garage and done funeral duty. The body is perfect. It had two dead misses and needed head gaskets. The windshield, headliner, radiator, alternator, water pump, heater core and fuel pump have been replaced. I also had a broken ring land on #5 that brought about a cold knock. An overhaul solved this. The factory radio is garbage. Just packed front wheels and replaced the front brake pads. Deleted the rear anti-lock brakes. These do not have high effort steering so they drive real wishy washy. Get rid of the lift kit and that will help some. Basically, if it turns or wears, overhaul it or replace it. After all, it is almost 34 years old.

 

[Khayward]

On the steering: I had to replace the whole drag link, both ends plus the sleeve, wasn't a terrible job. I was also on 16 year old tires, replaced those yesterday and it felt like I'd had the front end rebuilt. Have a small amount of play in the steering box, but amazed at the difference new tires made.