Well, CRAP!

[ScottyB]

So I got my 97 K1500 Burb and love driving it. We knew it had a coolant leak when we got it and suspected the front heater core. Pulled out the heater core and it looked new. Went ahead and changed it on general principle (188k worth of GP). Started nosing around under the hood and the heater hose connector coming out of the intake was looking much worse for wear so we changed that, thought we had it taken care of. Added a little water over the next couple weeks thinking that we just hadn't got it burped well.

Well, Wednesday I loaded up the burb for a long weekend of camping. Driving 200 miles out I added 3/4 gallon of water. Driving back, about 1 1/4 gallon. A quick trip underneath shows rust trails fore and aft coming out of the valley. ****!!!

Guess I'm looking at replacing the intake gaskets.

So the only other thing I noticed is that loaded down the steering gets a bit squirrelly.

So, how much of a PITA is changing the Intake gaskets? Also, any ideas on why it gets squirrelly when loaded? I was not towing a trailer but I did have a hitch carrier on.

 

[firebane]

Intake gaskets isn't really all that hard its just a lot of crap to remove and r&r when you do it.

By the way if you are going as far as the intake gaskets look into the spider injector as well.

The vortecs are notorious for them failing.

 

[ScottyB]

By the way if you are going as far as the intake gaskets look into the spider injector as well.

The vortecs are notorious for them failing.

Ok, you got me. I'm checking NAPA and I don't see anything about a spider injector. I see fuel injectors (8 required) but I'm hoping you aren't talking about replacing all of those as that is an extra $250 -$300 I wasn't planning on spending.

 

[firebane]

Ok, you got me. I'm checking NAPA and I don't see anything about a spider injector. I see fuel injectors (8 required) but I'm hoping you aren't talking about replacing all of those as that is an extra $250 -$300 I wasn't planning on spending.

You can be lucky and not have any issues with the spider injector for as long as you have the vehicle.

That is why I said take a look while your in there. This is a writeup on the spider injector:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Poor-Mans-Repair-Guide-For-ChevyGMC-Vortec-Fuel-I/

 

[animal]

I would check the ball joints and tie-rod ends to fix the squirrelly condition. I would bet you have some bad lower ball joints.

 

[ScottyB]

I would check the ball joints and tie-rod ends to fix the squirrelly condition. I would bet you have some bad lower ball joints.

PO just did a front end inspection a couple months back. I trust his judgement on that. He and I did a road trip about 4-5 years ago in it and it did the same thing pulling a trailer. I just don't know with that. Hard to imagine we had enough weight behind the rear axle to start lighten the front axle in any significant manner but that is how it feels.

 

[kleedus]

I would look at upgrading your injectors to the ones in this link and getting a billet distributer while you have it torn apart. your stock distributer is plastic and probably worn out

http://www.ebay.com/itm/217-3029-AC...Parts_Accessories&hash=item233d8e0c17&vxp=mtr


http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-96-02-T...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4cff003dcc&vxp=mtr