About three months ago, I had about the worst experience you could imagine with one of these old babies. Well, maybe the second worst, besides a fire! I was Driving down the highway to meet a client, things just started to not "feel" right. Y'all know what I am talking about... I turned off the radio and started listening. Everything sounded fine. No smoke. Temp was normal. Power at the floor was fine... But I could just feel something at the steering wheel and in the floor-board, it just wasn't quite right. I had about a mile to the next exit, so I slowed down a bit, that's when the sound hit me!
Ting ting ting ting ting
I immediately dropped into natural and started focusing, the sound died down! I was still coasting around 65, so perhaps not the diff's... Back in my teens with my old '86 GMC Jimmy, I had a front diff auto-locker, auto-engage, while I was on the highway, driving about 80 miles south in the heat of the Arizona summer. The end result, it literally heat welded the axle shaft splines to the side gear teeth! I had felt a sudden drop in power and pulled off the highway, then while on the off-ramp, it was like pulling the e-brake while going 45, but on the front instead of the rear... the whole front pumpkin was glowing bright orange! Scary as hell!
Half a mile left to the exit, still coasting, down to about 50 mph, there didn't seem to be any drag while in neutral, and with the sound lessening, I was almost certain it wasn't one of the diff's. I carefully shifted into drive and back to neutral, no clunking, banging, or grinding, so, probably not the trans, but there was still a light ting ting ting ting going on. Still in neutral, I gave a slow press to the gas pedal... crap, there it is, the engine!
My oil pressure gauge has been shot since the day I bought this 'ole boy. Early on, I swapped out the dash gauge from my donor rig, as well as a fresh oil pressure sensor. I couldn't ever get it to work. It was always either reading nothing or it was fully pegged out. I'm almost positive it's a wire short. "I check my oil regularly", I would say, "Not a huge deal", I kept telling myself... until the day it really is. a. huge. deal!
Quarter mile to the exit, down to about 40, I shut off the engine, turned on my hazards, and just kept coasting. Down the ramp, off to the side of the road, I came safely to a stop. My first call was to my client, letting him know I was going to be late! My next action was to order up an Uber, 'cause at least I can mitigate some of the time lost! Getting out of the truck, I didn't smell anything off, and nothing was glowing underneath the truck, so at least there was that. Taking a closer look, I had one heck of an oil slick from the pan all the way to the back of the burb, with a small puddle already forming underneath!!! I pulled the dip stick, just to confirm... completely dry! Feeling curious, I tested the key... the whole thing was locked up!
You just know, when you buy an old rig, you are going to have problems. I've been slowly dealing with the issues as they have popped up. Breaks, rear diff, missing bolts, you know the drill. Something breaks, you fix it better than stock. I have my donor in the driveway, it's been an invaluable source of spare parts, bolts, hard fuel lines, and even electronics. I knew full well that I wanted to rebuild the engine. I've been planning for the eventuality for many months... you just don't ever expect, or maybe more accurately, you cross your fingers and hope to God, that it won't be today! Welp, today IS the day!!!
There was nothing left to do, but order a tow truck and leave the keys under the floor mat. As I climbed into my Uber, laptop in hand, my head was held low, thinking about all the work that I am now forced to undertake. Such is the life of loving our squares!
This is what I found in my oil pan... that is extruded bearing metal!
You can see how dry this pair of rods got, as well as how the bearings extruded themselves out of the sides of the rod cap!