Common problems

bfreese · Post by **bfreese** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:46 am

I had a buddy of mine, who's a mechanic at a Chevy dealer, hook up his diagnostic reader to the truck last night in hopes of figuring out why the SES lights been on. Apparantly it has to do with the coolant not reaching the specified temp in the desired amount of time. He reset the thing, told me to keep an eye on it, and if it goes on again, bring it to the dealer and have them do a "goodwill" fix - warranty expired 400 miles ago. Sounds like this SES is pretty much a "tree hugger" light. At any rate, I asked him what kind of problems he most often encounters with the S-10 Crew. He said I can pretty much count on having the front ball joints and steering linkage replaced sometime between 50 and 75,000 miles, and that the intake manifold gasket will fail in that time frame as well. His recommendation was to try and pick up an extended warranty if I still could, which I have a real problem with. When you're buying these things, the salesperson goes on like these trucks are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and in the next breath they're trying to sell you an extended warranty. I guess what I'm wondering, is if anyone else has heard this same thing or experienced the same thing. I'm kind of of the opinion that the reason these ball joints and linkage fail, is because alot of people bring their trucks to these Quick Lubes, where you've got some lazy high school kid doing the service, and they don't bother to grease all the points because they really don't give a crap, and are making $5/ hour. I do all of my routine maintenance, and am about as picky as can be about doing it properly, etc. Just wondering what any of you fellas think.

Post by **HenryJ** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:14 am

The first ball joints were poorly designed. The ball has a rough texture. I can only speculate that this was intended to trap lubricant. The design failed. Premature wear was the result.
Regular maintainence seems to prolong the life, but replacement seems to be unavoidable. Expect about $400 to have it done by an alignment shop.

The idler arm and pitman ball joints seem to suffer from lack of lubrication. There problems seem to be less frequent, with some never having problems.

I am a firm believer that the Dexcool is at the root of the intake, heater core and other leakage/failure problems.

Browsing this forum will reveal most of the issues that may happen. Some get lucky and never have problems. Lots of depends upon location, use and care.

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 2:14 pm

dexcool=junk = me having to replace my water pump

gocntry · Post by **gocntry** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 2:59 pm

HenryJ wrote:I am a firm believer that the Dexcool is at the root of the intake, heater core and other leakage/failure problems.

Jeff024 wrote:dexcool=junk = me having to replace my water pump

Ok, Seems Almost Everybody Dislikes Dex-Cool...So I'm Wondering What Brands Are You Guys Running? I'm Needing to Change Out The Antifreeze In My Astro Conversion So I'll Do The Crew At The Same Time. I Did See Amsoil Makes Anti Freeze But At $25.00 A Gallon That's A Little Stiff

I Haven't Really Seen Any "Green" Around Here Just The "Orange Dex" And The Long Life "Yellow" So What Should I Be Using?

As Always Thanks For Your Opinions

Post by **HenryJ** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 3:08 pm

gocntry wrote:...What Brands Are You Guys Running?

What ever is cheap. I have been using NAPA branded coolant primarily.

Be sure to cut out and remove the part of the decal that calls for dexcool. If your expansion tank cap has the "dexcool" on it , use a razor blade to remove that as well. You don't want someone to read those and add dex to a vehile that has been converted.

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 3:59 pm

I have 67k on my Crew and my ball joints are still in excellent condition. The idler arm however is very weak and should be upgraded to a Moog problem solver. If you decide to switch to green coolant make sure you completely flush out all of the Dex crap, because mixing the 2 will make something similar to Jell-O.

Get one of those coolant flushing kits made by Prestone. This will made the flushing procedure much easier.

Make sure you also check your radiator cap for damaged gaskets. I use Prestone (green) coolant and 1 bottle of Redline Water Wetter with distilled water. What temperature thermostat are you using? Anything lower than 180* will cause the SES light to come on. Most of us here are using a 180* T-stat made by Jet.

Steve