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Started By
Message
re: The tune-up thread
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:04 pm to Hammertime
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:04 pm to Hammertime
After that, I decided to change my plugs and did the wires also because they break every time I pull on them wrong.
Here you can see how much room is actually in this engine compartment. I did my old Tahoe not too long ago, and it was much more tight.
To start off, I unhooked the battery and then made some room by removing these three bolts/nut with the yellow arrows, and unclipping this wire at the green arrow. I could then move that Battery bracket out of the way so I could get at that plug better. I also unplugged the little plug I am pointing at so I didn't break it, but I have no idea what it is for
The wires are pretty easy to pull off of the coil packs, but I always have trouble pulling them from the plugs. I have found that grabbing them with some large lock-jaw pliers and wedging them out works well. Be careful not to squeeze them too hard or you will crush the heat shield. Just wiggle the shite out of them while wedging them out
Here is a pick of the heat shield and spring that needs to be swapped over
I think this was an 8" extension and a 5/8 spark plug socket. That extension worked for the #2 cylinder, but I had to switch to a smaller one for all of the others
Old vs new plugs
I put a little bit of anti-seize on the threads and spread it out, and I put dielectric grease on the top of the plug after I get it in. You can get both of these at Autozone or whatever store
For the passenger side, I moved these hoses and got more room to work
This plug is normally the most dreaded. It is the furthest one back on the passenger side. Suprisingly, it was very easy to get to on my 2500, but I know from experience that it is much harder to do on a 5.3 liter. IIRC, I had to use some combo of extenstion and u-joint to get it out. Major PITA
I make sure to thread all of them in by hand first, and then use the extension/socket to screw them down. When I am tightening, there is a definite point where I know it is tight. You should be able to figure it out. Do not tighten much more than that. Put all of your shite back together, and make sure that the plug wires "click" into both the plug and the coil pack
Here you can see how much room is actually in this engine compartment. I did my old Tahoe not too long ago, and it was much more tight.
To start off, I unhooked the battery and then made some room by removing these three bolts/nut with the yellow arrows, and unclipping this wire at the green arrow. I could then move that Battery bracket out of the way so I could get at that plug better. I also unplugged the little plug I am pointing at so I didn't break it, but I have no idea what it is for
The wires are pretty easy to pull off of the coil packs, but I always have trouble pulling them from the plugs. I have found that grabbing them with some large lock-jaw pliers and wedging them out works well. Be careful not to squeeze them too hard or you will crush the heat shield. Just wiggle the shite out of them while wedging them out
Here is a pick of the heat shield and spring that needs to be swapped over
I think this was an 8" extension and a 5/8 spark plug socket. That extension worked for the #2 cylinder, but I had to switch to a smaller one for all of the others
Old vs new plugs
I put a little bit of anti-seize on the threads and spread it out, and I put dielectric grease on the top of the plug after I get it in. You can get both of these at Autozone or whatever store
For the passenger side, I moved these hoses and got more room to work
This plug is normally the most dreaded. It is the furthest one back on the passenger side. Suprisingly, it was very easy to get to on my 2500, but I know from experience that it is much harder to do on a 5.3 liter. IIRC, I had to use some combo of extenstion and u-joint to get it out. Major PITA
I make sure to thread all of them in by hand first, and then use the extension/socket to screw them down. When I am tightening, there is a definite point where I know it is tight. You should be able to figure it out. Do not tighten much more than that. Put all of your shite back together, and make sure that the plug wires "click" into both the plug and the coil pack
1
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:22 pm to Hammertime
After that I got to my upper control arms. The ball joints up there were shot and the bushings were dry rotted, so I bought two upper control arms with bushings and ball joints already pressed in. It was also rusty as frick and I didn't feel like cleaning it. IIRC, they were like $119 each. While all of the other joints were dirty, these were the worst, so I just did them today. Will probably get at lower ball joints and idler arm some time in the near future.
Here is what it looks like from the outside. You need to undo the nuts on the inside of the upper control arm, but before you do that, mark the inside of the mounts with a permanent market. Just draw all over the inside of those little plates to get an idea of where they need to be when you put them back on. They are boxed in yellow. The two red circles also need to be removed. The left one is a bracket for the brake line, and just unclip the other ABS line for now. It will be transferred to the new arm.
This green arrow shows another clip for the ABS that needs to be removed. The yellow arrow shows the nut for the ball joint that needs to come out, and the wedge is where you are gonna hammer in a pickle fork. Unbolt that yellow arrow nut almost all of the way and start banging the shite out of the pickle fork to pop the ball joint loose. I had to use a sledge hammer on this one. Then, take the nut all of the way off.
The ball joint was loose in this picture, but I jacked up the lower one so I could easily separate it from the spindle.
After the ball joint is completely free, just yank on the fricker until it comes out
Here is the new one with that ABS clip installed. The old ball joint was just flopping around when I took it out, so it definitely was time to replace it.
Here the thing is installed. When you put it back together, line up those permanent marker marks exactly where you had them. That should get you decently within spec. Now get a grease gun and fill up that zerk fitting until the rubber boot bubbles out all of the way around. You will still need an alignment though.
Sometimes those fricking ball joints dont want to cooperate and just spin when you try to tighten them down. No worries because there is a little hole to stick an allen wrench to hold it still while you wrench on it.
Here is what it looks like from the outside. You need to undo the nuts on the inside of the upper control arm, but before you do that, mark the inside of the mounts with a permanent market. Just draw all over the inside of those little plates to get an idea of where they need to be when you put them back on. They are boxed in yellow. The two red circles also need to be removed. The left one is a bracket for the brake line, and just unclip the other ABS line for now. It will be transferred to the new arm.
This green arrow shows another clip for the ABS that needs to be removed. The yellow arrow shows the nut for the ball joint that needs to come out, and the wedge is where you are gonna hammer in a pickle fork. Unbolt that yellow arrow nut almost all of the way and start banging the shite out of the pickle fork to pop the ball joint loose. I had to use a sledge hammer on this one. Then, take the nut all of the way off.
The ball joint was loose in this picture, but I jacked up the lower one so I could easily separate it from the spindle.
After the ball joint is completely free, just yank on the fricker until it comes out
Here is the new one with that ABS clip installed. The old ball joint was just flopping around when I took it out, so it definitely was time to replace it.
Here the thing is installed. When you put it back together, line up those permanent marker marks exactly where you had them. That should get you decently within spec. Now get a grease gun and fill up that zerk fitting until the rubber boot bubbles out all of the way around. You will still need an alignment though.
Sometimes those fricking ball joints dont want to cooperate and just spin when you try to tighten them down. No worries because there is a little hole to stick an allen wrench to hold it still while you wrench on it.
This post was edited on 8/20/14 at 9:42 am
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