recent maint. & repair hurdles, '88 5kcstq

[Ken Keith]

Hey all,

I thought I'd mention that I replaced a few items on my '88 5kcstq 
recently.  Mostly without incident.

After I got my new 150a alternator installed and squared away, I 
drove it for a few days before the low coolant light began flashing.  I 
parked it until the next opportunity came up to fix it.  It's nice to 
have another car to jump into at those times.

I looked under the hood and saw various places where coolant 
seemed to be hanging around.  It looked to me that the crimped on 
plastic end tanks on the (original to me) radiator were seeping or 
leaking.  Luckily I had an all-metal local radiator shop job in the 
4kstq donor ('87 5kt auto).  I was anticipating big trouble in the 
swap because the donor PO had complained about how hard it 
was to get it in there.

I moved the hydraulic pump while it was connected, and moved the 
afterrun coolant pump as well, and the reservoir.  With those items 
missing, it wasn't difficult at all, IMO.  So, I got it swapped in and 
things seem to be okay now again.  I reused my 7-blade fan and 
housing from the q, and left off the 4-blade fan that was on the auto.

Then I drove it until the gas level was low, so I could replace the 
hose that goes from the top of the tank at the sender to the 
pressure accumulator on the bottom right side of the car.  That was 
more work than I expected.  There is little clearance above the tank 
to fish the hose through, especially with the old one in place.  I 
ended up undoing the tank, which then dropped a whole inch or so 
until it sat on the diff.  I dropped the whole rear subframe, four 
bolts, and gave myself a little more clearance than without.  On the 
right side, I pulled and hung the caliper to prevent stressing the 
brake hose.

All in all, not too bad of a job.  I didn't get the new hose routed 
through the mounted zip-ties on the side of the tank, but the hose 
is still ran through the clearanced area above the tank, under the 
body.  To do it more thoroughly, i.e. through the zip-ties, would 
have meant dropping the whole rear suspension/diff/subframe, and 
potentially the back half of the exhaust to allow the tank to 
completely drop.  Major pita.

I had some help from a local former lister, Rob O. (thanks Rob!).

What had happened to my old hose was a long story.  In brief, I 
replaced the fuel pump to diagnose/fix a no-start condition (was the 
FP relay), and while I or my mechanic was in the tank, the sender 
float arm got bent and started binding.  So, I tried to go back in the 
tank to straighten the arm, and ended up cracking the sender 
(undo the hoses before you loosen the retention ring!), and then 
when trying to take the broken sender out of the car, I damaged the 
end of the hose at the banjo bolt fitting.  One thing after another!  
But that stuff is squared away now, for the time being.  That 
damaged hose, which I threw a small hose clamp on, had caused 
strong fuel odor in the car after I would leave it parked.

So, the q is on the road again for now.  Some other stuff I want to 
get to is the shifting has a little tap to it, like it doesn't like the 
synthoil I'm running.  I have to do the bypass valve sometime too...

If anyone has any questions, just let me know.

Later,

Ken