Things are different now that I’m married and have a child. I have to be responsible, both with my time and with my finances. So when, last night, I went to move my 1989 Chevy K1500 Silverado to the other side of the street to avoid a street sweeping ticket, only to listen to my 350 V8 blow up for no apparent reason, I was really upset. More than I would be usually.
Back in my single days, if I blew up an engine, it wasn’t a major concern. In fact, as shown below, when I hyrolocked my first Jeep XJ’s 4.0-liter straight-six, I bought a new motor the next day and hat it installed within the month. I think the whole repair might have cost me $400, and yes, it took many hours, but that was just good content. And fun.
Nowadays, I’m responsible for a small family, and what was once a little setback is now a major problem.
I didn’t need the Chevy Silverado K1500 that I bought for $4,900, but I told my wife Elise it was such a great deal that I couldn’t lose. She trusted me, but I was wrong. Last night, something happened that I simply cannot explain — something so “out there” I’m still having a hard time believing it.
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It was late Monday night, and Elise had suggested I move my truck instead of waiting for the morning, since I’d have an easier job finding parking on the Thursday-street-sweeping side. So I walked up the street, installed the fuse I use as a kill-switch, put my key into the truck’s ignition, cranked, and listened to the engine rev to the sky — but before I could even think to shut anything down, the motor died making a horrible noise. I went to crank the motor again; no dice. I kept trying — nothing.
I put the truck in reverse, allowed it to roll backwards, and let off the clutch. The motor didn’t move. It was then that I knew I was screwed.
Elise knew right away something was wrong when I walked into the house, so she asked what was up.
“I… I think I just lost $7,000 dollars,” I told Elise as I stood there, clearly shocked. “What? How?” she replied.
“Yeah, the truck, which is worth at least $8000 is now worth probably $1000 because the engine just blew up.”
Elise was also surprised, asking me how a motor can just blow up for no reason. I had no answers. She was supportive, as she could tell how bummed I was.
I remained in disbelief, so this morning, I tried jumping the car myself with Elise’s Lexus (see above). The motor still wouldn’t crank.
So I called AAA, who put a high-powered jump-starter onto my battery, and got it to crank over! But the sound that motor made was absolutely horrific (follow our Instagram to listen, as I plan to rank it again as soon as I have my battery charged up). “Yeah… your motor is done,” the AAA driver told me.
I’m still stunned. The truck was driving great when I parked it last week. Now, just starting it up to move it 15 feet to the other side of the road, it just blows up? Why did this happen?
I hadn’t changed the oil since purchasing the truck in January, but the oil looked good, and the previous owner confirmed he was a religions 3000 mile oil-changer. What’s more, even if the oil were bad, the motor wouldn’t have failed like this. This was a catastrophic, abrupt failure.
It seems like perhaps there was something afoot with the Throttle Body Injection system; perhaps there was a major vacuum leak. And maybe it was the engine revving really high at idle that caused those rods to fail.
I suspect that’s what happened. For whatever reason, when I started the truck, it over-revved and the rods let go. Without warning. Or maybe the motor was flooded with fuel?
I’m not sure how I’m going to move forward with this truck. On one hand, selling it for a loss is going to be tough for me since I’m a cheap bastard, but fixing it will take many hours that I should be spending with my child. I also planned to use the truck this Saturday, as we are moving across the city. The timing couldn’t be worse!
I’m really bummed here. I’ll get through it, as I live a life of gratitude these days, but this is going to make future car-purchases more difficult to justify. I figured a 350-powered 4×4 manual Chevy truck was a low-risk buy that I’d actually be able to make some money if I sold it, but I figured wrong. Between the bondo discover on my old Willys Jeep and this, it’s a reminder that buying used cars can be risky, even for wrenching veterans.
Anyway, I will soon be getting a $75 parking ticket. Thereafter, I’ll tow this truck… somewhere and figure out what to do. I’m so tempted to just find a used truck and swap the motor in, but again — time!
I think you know a guy with a multiple bay garage.
If nothing else, it’s still content. You’ve gotten a few articles out of it already, and maybe there are a few more. I’ll bet you’d have some helpers willing to learn from you and do most of the work if you wanted to put out the call to local Autopians. Sit and watch while holding your little one and giving advice. Or find a sponsor to do something fun with the truck for more content. We’ll be reading.
Did you pull spark plugs and crank it? Tibby motors like to blow manifold gaskets. I know the oil looks good, but there is a possibility you blew a manifold gasket and sucked a bunch of coolant into a cylinder, hydrolocking it. Worth a shot to check anyway.
Doesn’t GM sell an electric “crate motor” conversion kit that bolts right up to the transmission on these trucks? E-crate or something like that? I know you’ve been itching to do an electric conversion since at least the FC.
Ran when parked.
Specifically, running like Usain Bolt
Whatever it’s costs to repair, and however much you might lose just sending it to the shredder to make your life easier, remember that divorce is infinitely more expensive….
There are laws on the books in Santa Monica that prohibit people from swapping engines in their driveways.
Basically anything more than filling the air in your tires, doing an oil change or swapping a spare tire is verboten in Santa Monica.
So unless you have some secure off-site garage space with a hoist and tools you can use for the next several weeks – you’re going to need to let someone else handle this for you.
The good news is his happened right out front – Not on the expressway loaded with furniture….
Hey, David!
Here’s likely what happened – I have seen the throttle body base plate gasket let go on these, creating a good old vacuum leak. Since the TBI 350 is a MAP engine, the more air you give it, the faster it’s gonna run.
The other possibility is sticky throttle cable.
In either case, you fire a cold engine, the tolerances are loose as hell, wind it way up, and chances are that an oldie is gonna spin a rod bearing.
I’m really sorry to hear about this, I like that truck quite a lot. The good news is that engine is super easy to change, possibly even easier than in a Jeep!
Maybe I’ll try my hand at it, then. What a bummer, though.
Oh I agree. It royally sucks.
I’m surprised that motor can’t handle a quick rev, but I guess at startup… I could see it.
That sucks, sorry to hear it. Probably sucked in the TBI base gasket and the resulting vacuum led to an immediate overrev before proper oil pressure was achieved. As a fleet mechanic, I’ve often seen those TBI base gaskets cause sky-high idle RPM’s. Still shouldn’t have blown an otherwise-healthy motor, but who knows. Try to look on the (slightly)bright side – it happened at home, not out on the road somewhere in the middle of the night.
Maybe Fred Williams or associated folks has an engine laying around they could toss in it.
This might be karma for bragging on GMT400s in your video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_qnQfnUx_g&t=1322s
If you think you can get your money back after repairing it (I don’t know how expensive are shops in California), just fix it and you have a functionable truck for errands, having a truck is perfect for things like moving, getting stuff from home depot, etc.
Here’s an idea for you – start an Autopian Wrenching Education program, where people can come and learn about working on cars. First project up, an engine swap!
You can be there with the little one, and teach people what the various tools and steps are for completing the operation. You can walk around holding the little one and let the “students” get the hands-on education with the vehicle work. There may be a high school or two in the area that has some students that would jump all over this, if the schools out there don’t already have this type of curriculum available.
Quality bonding time for you and the little one, some useful education for some “big city” people that wouldn’t ordinarily have the opportunity, and potentially some great content for the site. If your accounting people are creative, you might even be able to write off the cost of the replacement engine.
It won’t help you for this weekend, but it could turn into a new Autopian series.
I’ve had to ask more than once for help from people with what we call “tiny raccoon hands.” If only the child was a few years older…
Do you have a moment to talk about our savior, the LS engine?
“I have 3 days to swap a junkyard 5.3 from a van into my holy grail silverado”
The good news is the period from when the baby starts sleeping through the night until they stop napping as a toddler is actually the peak amount of time you will have to get things done, especially projects at home so you don’t have the guilt of expecting your wife to take care of all the parenting. Once you start spending your days entertaining a toddler that no longer naps, you aren’t getting anything done for a long time.
Subcontract this one out, David. Babies grow too darn fast. You have flexibility in your work that many young parents don’t. Take advantage of it.
That seriously sucks. But, you’ve got two things going for you:
And I give you “Everything wrong with perceived value of old pickups in two acts.”
Act 1: Overpay for old pickup that used to be worth $1500
Act 2: Old pickup does old pickup things.
– Put 2×4’s in the Bed posts so they stick up about 3′ from the top of the bed.
-Wrap the 2×4’s with snow fence (the plastic kind)
-Fashion a tarp or something similar over the top as a sun screen
-Place Pack and Play in Bed
-Place Bouncy seat and wind up swing in Bed
-BAM! Instant play yard
Plenty of room for a bouncy seat, one of those wind-up swings
Keep a cooler full of premixed bottles in the cab. And the tailgate makes a phenomenal changing table (ask me how I know)
You are now free to wrench the day away
BONDING! Not to be confused with BONDO. Elise might get mad if you encase the baby in body filler
Nonsense! Parents love Bondo for Babies!
Any yahoo in a one-bay garage can put a 350 back into this truck, and I believe you can find SBCs at the mini-mart even these days. Given your new time commitment I wouldn’t even consider doing this yourself. This is when it’s best to pay someone, the convenience is what you’re buying.
That is, if you’re set on keeping it. Considering what you paid for it you could probably sell it as is and be mostly whole, and not have to bother fixing it at all.
Sorry this happened.
This is your first opportunity to discover how much your family (spouse, actually) is going to support your passion during emergency situations.
Fixing this will take far more time than you plan, and will put a lot of stress on your relationship if you’re not in agreement ahead of time. You can’t do an all night wrenching session without forcing her to do 24 to 48 hours of solo parenting.
If she’s onboard, first, discuss whether you can afford a replacement engine and all the parts needed to get it in there. You can’t just go buy things on a whim anymore. It has to be a joint decision. Maybe you can find a sponsor for the repair. You’re a business now. “Can I get a sponsor for this?” should always be forefront in your mind. If you can’t afford it or get a sponsor, let it go, and do it fast.
Then discuss if you can actually make this work together or not. Try to figure out how much she’s actively onboard with the fix. See if she’s willing to play the support role either just by watching the child nearby, or by actively supporting what you’re doing. If she’s willing to get involved enough to be there holding the baby and passing you wrenches, a replacement engine might be a reasonable path. If she’s willing to actually be a parts runner, too, then full speed ahead!
If your spouse isn’t on board, you need to just take the loss and sell the truck as quickly as possible, even though replacing yet another engine would make really good content.
Then cultivate local friendships with other wrenchers to team up on these things for mutual benefit.
Time for an LS swap 😀
GM even offers a complete connect and cruise package too 😛
As a mopar guy I’d diagnose the problem as “because Chevy”, but realistically it could be a myriad of problems as you know, or could be as simple as sleep deprived new dad’s foot slipped without realizing it. As someone who’s recently been there/done that (without the resulting engine carnage) I can say it’s a remote but real possibility.
I believe 350s are still somewhat dime a dozen engines so finding a replacement shouldn’t be difficult, but I totally understand that taking the time to make the repair may be personally prohibitive. That’s something only you and your wife can decide. I imagine you’ve got some friends and colleagues out there who could help you out if you decide to fix it, and I’m here for the articles chronicling it if you do, but I also understand if you send it to a new owner.
We made a similar decision recently when the transmission in our ’14 Accord died an early death, I am perfectly capable of installing a used or remanufactured transmission, but couldn’t justify the time expense and chose to cut our losses to get a better vehicle for the family.
I was wondering if my foot was on the gas instead of the brake, and then I realized: This is a stick. That means my left foot HAS to be on the clutch for the motor to crank, and there’s no way I’m putting my left foot on the clutch and my right foot on the gas.
I do give it a few pumps, but the only way I’d really STEP on it is if I thought it was the brake, which feels so different.
What’s more, the engine HAS revved high on startup before, but never this high.
If you pumped the gas pedal, the throttle linkage could have gotten stuck. That’s what happened to me with an old Cavalier once. It was incredibly cold out (-35F) and I had to give it some gas to get it to start. Gas pedal stuck to the floor, engine revved to the moon before I could shut it off – spun a bearing.
Cold start is definitely a bad time for the engine to redline!
Looking at the other comments there are some very plausible theories to explore as to why this happened, if you have the time to autopsy this engine I look forward to learning what you find.
That is a mess those tbi 350s make some wild noises on start up sometimes. I’ve been worried a few times they would blow on me on me but never had it happen. They used to make a Mexican long block and create engine that was fairly cheap alot of the shops would use when they would blow. Fairly easy swap with an cherry picker. Have helped with a few over the years.
Apparently the rust gods require regular sacrifices of knuckle skin and steel body panels or they will smite you.
David moved to LA and bought a CARBON FIBER car and the Ferrous Oxide Pantheon was displeased with this departure from the faith. How can one worship at the altar of the winter beater in a place with no winter?
I now have this image in my head of Cabin in the Woods style gods growing restless because David hasn’t resuscitated a dilapidated rust bucket recently and will start grenading his vehicles until a sacrifice is made….
Oh, also sorta-spoiler alert if you haven’t seen Cabin in the Woods.