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!
My (inherited from my dad) rule of thumb for estimating project time is go to the next higher unit and double it.
A one hour task becomes two days
A one day job becomes two weekends
A two week project is probably more like 4 months
Unfortunately those 6 month projects might end up getting finished with the help of your teenager…
You know it will never take this long – even though it occasionally does – but the real advantage of this system is that if you don’t internalize the timeline you can set expectations with your loved ones by giving them the longer estimate and almost always come in “ahead” of schedule. Also, you are more likely to say no to some things because they are just not worth the time even when it is days or weekends not years.
Something I found owning a 350 TBI … they’re dead simple – yet when something goes slightly wrong it can be very difficult to track down because the diagnostic tools for the lay person just aren’t there. Mine would idle high, and after a long drive idle higher. Replacement parts are scarce. If I hadn’t sold it for $900 I’d really contemplate not having that motor setup in there anymore.
Seems like a good time to call it quits – or bring some great content.
Start up is rough on engines. Odds are you bearings were already marginal and a high-revving start with minimal oil pressure did them in.
Also, please don’t start “gatekeeping” article-related content (like how the engine sounds now) on Instagram. I (and many others) don’t have Instagram. We’re not about to sign up for a social media service owned by Facebook of all companies to watch a 10 second clip of a knocking engine. It’s infuriating. Just post the clip here.
I second the instagram comment. It ain’t worth signing up just for that.
Third. Not having FB, IG, and the like anymore is a conscious CHOICE, not idle laziness. Quitting that stuff was hard, man, making a heroin addiction seem like a vague longing for something salty…Can’t go back to the Zuck, won’t go back to the Zuck… Zuck sober for 8years now. One day at a time.
OK I can post the carnage-video to YouTube.
It’s not really a gatekeeping thing, it’s just an ease thing, but I got you.
Thank you.
I want to know why it blew its engine. Personally, I think it was upset over the lack of attention.
After your article announcing the birth of your child I kinda wanted to comment about this type of situation but I’m working on not being a Debbie-Downer.
This sucks. Now with the new, wonderful, stressful, and exhausting role you have it is going to be so much harder to deal with these situations. Even when you do have the time to work on it, if you’re like me, you’ll feel guilty spending time on that instead of supporting your wife or hanging out with your child. I’m told it gets better and it has some but everything takes on a new priority.
Best of luck! I’m sure you can source a replacement motor and even find quite a few willing locals to help out in swapping it out, knock it out “while the baby is sleeping”…….
I had a 97 with a rod knock and pulling it was a real bitch, no room at all compared to Fords. In my Google deep dive I found the 350s are somewhat known for intake leaks that lead to rod knocks. I swore off GMT400s forever, they’re not good trucks.
Vortec engines are known to fail intake gaskets that let coolant into some of the cylinders, but I don’t believe TBI trucks had this problem.
Sounds like TBI has it’s own issues that lead to the same results, just saw another comment explaining it further down.
That’s a real bummer man, sorry to hear it. Unfortunately, it’s just old car things. Even if you buy something known for durability and maintain it, 20+ year old vehicles are just a wild card. I had the 3800 V6 on one of my fun cars that was 20ish years old seize up on me unexpectedly. Always changed the oil 3,000 miles, addressed maintenance, etc. My friend is an excellent licensed mechanic and could not for the life of him figure out what caused it. Thankfully he’s a kind soul and I hired him to do a rebuild for me for a very reasonable cost.
This is probably a good time in your life to give serious consideration to limiting your exposure. One aging, worn out vehicle is plenty to stay on top of. Two is a lot, anything more than that is borderline impossible when you have work and family obligations between the financial cost and time suck. I recently got married myself, my wife and I each have a modern daily, I have two “fun” older cars. Even though the two “fun” cars have exceptionally low mileage for their age and are garaged and well cared for, it’s still a LOT to keep on top of. We don’t even have kids yet and I’m already thinking about liquidating one of them.
It’d be hard for you but I’d say two old hobby cars and two daily drivers is more than enough to look after.
Jeep Blinders got you how many times? Chevy Blinders offer the exact same end…
But….but …. but…..it has a timing chain! How could that happen!?
Oh this definitely wasn’t a timing failure, as the timing chain is super robust.
Haha, yeah, I know. I’m stumped as to what happened too. Even with something causing too much fuel it would have needed a big vacuum leak to get it to rev that high. Could throttle have just been stuck open?
Will be interesting to see what the post mortem shows.
That sucks. But, it’s a 350 tbi SBC, there’s literally millions of them. With two dudes, a lift and a crane it’s a day job to swap it at slow pace. Me, who has never owned a domestic vehicle, and my dad, who’s had straight SBCs since AMC closed. Swapped his truck in like 6 hours. It’s been done a million times, there’s nothing weird or tricky. Space ain’t an issue. You can zap everything off, can’t imagine rust is going to be a problem. Just don’t do it in the alleyway behind a Wendy’s with whatever tools you can get at Harbor Freight for 75 bucks, and it’s a whole days commitment.
Or, suffer for our enjoyment and LS swap it.
I think this is an excellent excuse to fly SWG out to Cali and have a fun couple days reviving the truck.
Make this happen.
This.
So much this.
David, think how great the content will be!
Better idea: Mercedes is renting a U-haul trailer In Chicago to pickup up the Kei car in Baltimore. She could just swing down to LA with it first, pick up the truck, take it to SWG in N.C. and then continue to Baltimore. The trailer is already paid for in the “three-day local move rate”… Make it happen! 🙂
Considering how overwhelmingly prevalent LS swaps are these days, I’m sure you could pick up a low miles 350 for cheap.
Hell, if it’s just a knock around truck, even a 305 would do the trick to get you rolling on the cheap.
Find a 350 compatible your year range, swap over all the accessories, fuel injection, and CARB compliance stuff, and Bob’s your Burger or whatever the kids say.
Dammit, that really sucks man. I feel for you, and have been in similar situations trying to move a broken car during street sweeping (or other parking enforcement)
Regarding how/why? This is confusing, since the TBI chevy’s were very simple.
You mentioned a high idle at start (almost to redline?!). My guesses are (but I’m also kinda baffled too) as follows:
IAC motor issue, let in too much air, truck was sitting for a while, revved w/o enough oil to the main/rod bearings and boom.
Other vacuum leak issue (intake, TB gaskets, or brake master cylinder), let in too much air, truck was sitting for a while, revved w/o enough oil to the main/rod bearings and boom.
Leaky injectors…maybe? But that would have made a lot of smoke…
TPS issue? I remember this going bad sometimes on old TBI chevy’s.
Random questions… how were the power brakes operating before this? Squishy? Hissing noises? How was the oil pressure at idle and off idle before this?
It was only sitting for a week, and it only revved for maybe 3 seconds. It’s really baffling!
Oil filter pressure relief valve failure? Rare… but can happen too.
Your situation is now going to consume my thoughts for the rest of the work day.
Why would it happen so abruptly? That’s what makes me think hydrolock…
ah… good point. If you get a chance to take a look at some bearings, and they aren’t blue… then you are probably correct.
probably should get chummy with Steve Dulcich. He would be able to swap a motor in half a day. and then add him to the writers list. I don’t doubt he could add something to this page while providing him another outlet and youtube viewership for money.
Freiburger is in LA too, I believe. It would be a really cool colab, and those guys could swap that out in the time it would take to down a six pack.
He’s in the San Fernando Valley near Galpin already. And I’m guessing there’s at least one if not two 350s in his garage already just waiting for THIS day!
Go Fund Me for a Replacement Motor.
It’s been a while since we made one of this sites operators feel an Awww Shucks from the limitless love of our amazing members. Let’s see if we can do it again.
Remember, they just had their first kid.
Thank You First Donor! You are a Mensch. 🙂
Much appreciated.
If only I was on the west coast. After all, I have a BRAT where everything crap BUT the engine. Who wouldn’t love to see a little Subaru boxer trying to power a full-sized Chevy truck?
The road looks pretty flat, can you just push it to the other side of the street?
Yea had the same problem with an silverado turned out the person told me oil changes were done every 3000 when I took it apart found out they weren’t but they are easy to rebuild so have at it and spend some time with the machine shop they should be able to upgrade it for you
Can Galpin help out? I’m sure they have a few contacts who could help score a new-to-you engine. Maybe a few service advisors who want to get a better understanding of issues the techs run into on older vehicles? Pizza and a few adult beverages once the wrenches are put down goes a long way.
Lol, scorching hot take: Surprisingly low priced vehicle with multiple undisclosed major issues ends up having major issues. I mean, it may have just had like 300,000 miles on it and been done, right? I think its the perfect project to swap out the motor. It is a very very easy swap – like less than a day easy. Maybe 2 days if you do some stuff to the “new” motor. Remind yourself that you do this for a living, go about it like you mean it. Proposed headline: My Chevy Silverado Is The Easiest Engine Swap of All Time. Personal request: more of a can-do perspective and less of an OMG this particular issue with this particular car I have is just THE WORST ugh!!! perspective, please please??
And having a baby is wonderful! It is so much wonder! You can put that newborn down anywhere and it can’t ever roll off a toolbox yet, now is the perfect time to have some bonding time together, sing that baby some songs, and turn some wrenches! Do it!
It’s possible it had 300,000 miles, though it didn’t burn a lick of oil.
The teardown will be epic!
Were all the bearings worn?
On whatever let go was there a crack forming for a long time that just happened to let go?
This can be a detective story we’ll all love to follow along with!
Don’t forget to get plenty of sleep … LOL
300K is a lot of miles for a new baby. But even at 300K, they don’t burn much oil.
Hah!
So they loaded up the truck
And they moved to Beverly.
Hills that is, Swimming pools, movie stars.
Well now it’s time to say
Goodby to Silverado’s 350 and all his kin,
They would like to thank
You folks for kindly droppin’ in.
You’re all invited back again to this locality
To have a heapin’ helpin’ of their hospitality.
Reliability that is, sit a spell, take your shoes off.
Y’all come back now, y’hear?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. But simplifying your collection seems wise now.
Obligatory Dire Straits
https://youtu.be/wTP2RUD_cL0?si=K9uu8AB7IMf110i0
An SBC is an eminently stout base on which to build an engine. Its only weak spot was that it was assembled by GM. Especially one from the ’80s. As such, there is always a good chance of spectacular failure.
The good news is that the truck’s value is far less engine-related than in most vehicles. SBCs are inexpensive and easy to install, and the rest of the truck is in good enough shape to still be worth fixing.
That sucks, and I’m too lousy of wrench to even consider attempting an engine swap close to a move and the birth of my child. Murilee Martin detailed a similar situation he found himself in for the Impala Hell Project series. He ended up swapping in a 350 from a “cheapo rebuild shop in Los Angeles” – maybe he has the name of one that’s still around? https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/06/1965-impala-hell-project-part-4-saddam-chooses-my-new-engine/
David, are you able to use Galpin’s shop facilities for the engine swap if you go that direction?
My 88 decided to die at speed. Made it to the end of the offramp. What a pain to push. 210k miles when it died. Motor swap was easy though. 1 day., but clearly you don’t have that time