aftershock00

Hey everyone. I am the proud owner of an 01 silverado z71 5.3l. I purchased it after my 94 s10 blazer with 372k original miles finally needed front end work that wasnt worth doing. I want to change the fuel filter but everything is seized up pretty badly. Im afraid im going to crack the fuel line. ANy advice. I sprayed wd-40 on it twice today...it still wont budge. Any advice?

Also, the truck has 91k miles on it. Tranny fluid smells good, but the owner said he never changed the fluid. SHould i change it? Ive heard stories of trannys going after people attempt to replace fluid after it goes high mileage without replacement. What do you guys recommend?

And lastly, the owner who was very honest guy said he did maintenance himself and changed oil between 3 and 4k miles. To me, i wasnt too happy about it since i change oil every 2k miles and my motor with 372k miles looked spotless inside. I know engine flushes do more harm than good especially on older motors...what do you recommend to slowly and safely get the motor clean? Im using MMO right now.

Oh and btw, it has that knock when it first starts. I know this is typical but is there any way to get rid of it? GM top end cleaner or something?

Thanks for any advice.

engine2

Welcome to the forum. Congrats on your new purchase. 3K - 4K is very reasonable between oil changes in my opinion. I would just go to your maintainence schedule and not worry about it.

20032500HD

about the fuel filter i cant say much, but the transmission i do have something to say i used to work at a dealership and we recommended a flush every 30,000 miles. i have heard that if you just straight up change the fluid it can hurt a tranny but i have heard nothing about flushing it doin any harm. the flsuh simply runs fluid untill it is the correct color. a change completely changes the fluid. so i would recommend going and getting it flushed with a proper machine by a trained mechanic at a dealership. ppl will argue the cost and that you are being ripped off by a dealer. but in the end thy are trained by gm/chrysler and they do know what they are doing. after all it is their life.

aftershock00

thanks for the replies. Im pretty sure a flush would be/do the same thing as a change, only more..since a flush is pressurized. Either way, the bad stuff is going out and fresh stuff is going in. And oil changes, i thought 3k miles was thebenchmark for regular oil.4kseems excessive, but who knows. Im really excited about my truck, btw. I plan on changin the rear end oil and coolant this weekend.

Any thought on changing transfer case fluid?...i also heard with this you should really leave it in cause it can screw stuff up. I dunno...

Also, my fuel pump is whining. I know chevy's like to do this but i also remember with my 94 s10 that the pumps go every 100k miles and im at 91k. Should i be concerned? THanks again for the responses.

03chevyrustbucket

If I were you I would just cut the fuel lines with a small tubing cuter about 2" from the filter and then repair it with hi pressure hose and hi pressure hose clamps. The parts stores sell repair kits just for this problem. BTW after you get the filter out you may be able to un-screw the fittings and re-use them withhi pressure hose and clamps.
Just make sure you buy the hi pressure hose not just the standard gas hose.

mschanha

[>:]I replaced the transfer case fluid after 60,000 in my 99 Silverado and it was pretty nasty dark and smelly. GM recommends change every 30,000.
Use something other than WD-40 specificlly designed for loosening rusted bots. Let it sit on there a day or so. Had the same problem with an old Corsica, can't remember what I used, but it did the trick.

dleonard2844

4000 mi is not really a big deal, I let mine go 5000 when i used to use conventional oil, now i allow 8000 mi with full synthetic. This is something i would definatly NOT recomend, but way back when i knew nothing, i let my first car (a nissan) go 18000 mi on the same oil with no problems. no joke.

jcbst12

Fuel Filter: I have a 99 5.3 Silverado. Mine was stuck. This is what I did. I sprayed the sh*t out of the nut on either side (inlet and outlet) with PB Blaster the day before I worked on it. I uncapped the fuel cap. Then I unbolted the outlet side, as the intlet on my fuel filter was stuck. I put a collection pan under the filter and let it drain out. I then took and held the fuel line fitting on the inlet side with a wrench and turned the entire filter using a wrench on the outlet nut of the filter. This allowed me to unthread it without killing the fuel line fitting and possibly breaking the line. I then cleaned the threads on both fuel line fittings and put it all back together. If both sides are stuck, cut the outlet side line with a tubing cutter, use the method I mentioned to free the inlet end, and replace the fuel line fitting. You may need a flaring tool, not 100% sure on that one.

Transmission Fluid and Filter: I would change the transmission filter every 50 to 60 thousand miles. No more than 60K. These transmissions aren't the best but they will hold up nicely if they aren't abused and they are properly maintained. DO NOT DO A FLUSH! This will remove debris from the lines and cooler, but it WILL NOT remove debris from the filter and pan. I did the flush on my 99' first and it never shifted right. Then I did the filter, and it was 100 times smoother and quieter. Ask any GM mechanic and he will tell you to drop the pan and do the filter. Use only whats recommended for fluid, nothing "performance" or "universal".

The knock: Every other Silverado (at least 99-02) will knock upon startup. This is most likely due to carbon build up. I wouldn't worry unless the truck was running bad or idling funny. You can do a head cleaner (or whatever the hell they call it) for the motor, where you pull each plug and spray this cleaner into it. It will stop the knock but its only temporary. A quicker way to temporarily stop the knock would be to use a good injector cleaner, maybe some premium gas (not needed usually) and run the hell out of it on the highway. It will get some of that carbon buildup out of the compression chamber. There is no reasonable perminent fix. Make sure you use good gas, that will help too.

Cleaning the crank case: Use something you mix with the oil. I would use the crank case cleaners sparingly as they will allow the oil to drain from all the cylinder walls and passages and therefore provide no protection in the engine for the first few seconds the engine is run after the oil change. B&G makes a good crank case flush, I never use the entire bottle tho.

Tranasfer Case and Differentials: I would do transfer case everytime I did the transmission fluid and filter. Differentials are usually good for 100K. Use what the manual recommends, nothign special like "high mileage" or "Heavy duty" is needed on the transfer case and differentials.

aftershock00

thank you all for the reply. First of all, im just curious what you guys think. I paid 9k for this 2001 with 91k miles...its an LS Z71 with a torneau cover painted to match, 1 owner and no accidents. Its runs smooth as a babies *** other than the initial startup knock. Waddaya guys think?Good price or did i get ripped off? It has alarm ande-start too.Now that i bought it, im thinkin i coulda offered less because the guy already had a new company f150 and he mighta had some trouble sellin it with the knock. I shoulda taken advantage of it but the truck i saw earlier that day was a POS base model 4.8 that has a spraypainted area and teh guy would not budge off of 9500.

But anyway, I dont really mind the knock if all it is is a noise and nothing more. My last chevy had 372k original miles and didnt burn oil and never had any work done to it. I want this to be the same way but the past few days ive had buyer's anxiety about the knock. I just spent a lot of money for a college kid to have the engine blow on me.

The fuel filter still will not come off. Neither side of the filter will come loose, so im going to have to investigate teh HP fuel line fittings and flaring tool.

Also, the fuel pump has a whine to it. My old chevy has a typical whine as well BUT...i also know my blazer FP went every 100k miles like clockwork. Im approaching 100k. Do you recommend me changing it?
I also have an erattic fuel gauge. It jumps all over the place. I can still tell the actual mileage but its annoying when it goes from full to "low fuel". Is that the fuel sending unit? Was there an update on this or something?

Fuzzy

I bought a 98 silverado with 144000 miles on it, and had one heck of a time getting the fuel filter off. Was about to take a tubing cutter to the lines, then went with the best tool ever created, Vise-Grips. Tightened the grips down as much as possible, I believe I used either the frame or something up there for leverage to clamp tight. Came right off. I did spray WD-40 on the nuts the day prior. Didn't chew up the nuts too badly, was still able to install new filter and tighten down with a flare wrench (16mm).
My thoughts on the tranny flush vs change....a filter catches crap, and it doesnt matter that a flush is under pressure, as pressure is present during normal operation. So, in my way of thinking, if particles/dirt/crap are stuck in a filter (as in a filters job description) the only way the particles will come out is if filter is changed. I could see changing the filter, then doing a flush. But a flush with no filter change doesn't make sense to me.