Newbie questions on 6.2

[rsbrx]

Greetings,

I just became a new member the beginning of this month. I have been kind of lurking and doing a lot of reading and learning however I now have some questions. First let me give you a little back ground. I have an 86 C-10 Silverado with 6.2. I don

[john8662]

Welcome to the 6.2L community!

Some of the simple questions to be resolved are basically whats under the hood really. What transmission? I would place a bet that being a 1/2 its the 700r4 (just like my truck more or less). If the transmission is an overdrive transmission (4 speed) then when you look underneath the truck you will look at the transmission pan, if its a rectangle then it is probably a 700R4 tranny. To tell the read end gear ratio is a little difficult, but sometimes its easy. open your glove box and look for a code list that will be a sticker in the glove compartment. Mine being an 86 had the gear ratio right on the sticker, it was 3.08. For the smoking look for any obvious air leaks in the fuel system (or look for diesel leaks externally). White smoke can be caused for many reasons, not just worn injectors or pump. The first thing to do really is to go purchase some diesel fuel conditioner and just drive the truck for awhile. Run a few tanks of fuel through it and see what happens. I would recommend the diesel fuel treatment made my Standadine "All season fuel conditioner". Turbo? if your truck is just gonna be a daily driver, or just to get some wood, i would leave it Naturally Aspirated. I have pulled some large things with my non turbo 6.2 without a problem with heat, just towning with common sence. The rear end gear ratio is the thing to watch, and always pull in Drive verses overdrive with a 700r4 transmission. Especially if your truck is anything like mine with 3.08 gearing (gonna swap mine to 3.42 as soon as I have to tear into the rear one of these days). But gearing will ultimatly determine your fuel mileage. Cruise.. sorry can't help ya there, mine no go from new (haven't figured it out yet, neither did the previous owner). Since your system works some of the time, I would check for a vacuum leak in the vacum hoses from the vacuum pump on. loss of vacuum is what causes you to lose your cruise (I just wish mine worked intermittantly instead of not at all).. good luck!

[rsbrx]

John, Your truck looks almost exactly like mine except yours is red and mine is brown. Thanks for the info, I will be home in about 3 weeks and can do some checking then. Cool lighted logo! Have you ever had problems with the fuel gage reading wrong for a short time? Mine does every once in a while and then seems to go back on its own. I think its probably just a loose wire some place.

[john8662]

The only problem that I had with the fuel gage is that one time it would read 1/4 tank when the tank was full. So 1/8 tank translated to half full. It wasn't an intermittant thing, it turned out that a resistor on the back of the gage had burned out, found a new one, replaced the resistor and all was well. i would definitly check for loose connectors, and make sure the tank switch between the tanks gets fully depressed when swapping tanks..

[britannic]

If you want to check the diff ratio for sure, chock the front wheels, jack the rear axle up and place it on axle stands. Use chalk to mark the tire at the valve and place a chalk mark on the drive shaft and diff case as an index. Now chock the opposite drive wheel to stop it spinning and rotate the chalk marked wheel one complete revolution whilst counting how many times the drive shaft turns and Bob's your uncle!

The # of times the drive shaft rotates per wheel rotation is your diff ratio.

[catmandoo]

brittanic don't you mean rotate wheel twice.as stopping one wheel will engage spider gears.thus rotating 1 turn would actually be only 1/2 turn if it's posi then yes 1 turn.

[britannic]

Thanks for spotting that, I do have a detroit locker and forgot about the spider gear!! With a helper, both wheels could be turned at once and then my instructions would be correct.

Alternatively, have someone idle the truck along whilst watching the wheel and driveshaft revolutions (faster and easier than jacking it up in the first place!!).

[GregCrabb]

My cruise control didn't work when I first got my truck, and the climate control was stuck coming out the floor....a new vacuum pump and everything works as it should now.