Bloos blues
This truck is making me question my own skills/knowledge.
Full ignition system shy the coil. (HOT ass spark, see no need to replace a good coil.) Cap, Rotor, Wireset, New properly gapped plugs (.060″) A small amount of anti-seize on the threads of the plugs, and NONE on the electrodes, I was double checking this as I have had that bite me in the ass once before. (shorted the plug to ground, no sparky-sparky.)
She is running slightly better,,, at least the dead misses on #4 and #8 are relieved, but she is still rough and gutless below 1500rpm. That tells me timing is off or valve lash is off. or a combination of both, (I’m gonna go with ‘Both” Alex.)and if any of y’uns feel like chiming in with ideas, open forum in comments. Won’t be displeased if you point out where I’m an idiot.)
were she a standard ignition baby, with solid lifters, I would already be in the park,,, computer controlled timing and mushy hydraulic lifters,,,, grrrrr
So, either my timing gear is off a tooth, or my valve lash is not correct and I either have a valve hanging slightly open and compression can’t build up. That could be MULTIPLE cylinders at that,,, Like #4 and #8???? Maybe,,,, Or it could be that the valves aren’t opening far enough,,, From the way she is acting,, I am going to say its the former, hanging open.
But here’s the deal. I’m letting her sit until I can deal with her on my terms,,, She is home, in the stable (sorry Buffalo..) OUT OF DA’s HAIR. And I am about sick of looking under her hood for now. Its cold, and thats enough to be said about it.
My attitude about things in the world isn’t helping matters any. I’m in need of something good breaking my way for a minute. Like a series of FULL work weeks: those would help my outlook some. May not be enough to put a serious dent in these debts, but it would give me a positive uplift under these ragged wings I am flying with.
And I am sure y’all are sick to death of hearing about my mess of Tribbles,,, yes, Star Trek reference, and a fitting one I feel.(or you could reference the Gremlins movie but that wouldn’t ‘rhyme’ quite right. gremlins I have been fighting, and I think some part of my psyche is creating them, as all of this is rather self-inflicted. I blame none but meself..)
Time for a Rittenhouse,,,,
LLLLL! (, ‘)
Dio's Workshop 
Don’t overlook the simple – is the distributor off a tooth? I’d tend to maybe agree with the valves hanging open – BUT, I’d recheck the distributor 1st!
I know she’s tested yer patience & confidence, but don’t jump to conclusions before ya recheck the easy stuff. Been there meself!
Y’all take care,
Mike in FLA.
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January 20, 2026 at 4:49 pm
ROFLMAO,,,, You beat me to it. NOT the distro though. Its valve lash, but not on the side I thought. Just pulled plugs,,, 3 and 5 are wet and clean, all others are showing ‘burn’. Betting valve lash is way over tight there and no compression and, and, and,,, yeah,,, that’d do it,,,
I got two shots in, decided ‘it ain’t THAT cold out, and I still have some daylight,,,”
Pluggs pulled, one valve cover off, (the odds side is a little trickier,,, sadly, thats the side I NEED off,,,) and tomorrow, after the J.O.B., I’ll get to walking through a tedious version of valve lash adjustment. One cylinder at a time.
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January 20, 2026 at 5:02 pm
I had a truck at work that a “mechanic” took apart, put back together, and made a mess of the vacuum system. We didn’t want to spend the money trying to figure it out, and used it with its cantankerous running. The mechanic was assigned other duties to prevent more of his repairs.
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January 20, 2026 at 5:09 pm
There is almost zero vacuum lines on the Vortec engines. One for the brake booster, but this truck uses the Powersteering so no vacuum boost needed. (the port is plugged in the plenum in this case.) Yeah,,, I recall the horrible vacuum labyrinths of Toyota and Hondas back in the early 90’s and how even one tripped up connection would make things janky as hell.
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January 20, 2026 at 5:14 pm
Just curious, cause my 91 had it, but is there a electronic advance wire on the distro? I couldn’t set timing on mine until I unplugged it. Just running through issues I had with my 91 in my head.
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January 20, 2026 at 5:09 pm
Not far off but WAY WORSE,,, the only advance is completely computer controlled on this beast. All I can do is set it by tooth on the distro, and even one tooth off the thing runs like ass (bigger hairier ass than she does now.) I can ‘slide’ it a little but the its so damned close and the computer will track it and adjust. I’ve seen 30degrees advanced on the computer output in the OBDII (not this time.)
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January 20, 2026 at 5:12 pm
Gotcha. Wasn’t sure if Bloo had that. I forget it’s newer than my old suburban.
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January 20, 2026 at 5:16 pm
the downside here,,, I have to pull the bolts to the bracket that holds the PS and AC compressor. I need to slide that bracket forward about 1/2″ to clear the valve cover so I can get access.
sigh,,, IWII,,,
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January 20, 2026 at 5:21 pm