Robyn
06-18-2008, 06:19
We receive many posts here asking about POWER LOSS and BLACK SMOKE
Recently I had cause to saddle up the 94 Burb and head off to town.
Now I have not used the rig in some time as it has been on temporary loan to my cousin after his Puddle jumper took the big poop.
I head off to town and notice right off that the old Burb is just plain sick and also is tossing out a column of nasty black smoke when the boot is placed heavy on the throttle.
At the first opportunity I stopped and lifted the hood as I noticed a sound emanating from the engine that sounded like a Chipmunk with bronchitis. :eek:
A quick removal of the vacuum hoses from the solenoid revealed ZERO ZIP NADA in the vacuum department.
The next step was to place a hand over the exhaust ports on the vacuum pump which changed the sick wheeeeeezing sound it was making.
Hmmm, time to stop by the NAPA store and get a pump.
Last night I ripped the little beast off the engine and swapped in the new one.
Vacuum is now back up to a nice healthy 26"HG at the pump outlet and the rig runs like a million bucks again.
A trip down the highway with some heavy foot on the throttle blew enough crap from the exhaust system to kill all the skeeeeeters for a couple mile radius.
This scenario can play out easily and to many that drive very conservatively it could go unoticed for a long time as it had with my cousin.
Only the lack of power under heavy demand and the wheezing noise gave away the issue.
Now, the vacuum pump was replaced when I rebuilt the engine and placed it back in service in July of 06.
Not a very good life span for such a vital part me thinks.
The pump that failed was a reman as was the fresh one.
The cost for the rebuilt pump was $158.00 not counting my time to replace it.
This little exercise reenforces my opinion that the Turbo master device is by far a much better and simpler way to manage the turbo than the complex vacuum system that was installed at the factory.
Granted, the vacuum system works fine as long as all the system components are functioning correctly, but the system is subject to far more failures than a simple spring device.
Just some observations
Robyn
Recently I had cause to saddle up the 94 Burb and head off to town.
Now I have not used the rig in some time as it has been on temporary loan to my cousin after his Puddle jumper took the big poop.
I head off to town and notice right off that the old Burb is just plain sick and also is tossing out a column of nasty black smoke when the boot is placed heavy on the throttle.
At the first opportunity I stopped and lifted the hood as I noticed a sound emanating from the engine that sounded like a Chipmunk with bronchitis. :eek:
A quick removal of the vacuum hoses from the solenoid revealed ZERO ZIP NADA in the vacuum department.
The next step was to place a hand over the exhaust ports on the vacuum pump which changed the sick wheeeeeezing sound it was making.
Hmmm, time to stop by the NAPA store and get a pump.
Last night I ripped the little beast off the engine and swapped in the new one.
Vacuum is now back up to a nice healthy 26"HG at the pump outlet and the rig runs like a million bucks again.
A trip down the highway with some heavy foot on the throttle blew enough crap from the exhaust system to kill all the skeeeeeters for a couple mile radius.
This scenario can play out easily and to many that drive very conservatively it could go unoticed for a long time as it had with my cousin.
Only the lack of power under heavy demand and the wheezing noise gave away the issue.
Now, the vacuum pump was replaced when I rebuilt the engine and placed it back in service in July of 06.
Not a very good life span for such a vital part me thinks.
The pump that failed was a reman as was the fresh one.
The cost for the rebuilt pump was $158.00 not counting my time to replace it.
This little exercise reenforces my opinion that the Turbo master device is by far a much better and simpler way to manage the turbo than the complex vacuum system that was installed at the factory.
Granted, the vacuum system works fine as long as all the system components are functioning correctly, but the system is subject to far more failures than a simple spring device.
Just some observations
Robyn