New (to me) 6.2 Suburban

[bmiszuk]

Hi, I just bought an '83 1/2-ton Suburban 4wd with 6.2 N/A, 133k miles, 700R4. Drove it from Denver to Omaha this weekend. The first leg of the trip, we got 18.4mpg towing a 3,000lb car @ 65mph. The last 150 miles was driven in 4wd @ 50-55mph during an ice/snow storm and mileage dropped to 15.6mpg.

It's leaking oil from the front seal but that's going to have to wait until the weather clears a bit. I notice the crankshaft pulley seems to wobble as the engine runs. Should I be concerned?

Today I changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter and there was water in the air cleaner. What is supposed to prevent that??

Thanks for the forum, I appreciate the experience here!

Bob.

[john8662]

Hey Bob,

Just a couple of things, your mileage sounds really good considering you were pulling a load. As far as the front main seal leaking, thats about typical. The balancer wabble is normal as well, at least a little, I know when watching my engine run it looks like it's wobbling, and its a new balancer. When you get around to chaning the front main seal, you'll get the opportunity to pull off the harmonic balancer and have a good look. I'll bet if it's original that it'll need replacement. What you'll basically look for is the rubber deforming or sucking into the balancer in some places (rubber won't be even all the way around). And you will want to look for cracks in the rubber (not cracks in the paint on the balancer over the rubber). And check to see how hard the rubber is, if it's rock hard, it's not far from gone.

Enjoy your new ride!

[catmandoo]

finally got ya a burb eh,i still have my 83 if you need any parts.does it have a th400 or a 700r4 trans?

[bmiszuk]

catmandoo, it's got a 700R4 transmission.

How did all that water get into the air cleaner? The corrugated (for lack of a better word) hose goes from the front grill to a plastic "box" in front of the air cleaner, it's not torn up or anything.

Water in the engine seems to be a bad idea... should I be concerned?

[john8662]

Water in the engine is bad. Was the engine pressure washed before you noticed the water in the air cleaner housing? There really shouldn't be much of a way for it to get in.

[bmiszuk]

No, the engine is still quite dirty. We drove it for several hours through rain/ice/snowstorm but that still doesn't quite explain it. The right corner of the hood was up a bit (dented fender keeps it from closing) so there was some ice/snow on the inner fender on that side, but the engine itself didn't appear wet.

[catmandoo]

they use an air deflector in front of where that big corregated hose hooks on,make sure its there,some people take em out for better air flow,pop the hose off at the rad support and see if you can see thru it,if so it's gone.

[Robyn]

if you were driving in a snow storm the engine can suck in loads of snow which is light and fluffy. It collects in the air cleaner and melts leaving the puddle you found. Just dry the little beastie out and you should be fine,