76ChevyTrucker

I guess I'd fall into the mechanic sector. I know a whole lot about what I've got and keep up, but I've also done a fair share of other vehicles, so I'm the one to ask I guess. I know that my answer may not always be perfect, but I'll do my best to help.

Yeah, I believe that within every state with stricter emissions requirements, if he SES, or CEL is on, then its an automatic fail, even if the code is for something nonchalant, it will automatically fail, and until the check engine light is off and the emissions system monitors are all in their "ready" state, the vehicle will fail emissions requirements.

Correct, that's what a "drive cycle" is, you have to drive the vehicle a x mph for y time for the emissions monitors to "cycle" themselves and become "ready". If any of those monitors aren't in a "ready" state, then you'll fail your state's emissions check. And the things that can reset those are loosing electrical power at any point in time, removing the computer from the vehicle, or erasing the check engine light codes. Once any of those are done, then you're going to have to perform a drive cycle on the car in order to get those monitors back to their normal "ready" state.

there's a lot of "could be's" on this one. Main thing to do is have the alternator pulled, bench test it separate from the rest of the system. Then test the battery separate. After that, I would say that you've probably got a bad wheel speed sensor/hub assembly, the passenger right hand side one in the Impala is bad, keeping the ABS and Trac Off lights on constantly, its not a vehicle stopping nusiance, its just irritating.

KC, my family and I's thoughts are with you. I've yet to lose one of my parents, but from losing grandparents, I know what you're going through. Like everyone else said, even though you didn't say it, he knew, believe me he knew. Things will get better, it'll takea lot of time, but they will get better.

No, the monitors are systems within the ECM that "learn" what the proper operating parameters are for that particular system, such as you have an EGR monitor, a Misfire monitor and such. Each vechile is different, but from what I know about drive cycles, it typically involves driving a vehicle a x speed for y amount of time and then having the monitors checked using an OBD-II scanner to see which ones have reset and the like.

You could always use my method. Call it dirty names and beat it with a hammer

It COULD be the solenoid, but I hate to say that would normally cause the starter to stick with the bendix (starter drive) out and it would burn the motor up as the engine idled, or you drove it.....lots of smoke, lots of mess, you don't want to do that.

Well since I haven't been here, let one little cold knock a guy down for about a few days and see what he comes back to find.....everyone's arguing. I guess what I meant by engine families is the similar engine designs, such as bore centers, common parts, ect that connect a lot of GM's engines. That's why I lump the LS engines with the "traditional" small block. I guess I should apologize for doing this as it has caused more trouble than its worth. Again, sorry for the trouble guys, I was just seeing how much engine knowledge everyone had, not trying to start fights.

Actually, no..... M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank

Barrett Arms M82A1 .50-caliber "anti-materiel" sniper rifle

Actually Chevy would be: Generation I Small Block 1955-1958 265 1958-1968-ish? 283 1962-1969 327 1969-1971? 302 1968-2002 350 1970-1980-ish? 400 small block 1976-2000-ish? 305 1977-1980 267 Generation II Small Block 1993-1997-ish? 5.7 LT1 1993-1997-ish? 4.3 L99 (I think) Generation III Small Block 1997-2002 5.7 LS1 1999-up 4.8 1999-up 5.3 2003-up 6.0 (iron block) Generation IV (I think) 2003-up 6.0 LS2 2004-up 6.2 LS3 Basically the rest of the LS series engines are what I would consider fourth generation engines The LT5 DOHC 5.7 was its own, individual family of engine. Big Block wise: Generation I the "W" Engines 1958-1961? 348 1961-1965 409 1963 427 Generation II Mark IV 1965-1969 396 1970-1972 402 (although marketed as a Big Block 400 or still called a 396) 1966-1969 427 1970-2000-ish 454 not sure on years but 366 Generation III (I guess you could call it that) 2001-up 8.1 L18 I may be wrong on some of these, and if I am, y'all just correct me....

what probably happened is that the starter is developing a "dead spot" in it, where when the starter motor stops spinning, it'll land in an area where electrical power cannot get to (if you were to tear the starter apart you'd notice a burned spot on the inside of the starter). By you holding the key (or applying another battery to jump it off), you're forcing the starter out of that dead spot. The only downside is that the more times your starter lands in that dead spot, or even close to it, the bigger it'll get till finally you'll end up with a starter that doesn't like you anymore.

Alabama isn't too horrible. Now don't talk about the condition of our Interstate systems running through the state....(for any of you that already know what I'm talking about), the bridges are the least of our concerns here.

Any of the '73-'91 Suburbans are GREAT! The 6.2 Diesel was a dog, unfortunately, if you want to go diesel power, get the turbo'ed 6.5 But yeah, my prefererence is with the '73-'91s, parts are plentiful, the engines aren't horribly complicated to work on, and yes, the TBI units do make a difference, so I'd have to really say get a '87-'91 body Suburban. the biggest thing I like about that particular body style is that you can really do just about anything to them, there is a rather large aftermarket available for 'em.

I'd have to agree with those two statements too. AWD and a two door "all power" one would be great, along with the current line-up

Actually the biggest complaint about the YF-23 was that it gave a harsher ride at low altitude high speed, than the F-22 did (sorry I don't use the A, the F-22 has almost NO attack capability that won't destroy its stealth atributes). Well, the reason I mentioned the PA-28 was that I split most of my flight traning between it and a C152, and I'm sorry, the 152 was great for doing ground reference stuff, but for everything else, I MUCH preferred the Piper.

yeah the comet did have some intial problems remaining airborne, but once they fixed the whole rounded windows debacle they turned into good birds. The Connie is a beautiful aircraft also.

I would certainly say GM USE THESE!

YES!

But what about planes? Any of youse guys aircraft fans. I know that I am, Fly is, and Bob is with his love of 747s. How about the rest of y'all. Anyone got a favorite bird, be it civilian, military, warbird, whatever. I've actually got several favorites, too bad I have to classify them down for people to understand. Favorite bomber: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Favorite fighter:Boeing F-15C Eagle Favorite attack aircraft:Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (or more affectionately known, the Warthog!) Favorite recon aircraft: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Favorite cargo aircraft: Lockheed C-130 Hercules Favorite general aviation aircraft: Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140 (or the 160) Favorite warbird: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (or the Lockheed P-38 Lightning) Favorite commercial aircraft: Boeing 747, or the Douglas DC-3, its really a close tie, I guess you could say it depends on the era you're speaking from But those are my favorites, I guess I got hooked on planes because in the neighborhood where I grew up was under the traffic pattern of Maxwell Air Force Base, so I got to see lots of different airplanes, in particular, C-130s flying nice and low and slow over the house and yard. I remember my first airshow, it was 1992 and I went to see the Thunderbirds perform and I think that's what hooked me. I've gone to every air show held at Maxwell since then and I still turn into a little kid at them. I've also got my grandparent's house where I can sometimes catch a pretty rare sight. Low altitude refuelings, be it from KC-135s, or even KC-130s refueling helicopters, its awesome to watch. Anyway, maybe youse guys have got some favorites, or maybe you've got some of the same as me, so how's about telling me about 'em.

I'm going to say the new Vette, or maybe the Viper

No-um takers?

Think fuel filter......thing fuel filter hard.... And the 2.7 just gets all the press, the 3.2 is just as much of a thow-away engine as the 2.7, its just that the 3.2s for some reason stay together a little better. Kinda like how the 4.6L Ford gets all the press for the breaking/leaking/plastic POS intake manifold, but the 5.4 has the same intake and gets hardly no press.... Heck, both engines have the same internal parts save for the pistons, unfortunately I know, I'm a parts guy.

I love trains. There's jus something about seeing an old steam engine chugging along, or even seeing a modern diesel-electric humming down the track pulling countless freight cars from location to location. I really do like trains. I even have a model railroad (although currently not set up, no room). Although I have a somewhat great alternative in RailRoad Tycoon 2....