Okay, here are some pics of the distributor in a disassembled state. An overall shot of the parts involved, a shot of the old and the new pickup coils, and a shot of the reluctor (GM calls it a bse plate or something like that) showing the rust and the crack. This combination was the source of much of my trouble at the end of the project - and a large part of the problem before I started the top end job.

Oh, I forgot to update, I now have two shiny new stickers on the Tahoe's windsheild and no check engine light.

Oh, I forgot to update, I now have two shiny new stickers on the Tahoe's windsheild and no check engine light.

Interesting...window stickers..that's quaint..so that's what they do in PA when you get registered? Here in AZ I just get the a year/month sticky for the license plate after getting the bi-annual emmissions test...

Oh, I forgot to update, I now have two shiny new stickers on the Tahoe's windsheild and no check engine light.

Interesting...window stickers..that's quaint..so that's what they do in PA when you get registered? Here in AZ I just get the a year/month sticky for the license plate after getting the bi-annual emmissions test...

No, nothing to do with registration (that's a sticker on the plate). These are inspection and emissions inspection stickers.

Oh, I forgot to update, I now have two shiny new stickers on the Tahoe's windsheild and no check engine light.

Interesting...window stickers..that's quaint..so that's what they do in PA when you get registered? Here in AZ I just get the a year/month sticky for the license plate after getting the bi-annual emmissions test...

No, nothing to do with registration (that's a sticker on the plate). These are inspection and emissions inspection stickers.

Ah... emission inspection just yields a form w/ pass/fail that is used then to get the registration sticker here in AZ. No separate sticker for emissions. Same in Colorado, though IIRC, Colorado used to have a windshield sticker for emission inspection, but got rid of around 2001...

PA gets us for each item once a year. Registration for the Tahoe: $39 IIRC Inspection (no work or parts): $80 and you can't get the safety inspection sticker until you also pass emissions.

EDIT: Of course it cost me about $400 in parts over and above that so I could pass emissions...

Edited January 27, 201214 yr by Camino LS6

PA gets us for each item once a year.

Registration for the Tahoe: $39 IIRC

Inspection (no work or parts): $80 and you can't get the safety inspection sticker until you also pass emissions.

Every 2 years for emissions in AZ and you can register for 2 years at a time here, which is nice. The one thing about AZ registrations I really like is the one plate...will miss that when I leave (unless I move to another one plate state).

Interesting. CT has eliminated stickers for both emmissions compliance and valid registration. They seem to be mounting the plate scanning hardware on police cruisers instead.

Got the new "pole base" (as GM calls it), but now I've found another bad part. The "disc" that is pressed onto the long shaft you see in the pictures is a magnet, and is cracked at one of the points. I'm off to order the part now.

Pics when I get back to this.

I'll bet that was the original problem with the multiple misfires Camino

I'll bet that was the original problem with the multiple misfires Camino

Yup. Two cracked components in the distributor will certainly do it.

Now I'm fighting to get a reasonable price on the part I need - GM is insane sometimes when they price stuff. I can buy the whole distributor for the price of the damned shaft with the magnet.

Crazy.

Of course I've already purchased the other parts it needed, so I'm stuck.

Spares, my friend.

Spares, my friend.

Nah, I will either find it online at a reasonable price or buy a junkyard special and raid it for what I need.

^That

Works.

GM list $200

My best price at dealer with discount $145

Amazon $ 77

Ordered this morning.

Still way overpriced, but I can live with it.

EDIT: And now the old shaft becomes a priming tool.

Edited February 2, 201214 yr by Camino LS6

Here's a shot of the new "pole base" (quite reasonable at under $20). I also tried to get a shot of the crack in the magnet of the main shaft, but it refused to focus. I'll update when the new shaft arrives.

New shaft showed up today, I'll be back to this soon.

Rebuilt the Tahoe distributor today. I think I'll put it back where it came from and let Mothertruck have its own distributor back.

Pics:

Wow, I love learning new things every day. I always just replaced the whole thing, never knew you could buy a rebuild kit for the distributor.

Well, it wasn't a kit. I just discovered more bad parts as I went along and ended-up rebuilding the whole thing.

If I had known so many parts were shot, I'd have bought a new one to begin with.

I probably should have rebuilt mine... but I bought a cheap new one, and it has had several problems that have sidelined me. But I just didn't see a good way to reindex the unit without a lot of special effort. (It was burning out caps due to the Hall effect part being out of wack with the pointer.)

Finally got around to swapping-in that rebuilt distributor - seems to be working perfectly.

Also tackled the hinge pin replacement on the driver's door - that one hasn't worked out so well.

Royal pain in the ass, and not completely conquered yet. I knew I should have paid a shop to do it, it really isn't a one-man job (at least without all of the specialized tools).

I'm a bit ticked.

Edited January 10, 201313 yr by Camino LS6

Finally got around to swapping-in that rebuilt distributor - seems to be working perfectly.

Also tackled the hinge pin replacement on the driver's door - that one hasn't worked out so well.

Royal pain in the ass, and not completely conquered yet. I knew I should have paid a shop to do it, it really isn't a one-man job (at least without all of the specialized tools.

I'm a bit ticked.

Everything is built to be more complicated than it needs to be....

There were a pair of really frustrating aspects to it.

The first was the pin with the roller - it just flat didn't want to come out.

The second was/is the fact that the spring for the detent arm is in the way of one of the hinge pins if you install it first, and is impossible to install afterward without some sort of spring compressor. So, it isn't installed just yet.

And, despite the fact that I taped the edge of the fender, I still managed to chip -up the door when it slipped in position. I've discovered that an engine hoist is less than ideal for the job.

And these freakin' doors are HUGE!

Just ordered this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025CXPYY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1UMBRA5ZTBCX8

Hopefully, that will solve the problem.

There is one other item on my list that I need a solution for.

If I drive the Tahoe at about 50MPH or more in a steady-state cruise, The damned check engine light comes on. I've had it scanned at the Chevy dealer (while the light is on), and it shows no trouble codes at all. The scanner says "no data".

There are NO driveability problems - this thing runs great these days.

But I want this light out!

Any ideas?

Just a bad wire.

Somebody had to say it...

Somebody had to say it...

No seriously, because as the electrical systems get older you start seeing these intermittent problems. The cruise control on my Lumina has some electrical gremlins which makes it have a mind of its own. I cannot find the root cause.

I found that when I hit electrical gremilins in my old 94 suburban back in 2005, I bit the bullet and replaced the electrical harness in the engine bay and that took care of it for me. I have though been thinking of replacing the electrical harness on the inside as I am getting flakey response from the electric door locks, electric windows etc. I bought the suburban new fully loaded and figure age and the moisture of seattle has just taken its time.

I will say that the new engine harness was far better built than the old one it replaced.

Hmmm...

My friend at the dealership suspected the instrument cluster or the ECM itself.

Well, Green got a new set of sneakers today. I hated to spend the money on something I'll be selling soon, but two of the old tires would have failed inspection. It is amazing how much better the ride and handling are though - so much nicer to drive.

I hope to have the rest of my list of stuff done sometime next week.

Lots of effort, but I really think I've turned this Tahoe into a very nice example.

I should have some pics of the things I've done, and am still doing over the next few days. I'll post them here so Green's whole story will be in this thread.

Well, the hinges of both doors are now rebuilt - huge pain in the ass.

Pics later.

Very cool, sounds like it will be a nice ride for someone into the very cool full size two door SUV's

Some pics during the process. I did both hinge pins, bushings, spring, the roller pin, and the door striker on both sides. Well, I still have to do the striker on the passenger side - but you get the picture. Sorry these aren't a complete illustration, I was pushing to get the job done. I will post some finish pics as I go through the rest of my list.

More:

Last batch for now:

Very cool pics, thanks for posting.

My pleasure.

I'll post more as I go.

Mr. Green got his shiny new stickers this morning.

Passed inspection and emissions with flying colors.

Very Cool, Ready to rock and roll then for moving it onto a new family or are you going to keep it now?

It will have to be sold.

I have a few things still to do to get it ready, but I'm nearly there.

It is very hard to stop improving things, but I'll have to draw a line somewhere.

Lots of blood, sweat, tears, and money in this one.

You'll get it back though from someone wanting a really well-cared for 2-door GM full-size SUV. They will be getting one nice rig!!

Thanks Roger, I sure hope so!

Heading out to spend a few hours on this tonight, should have a few pics afterward.

Took Green down to the race car shop tonight and put it up on the lift.

First I did an oil change and then moved on to my punchlist.

This Tahoe once had some sort of pushbar on the front , and some previous owner cut the chin spoiler to install it leaving it in three sections. One of those sections has been MIA for some time now, leaving the front of the truck looking a bit dopey. The front tow hooks were also missing when I bought it.

Lucky for me, These exact parts had to be removed from Red to install the snowplow.

So I removed the old pieces of spoiler, yanked the ugly license plate mount, and removed the "chrome" trim piece from the bumper rub strip.

Then, I installed the two tow hooks, and gave the bumper a quick clean and polish.

The bumper has a minor kink in it, and I had to persuade it to flatten out at the bottom edge so that the spoiler could mount flush. That took some time and effort, but I got it to cooperate enough to mount -up the spoiler. I think Green looks much better up front now.

I forgot to get a shot of the completed door hinges, I'll do that next time.

EDIT: You can also see the spanky-new tires in these shots.

Edited January 21, 201313 yr by Camino LS6

I also may have conquered a long-term problem with the interior lights. From the time I got the green Tahoe, I have had to use the dome override switch to make the interior lights go out. About a week ago, I got a new door switch for the driver's side and that seemed to fix it for about a day. I was annoyed, but not all that surprised, that the problem came back. So I did a little process of elimination and determined that the barn doors seemed to be where the trouble was. So, tonight I also cleaned the contacts on both barn doors, and dabbed a bit of grease on all of the connections. So far, that seems to have done the trick.

Well, the interior light thing isn't completely over. They still stay on sometimes, but a slam of the cargo door shuts them off.

I may attempt an adjustment of the pin-type contact switches on the cargo doors. I've looked for replacement switches, but had no luck - not even sure what GM calls them.

Well, the interior light thing isn't completely over. They still stay on sometimes, but a slam of the cargo door shuts them off.

I may attempt an adjustment of the pin-type contact switches on the cargo doors. I've looked for replacement switches, but had no luck - not even sure what GM calls them.

Here is what GM shows for the Back Door Electrical connections and yes, as they wear out, they will cause electrical disruptions.

Order a Cargo Door Contactor and door Jam Switch.

JC Whitney has two or 4 node universal contact switches

http://www.jcwhitney.com/painless-universal-door-jamb-switch/p3065031.jcwx?skuId=2929427&filterid=c2789d50267y1993g183u0j1