Hilly Driving Preventative Maintenance

[92exploder4dr]

I'm beginning to think nobody looks at the "Under the Hood" forum.

So I will soon be driving back and forth for work, a distance of ~30 miles, with an elevation change of ~4k feet within that distance. What are some good preventative maintenance things I should be looking at? Motor will be seeing 3-4k RPM for extended periods of time while coming home (going up) to maintain speed limit. Here is what I have come up with personally, just seeing if anybody has input...

Transmission temperature gauge
B&M remote transmission filter
B&M transmission cooler (if after gauge I find it gets too hot)
Transmission filter screen and oil change (Synthetic)
Oil change (Synthetic)
Coolant change

Anything you would add? Random thoughts?

189k on the clock.

 

[RangerX]

Sorry nobody responded to your other thread, but please don't post duplicate threads. If nobody responds here, you can bump it once pre day.
I deleted the other one.

 

[92exploder4dr]

Sorry and thank you.

 

[///Manuel]

How does it run? If it hasn't been done in a while maybe new plugs, air filter, fuel filter.
I find that higher octane gas helps with power. Brakes ok?
If there's anything in it that you won't need take it out of the car, the less weight the easier on the motor.

 

[jd4242]

is it 4x4 or 2wheel?gears would help

 

[92exploder4dr]

4x4

3.73 LS

New plugs, air filter, cleaned MAF & IAC, repacked wheel bearings, rotate & balance of tires.

 

[Anime]

The 3.73 gears will help a lot. I never had a problem in Colorado, the torque of the 4.0 made for easy driving. I was pleasantly impressed that even towing a dual axle box trailer, going up hills was easy.

I don't know about 3-4K RPM though, that's extremely high for this motor. Torque maxes out around ~2500 RPM, so going higher doesn't really do anything but make for unnecessary wear. I know the autos wind up going higher, especially with the 3.73's, but don't turn off OD or hold gears for the heck of it, it isn't a race motor or a 4 banger with high-RPM capabilities.

Transmission coolers will help extend the life of the tranny, even with regular driving. Dual coolers might be overkill, but could be worth it, and you could even bypass the stock cooler in the radiator with dual coolers instead. Synthetic ATF helps a LOT.

If doing a coolant change, I'd suggest using Zerex Green if you want to use the original kind of coolant, or switching to Zerex G-05, which is the yellow/gold stuff they use in new Fords. Both coolants are available at Napa. I mention this because the new Prestone and similar "Green" color "All makes and models" coolants are really Dex-cool stuff, and eat gaskets, as far as my experience goes. Do a flush or just rinse out the system with distilled water, and mix the coolant with distilled water as well.

Also don't forget basic stuff like tire pressure. Running the correct pressure, around 30-35 psi (32 is a good starting point), goes a long way towards making it easier on the power and drivetrain, not to mention the improvement in gas mileage.

 

[92exploder4dr]

Maybe something is causing a performance issue then?

On these inclines I speak of (going west on I70 from Denver towards Idaho Springs), if I hold the gas pedal down just hard enough not to shift from 4-3 I will lose speed. Just that hair more gas pedal to downshift though, puts it in the 3k+ range at the speed limit which is what I need to do to keep up with traffic.

What else should I be looking at as far as performance? Coil pack tested to be just out of range with a multimeter, but not terrible. Plug wires tested fine with multimeter and are visually fine. Have seafoamed the thing, 1 bottle of B12 ran through, 1 bottle of Redline ran through. Cats are not plugged, dropped them and checked.

Stock tire size @ 30 psi

I do have a slight exhaust leak I found while seafoaming. Smoke came out from between the drivers side header and Y pipe. I wouldn't think a slight exhaust leak would just kill uphill performance though, or would it? Seems to have a decent enough pep on flatland for what the motor is and what the truck weighs.

 

[Anime]

Have you done the basic stuff like Mass Airflow Sensor cleaning? Little things like that make a HUGE difference. A bad coil pack or plug wires, or even just worn plugs (stock platinums only last 60,000, but are highly worn at 50,000) makes a difference as well, I changed the wires to Magnecors while in Colorado and it fixed lots of issues, including lackluster on-ramp acceleration. Check that the air filter is clean too, you may even want to switch to an oil type filter. Rockauto.com has the FRAM Airhogs for cheap, or you can get a K&N for $20-30. What exhaust is on there? The '91-92's have a 2.25 exhaust and can benefit from an aftermarket muffler. Even just throwing on a $20-25 Thrush from Advance can beat a rusty old stocker that's falling apart. Dynomax also makes a muffler P/N 17747, and/or cat-back kit that offers some improvement as well.

Try bumping up the front pressure to 32 psi. If the ride isn't too rough for you, stick with it.

An exhaust leak would cause a pretty big performance drop, especially at high RPM where the exhaust is flowing fast and pressure is high, so it's looking for somewhere to escape. See about tightening up those bolts, though you may need to unbolt the Y-pipe/cat assembly (detatch at the cat/muffer connection), and clean up the flanges to get a good seal if they are rusted up.


Also keep in mind, at 180,000 plus, a high mileage OHV has wear issues with the stock rocker arms. They get indented and don't open the valves all the way, even at the full extent of the lifters. The only solution is new rockers/rocker shafts. If you get valve clatter and lower performance on heavy acceleration, it's usually this.

 

[92exploder4dr]

I don't think that is going to be in the budget for a while but once I have some more money I plan on doing lifters, rocker arms, injectors, intake manifold gaskets, and valve cover gasket.

Until then though, I have done most of what you would suggest. I'll see about getting that header to Y pipe bolts tightened up, buddy of mine has impact tools. Possibly coil pack, wires, and O2 sensor.

Other than that though, taking care of the tranny is my main concern.

I see many people closing in on 300k with these things and see no reason why I shouldn't be able to as well, just a 4k elevation change twice a day 5 days a week worries me.