Repair And Fix it

A Chevrolet K1500 is a pickup truck with four-wheel drive and a nominal carrying capacity of 1/2 ton. The 1994 model belongs to the fourth generation of this series, which was in production from 1988 to 2000. The water pump in the 1994 Chevrolet K1500 attaches to the front of the engine and is accessible from the engine compartment. The replacement of the water pump in this vehicle also requires you to drain the cooling system and remove additional components from the engine.

Instructions

1

Disconnect the cable to the negative battery terminal with a socket wrench to ensure you dont inadvertently start the engine. Put a drain pan under the radiator and open the radiator drain. Allow the coolant to drain from the radiator and replace the radiator drain plug.

2

Disconnect the drive belts on the engine with a socket wrench and remove the alternator. Disconnect the cooling fan assembly, including the clutch and pulley. You might also need to remove some accessory brackets to access the water pump. Remove the radiator hose and heater hose from the water pump. Disconnect the bypass hose from the water pump if your vehicle has a 7.4-liter engine.

3

Use a socket wrench to remove the mounting bolts that attach the water pump to the timing chain cover. Detach the water pump from the timing chain cover and discard the water pumps gasket.

4

Clean the timing chain cover with a shop towel to remove any traces of the old gasket. Install the new water pump and gasket to the timing chain cover. Tighten the mounting bolts for the water pump to 30 ft. lbs. with a torque wrench.

5

Connect the hoses to the water pump. Install the alternator and any other components you removed to access the water pump. Connect the drive belts to their respective pulleys. Fill the radiator with coolant and connect the cable for the batterys negative terminal.

In its most basic form, a vehicles power train consists of two main systems: the engine and the drivetrain. The engine creates the power, and the drivetrain harnesses it to turn the wheels.

Engine

A gasoline internal combustion engine combines a mist made of air and fuel in its intake manifold. When the intake valves open, a spark plug fires to ignite this mixture, pushing the piston downward to turn the crankshaft. The revolution of the crankshaft pushes the next piston up, and the process repeats to continue the rotational motion.

Transmission

The transmission connects to the engine via a torque converter or a clutch plate or plates, depending on the type of transmission. Power from the engine turns the input shaft and then transfers through the transmissions gears to attain the desired output ratio.

Driveshaft and Differential

In some cars, the differential bolts directly to the transmission in a single housing. In others, it mounts on the rear axle and connects to the transmission via the driveshaft. The differential is responsible for flipping the rotational motion of the driveshaft onto the separate axis of the axle turning the wheels.

Bore scopes are optical devices comprised of a length of fiber-optic cabling fed into a display screen or lens, allowing the user to feed the thin end of the fiber-optic cable into a difficult-to-reach, tight area, and project the image onto the screen of the device. These devices can be extremely convenient when attempting to open a locked car door. With the scope inserted into the crevice between the car door and window, you can easily identify the lock control components, making opening a locked door a simple task.

Instructions

1

Insert a plastic wedge -- available at a home-improvement store -- between the car window and door, creating a gap between them and allowing you to insert your bore scope into the door cavity.

2

Insert your bore, or fiber, scope and while looking at the display or through the lens, identify the lock control rod. This will be a rod that connects the internal lock control with the key control mounted on the rear of the keyed door lock cylinder in the car door.

3

Insert the Slim Jim unlocking device or wire coat hanger with a bend at the tip. While looking through the bore scope, place the Slim Jim or wire coat hanger hook over the lock control rod and either push down, pull up, or push it sideways to toggle it into the open position.

4

Remove the Slim Jim or coat hanger, bore scope and plastic wedge, and open the unlocked car door.

In 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act gave the Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) authority over safety-related auto defect recalls. NHTSA is charged with investigating consumer complaints regarding auto defects and managing the recall process when defects pose safety hazards or when part of the vehicle doesnt comply with federal safety standards.

Recall Initiation

Many recalls are initiated voluntarily by the manufacturer, after the manufacturer discovers through its own testing or consumer complaints that a safety defect exists. Other times, recalls dont happen until the NHTSA gets involved to investigate. If a manufacturer does not recall the defective vehicles willingly, NHTSA may obtain a court order requiring that the manufacturer recall the affected vehicles.

Notification Letters

Whichever way a recall is initiated, the manufacturer must attempt to notify registered vehicle owners of the safety defect and offer to repair the problem at no charge. Recall notification letters must be sent by first-class mail and are required to describe the defect and the safety risk posed by the problem and describe the offer for free repair including when the remedy will be available and an approximation of how long repairs will take.

Examples of Safety-Related Auto Defects

Safety-related auto defects are ones that pose risk of injury to owners of many or all of a certain vehicle make, model or equipment design. Examples include steering component defects that could result in a driver losing control of the vehicle, sticky accelerator controls that could cause a crash and wiring system problems that could result in a fire.

Automobiles, like many forms of life on Earth, long ago left the oceans for drier climes; and like most others evolved to land, autos arent particularly keen on going back to the depths. Whether or not a car runs after a good dunking partly depends upon the engine in question, partly on how much water it encountered, and why it stalled in the first place.

Puddles

Splashing through deep puddles -- those no deeper than about 6 inches, or slightly above the bottom of the oil pan -- is common enough that most manufacturers build cars to account for it. If a quick dunk into a puddle or a brief splash causes your engine to stall, then odds are water got into something electrical and shorted it. Most low-hanging sensors likely to encounter water -- the oxygen sensors and crankshaft position sensors -- arent prone to damage by it, but water in the will interrupt the signal they produce. Odds are good the car will start after you unplug the electrical connectors and dry them out.

Immersion Up to the Engine Block

Lets say you live in a flood-prone area and you wake up one morning to find your car standing in about a foot of water -- right up to the engine block or the bottom of the doors, but not past them. If the car refuses to start under these conditions, then its almost certainly because water has penetrated the lowest-hanging electrical connectors. The car may not start while its in standing water, but it should be fine afterward as long as the fuse block or computer hasnt gotten wet. Even a completely submerged computer may not be beyond saving as long as you dont send any power through it while it still is wet -- but dont count on it working after you dry it out.

Immersion Up to the Valve Covers

Unless you own a Jeep or a Hummer H1, immersion up to the valve covers is well beyond what the factory had in mind when they designed your car. If your car stalled while going through water up to the door handles or the bottom of the valve covers, you may have more significant problems than those electrical in nature. If it didnt stall because of an electrical short, then odds are that it stalled because water in the pipe created enough backpressure to halt the combustion process. Once the engine stalls, all of that pressure goes away and water comes flooding up through the exhaust system. At the very least, you may expect serious thermal shock damage to the catalytic converter core, and possibly a completely flooded engine.

Total Flooding -- Car vs. Submarine

In the above scenario, where the car stalled with water above the level of the exhaust ports in the engine, then water would flood up through the manifold and into the cylinders. Try to start the car with the cylinders full of water -- assuming the starter works -- and you end up permanently damaging the engine through hydro-lock. Once that happens, your engine is effectively toast. However, say the engine didnt stall until water got up past the intake system. In that case, youre looking at gallons of water sucked into the engine and almost certain hydro-lock. At that point, nothing can save it.

Salvaging the Vehicle

The good news is that as long as your engine didnt go into hydro-lock, theres no reason it shouldnt run after a thorough drying and replacement of the oil and any damaged electrical components. In cases of prolonged immersion, youll also need to drain the fuel tank and lines. Certain components, such as the computer, ignition module and possibly the ignition coil, are almost sure to go following immersion, but theyre replaceable. The guys at BBCs "Top Gear" television program proved this while attempting to destroy a diesel Toyota Hilux pickup truck by dropping it at the bottom of the English Channel and leaving it overnight. After a bit of drying, fluid replacement and electrical work, host Jeremy Clarkson started the truck and drove it home from the beach.

The cylinder heads in the four-stroke combustion engine have valves and valve seats that must be machined to precise tolerance and fit. If the valves do not seat correctly with their seats, they leak and lose compression. Valves that do not match within specifications with their seats can also cause excessive overheating and valve failure. The valve seat takes a continual pounding from the action of the valve when it closes. Valve seats can crack and become worn. Several tools need to be used to check and repair valve seats.

Crack Checking Tools

Before any valve seat can be reshaped and ground within specifications, the vale seat area must be magnafluxed to reveal hairline cracks. An electrical transformer attaches to the head, where it delivers a a high voltage magnetic charge to the metal. Magnaflux, which consists of a powdered, reactive chemical, gets sprinkled on the valve seat area. The chemical power reacts to breaks in the magnetic lines of force (field), which shows up as horizontal lines or spider-webbing cracks in the metal.

Valve Seat Grinding Machine

The valve seat grinding machine consists of of a platform vice that holds the cylinder head in a fixed and upright position. The vice fasteners lock the head into a level and stable orientation. The overhead part of the valve seat grinder consists of a motor that drives a cutting bit, which can be adapted to cut out the old valve seat from either aluminum or cast iron. A machine bit then cuts the new valve seat face at a precise angle, usually around 45 degrees. Dial indicators determine the depth of the cut, while bits determine the seat diameter to be cut. Lubricant, fed by the machine, keeps the cutting surface cool.

Valve Lappers

Valve lapping tools must be used to attain final sizing of the face and valve seats for a perfect, sealed match. The most common valve lappers consists of wood dowels that have two different size suction cups on each end. After the valve has been inserted in the stem and abrasive compound has been brushed between the valve face and the seat, a manual twisting motion turns the wood dowel back and forth to cut the interface seat between the valve and seat. Valve lappers come in a variety of suction cup diameters for intake and exhaust valves of all sizes.

Motorized Valve Lappers

Instead of manual wood dowel lappers, motorized drills and air guns can be fitted with suction cup bits that attach to the top of the valve. Once abrasive lapping compound has been applied between the valve and seat, the motor or air tool is turned on to spin the valve at high rpm. The use of power tools for lapping reduces the labor time involved in cutting the final seat and valve face.

Valve Seat Grinding Compound

Valve seat grinding compound consists of a a thick paste that contains cutting abrasives. The cutting compound comes in fine, medium and coarse grits. The coarse grit takes the most of the irregularities and burs out of the interface surfaces, while the medium and fine cutting compound cuts the last finishing face between the valve and valve seat.

As of 2010, General Motors has issued two recalls on the 2005 Pontiac G6. One addressed a brake problem, while the other corrected owner manual instructions for child safety restraint systems. Intermittent power steering lock-ups and failures, a common problem with this model, have not yet resulted in a safety recall.

Brake Lights

General Motors recalled 8,012 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G6 vehicles to repair a problem with the brake lights. A wiring connector could corrode and cause the brake lights to malfunction, both lighting up when the brake isnt being pressed and not lighting up when the driver is braking. This issue can also affect the cars cruise control, causing the driver to have to apply extra force to brake. If not repaired, this problem could lead to a traffic accident.

Child Restraint Equipment

General Motors recalled 35,777 2005 Pontiac G6 vehicles to correct misprints in the owners manuals that could cause problems with installing child safety seats. The way the erroneous manual instructs the owner to install the child restraint system could cause the safety seat to be installed in a way that could potentially not protect the child in the event of a crash.

Power Steering

Multiple consumer complaints to NHTSA indicate a common intermittent power steering problem in the 2005 Pontiac G6. The power steering may lock up or go out completely on these vehicles, which could lead to a dangerous accident. As of 2010, no recall has been issued to resolve this problem.