# 98 2500 454 problems



## jdjoe_97 (Aug 13, 2000)

Hey guys I need to pick your brains about my bowtie. Truck has 73k miles on it and just in the last two weeks started to starts hard. It always starts and runs fine just cranks longer than I think it should. I replaced plugs and wires this week. I bought a fuel filter today and will install in the morning. The current problem, which I don't know if its related or not is the truck over heated yesterday. This was in 25 degree weather with no load running 55. So I got up this morn and took her down the road and it did it again, so I got a thermostat figuring that was it. Well I decided to check the coolant level, which I had done just a few weeks ago, and sure enough it was low. I put about 75% of a gallon in it. Well that cured the overheating. However I have also been noticing the sweet smell of coolant just slighly for the last week or two. I inspected all the hoses and radiator today to find the problem, found water on drivers side between the valve cover and intake manifold. I am guessing I may have a head gasket blown. or at least a manifold gasket. Could this be why the truck won't start right off, also have a very slight roughness at idle. Just feels like it missed on one cylinder every once couple seconds. This is my first bowtie and I am not impressed after a year of ownership and just 17K miles. Any help would be appreciated. Joe


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## mowahman (May 6, 2001)

friend of mine just went through the same problems as you, rough at idle, harder than usual to start, loosing coolant. Turns out it was a bad intake manifold gasket. Removed intake, new gaskets....back to new again.


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

Intake gasket,that should cure the problems.


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## jdjoe_97 (Aug 13, 2000)

*update*

Thanks for the replies. I took the truck up to the shop today and they said same thing. Manifold gasket and $350 to do it. Or the mechanic said go to Napa get a bottle of block sealer and put in the radiator for $3. So I am going to try that, I know I ought to get the gasket put in, but the mechanic said there are no guarantees that will cure it. He said GM even advises to put in block sealer if you have the motor down at any level, his opinion just put sealer in it and if it lets go put some more in it. So I am going to give it a whirl. Besides I am hoping to trade the truck off this weekend. This problem is the last straw with bowties. No offense, I know there are many bowtie lovers and I sure there are a lot of good GM trucks on the road.

Between the problems with this one the gas consumption is horrible. I know I did expect this, but for less than what I pay in gas a month to feed this truck during the mowing season, I can make the payments on a dodge diesel. Thanks for your help and I will let you know if the block sealer works. Joe


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

Well the block sealer should hold until you drive it to the dealer,good luck with your new Cummins/Dodge,your going to love the pulling power,and fuel economy.


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## jdjoe_97 (Aug 13, 2000)

Well the sealer worked. I hope it continues to hold. The dealer that I am looking at the dodge at is the same one who suggested the sealer for the trade in truck. 


John - I know all about the cummins, I have owned a 98 2500 ext cab 5 spd and a 2001 2500 Quad auto. I loved both of them I traded the first for the 2001 and then traded down thinking that cutting overhead would be a good idea. However it turned out that its costing more to feed the 454 and maintain it than the differencse in the payments and cost of diesel. So that's why I am going to back to diesel. I will hear on Monday if the Bank gives me a green light. Joe


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

jdjoe 97 

I have the same problem with my 1998 2500 454. Did the stop leak work. Did it start right away & Idle ok! 

I can't believe that someone else had the same problem as me, I thought I was going nuts. 

Should have searched this web site long ago, whould have saved me hundreds of hours in shop time! Thanks.

CGB


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

Update:

Turned out to be a bad water pump! It died on me two days ago. After replacing it, the truck runs like new again.

CGB


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## ksland (Nov 27, 2002)

A bad water pump will not effect the way the truck runs. It will only cause you to lose antifreeze.


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## fastjohnny (Nov 14, 2002)

*bad water pump and poor running conditions*

I have to disagree. If a water pump is leaking, causing a low-coolant condition, the temp sensors will not give accurate readings, regardless of whether the truck is actually overheating or not. And the temp sensors DEFINTELY can cause poor driveability in a vehicle, in fact, straight out of the haynes repair manual, " ...this sensor will affect the operation of the entire fuel injection system."

So... a bad water pump CAN cause poor performance


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

ksland - I am going to side with fastjohnny on this one. I thought my truck was running rough at idle, due to suggestions, proposed on this thread. However, I did not get around to changing the intake manifold gasket before the water pump went out. Turns out the light smell of anti-freeze was due to the faulty water pump not the manifold gasket.

After replacing the water pump, the truck starts right up. It has not done this in 10 months, it used to crank for about 10 seconds before it would start. The rough idle is gone as well.

CGB


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## Mike 97 SS (Aug 11, 2002)

A bad waterpump does not have an affect on how long you had to crank the motor over to get it to start. You can take the accessory belt off the car completely and it would start the same way, may spin a drop faster due to less parasitic drag. Im with ksland, bad water pump has no affect on a driveability problem. Yes of course if you are losing coolant and it runs low enough, it will start to run hot and when it starts to run hot, it may run differently, but im just talking about having a waterpump that drips a little but you keep the system full of antifreeze by checking it all the time. Mike


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## staley52 (Dec 17, 2001)

while on a coolant topic I want to suggest this 
GET RID OF THAT DEXCOOL
flush it out and install good ol green prestone 
dexcool has been a problem since day one the number of headgasket and intake gskt problems has doubled at least that I have seen


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

Mike - I can only speak from experience. I don't know why the past problems went away, when I changed the water pump. I just put two and two together. 

For the past two months I have been putting 97 octane in the truck, per someone's suggestion on this website. That may be a contributing factor as well. 

CGB


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## Mike 97 SS (Aug 11, 2002)

Yea, i dont care for that DEXCOOL crap either. It starts to look like rust in a short time and starts to make a brownish nasty looking build up inside the radiator and around cap. My 97 Camaro SS has it and i hate it, my 92 Chevy pick up has green anti freeze, much better in my oppinion. 1 point for Ford here, i think they still use green only. Mike


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

Well, about a month ago, the truck started taking a while to crank over, again!!! Now the rough idle is back, and worse than ever. The only change on top of the old problems that are occuring, is the strong smell of fuel. You cant even stand next to the truck when it is running, the smell will kill you!

Any suggestions! I thing the hard starting is linked with the fuel pump in the gas tank. I think i got a crapy replacement, when I replaced it last year. This condition comes and goes, every couple of months. I think it could also be debris in the sock, etc.

As far as the rest of the problems, I have no clue. I performed a tune up less than a year ago. I might just change the manifold gasket as suggested above. I bought it last winter, but never installed it when the problems went away.

Chuck B.


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## wyldman (Jan 18, 2001)

Do a fuel pressure leakdown check,and check the fuel pump relay.A bad relay will cause long crank times too.


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

I believe i replaced the fuel pump relay last year(if it is in the fuze box under the hood). The mechanic recomended changing it after I changed the fuel pump, and still had problems.

I went out and bought a Microscan from Snap-On the other day to help with code recovery. Nice tool. The following is the only code the truck is showing: P0172 MOD $10 1 of 1, System too rich (bank 1).

Any suggestions on where to start!

Chuck B.


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

I am replacing the manifold gasket on my 454. I am having a problem getting one pipe off the top of the intake. Its the pipe that comes in off the back of the EGR valve - its right behind the EGR mounting position! Its an 1 3/8" wrench size, and it will not budge!

Any sugestions.

Chuck B


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

Give it some heat,heat it quickly and try to break it loose.soak with PBblaster too.


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

Thanks John, I will give it a try.

PS - What happened to your Twins Post in the Off topic forum?

Chuck B.


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