Folks, I need your help!!!
Girlfriend's Suburban ('88, 350 TBI) has developed a problem. The thing cuts out intermittently (from what I understand). So far this happened when pulling up to a stop light, and while simply driving down the road. I haven't seen it for myself, just going by what she's told me.
This vehicle hasn't seen any kind of maintenance for at least 3 years now. Well, almost. A couple of years back plugs and wires were changed, and, I understand, there were a couple of oil changes. A couple of months ago I put new plugs (AC Delco) and wires (Borg-Warner) in it. Also replaced fuel and air filters. Shortly thereafter, the fuel pump went. After the pump was replaced, the Suburban ran fine for a while. Now, when I replaced the plugs, I took the advice of the guy from O'Reilly's and set the gap at .045. The gap on the old plugs was also .045. However, the underhood label calls for .035 gap. Therefore, a couple of days ago I re-gapped the plugs (.035) and changed the oil - AC Delco filter, Mobil Drive Clean ("regular") oil (as far as I can tell, that was the first oil change in about 40,000 miles. How's that for and extended drain interval?) The girl said that the Suburban seemed to accelerate quicker after this. Also, found a bottle of SuperTech Gas Treatment in the Suburban, and put that crap in the tank when she bought gas that same day (12 oz. bottle to about 4.5 gallons of gas).
The question is this: which one of those actions could have caused this symptom? Or could this be something unrelated? I'll look at the vehicle tomorrow, so I'll have more information, but right now it seems to me that the spark plug gap could be the main suspect (it ran just fine for God only knows hom many thousands of miles - 123,000 on the clock right now - on .045 gap, and the symptom didn't show up untill the gap was set to .035).
ANY input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Girlfriend's Suburban ('88, 350 TBI) has developed a problem. The thing cuts out intermittently (from what I understand). So far this happened when pulling up to a stop light, and while simply driving down the road. I haven't seen it for myself, just going by what she's told me.
This vehicle hasn't seen any kind of maintenance for at least 3 years now. Well, almost. A couple of years back plugs and wires were changed, and, I understand, there were a couple of oil changes. A couple of months ago I put new plugs (AC Delco) and wires (Borg-Warner) in it. Also replaced fuel and air filters. Shortly thereafter, the fuel pump went. After the pump was replaced, the Suburban ran fine for a while. Now, when I replaced the plugs, I took the advice of the guy from O'Reilly's and set the gap at .045. The gap on the old plugs was also .045. However, the underhood label calls for .035 gap. Therefore, a couple of days ago I re-gapped the plugs (.035) and changed the oil - AC Delco filter, Mobil Drive Clean ("regular") oil (as far as I can tell, that was the first oil change in about 40,000 miles. How's that for and extended drain interval?) The girl said that the Suburban seemed to accelerate quicker after this. Also, found a bottle of SuperTech Gas Treatment in the Suburban, and put that crap in the tank when she bought gas that same day (12 oz. bottle to about 4.5 gallons of gas).
The question is this: which one of those actions could have caused this symptom? Or could this be something unrelated? I'll look at the vehicle tomorrow, so I'll have more information, but right now it seems to me that the spark plug gap could be the main suspect (it ran just fine for God only knows hom many thousands of miles - 123,000 on the clock right now - on .045 gap, and the symptom didn't show up untill the gap was set to .035).
ANY input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
