Hi there.....Got a Geneva Suburban

[RacingTurtles]

Hello everyone,
I've been lurking this site for over a year. I've been looking for a Suburban for almost 2 years now. I was super picky about what I wanted.
Had to be
-4x4
-Barn Doors
-Third row seating
-I wanted a 2500 series
-Wanted to stick with 87-91 models with the 4 headlights

So this one is a 1990 GMC Suburban 1500 SLE 5.7 Geneva Luxury motor van edition
173,*** miles

I came across a hilarious find online. Listed as a Biohazard. Since that usually means blood, I figured someone died or there was a crapload of blood from it being a outdoor/hunting truck.

Wrong! Just a crapload of crap. Literally said Mouse poop on the side window when I got it.
I got off close to 50 lbs(wet) of shrub, rocks, and poop (multiple sizes/animals) from the engine bay.

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350left by A P, on Flickr

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350 right by A P, on Flickr

If you look to the top right, there is a ghetto looking grounding kit made. It's made of wood and nuts and bolts.

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350 mid by A P, on Flickr

Thats a dead mouse. He definitely had help, no way he alone pooped in every corner of the engine bay.



I got her the day before I left for Disney world for a week. Battery was dead, pushed it in the driveway. I finally had time to get her somewhat cleaned up recently.

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side view by A P, on Flickr

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side front by A P, on Flickr

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k5introof by A P, on Flickr

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interiork5 by A P, on Flickr

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k5introof by A P, on Flickr





She wont stay running. I'd appreciate some help if you guys don't mind.

Put a new battery in it, pulled off the air filter when she wouldnt start. I see a little drip of fuel but not a spray. She runs on starter fluid for a few seconds. I have a bunch of extra wiring in the interior(there was a tv in there and there is a VCR so theres atleast 10-15 wires) that seems to be homeless as well as Some random red wire (power) in the engine bay that I can't find a home for. I feel like there is supposed to be something else to the right of it.

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loose engine bay wire by A P, on Flickr

I feel like something should be installed to the right of that black electrical relay/solenoid. Theres a red power wire hanging loose that I cant find where to plug into.

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1990 suburban 350 tbi by A P, on Flickr


There are 3 wires loose in this photo, 2 blue and there is a black connector touching the blue on the right.

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1990 suburban by A P, on Flickr


This red wire that is just hanging.

I have changed the ignition coil already, and I have new spark plugs, wires, and a distributor cap and rotor coming. Honestly that was all just peace of mind. I know it's gonna turn out to be something stupid/obvious.


I'm just excited I can finally post here. I love this thing. I just want to drive it.

 

[Old77]

 

[1973c10]

Welcome

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Just dripping fuel, huh? And that’s both injectors? Do you hear the fuel pump when you first turn the key? It’s clearly doing something, but it maybe on its way out the door. I’d borrow a fuel pressure tester from Autozone or O’Reilly and test fuel pressure at the filter location and replace the filter. If you’ve got 12 pounds of pressure, you’re good. I’d try to start it again. If it doesn’t show good pressure, you’re gonna have to drop the tank and replace the pump assembly. Check for rust and cracked tank baffling, too, because I had both and replaced the tank at the same time as the pump. AC Delco is the best brand, followed by Delphi, and I can also recommend Spectra because that’s what I’ve used with good results on both of my vehicles. My mech. pump is a Delphi, but I’m talking about what’s in the tank of my car and truck. Avoid Airtex like the plague. If you have good pressure, try to start it, and nothing happens, it’d be good to rebuild the TBI (cheap and easy). The injectors are worth keeping at the back of your mind, but I’m reluctant to believe that they’re both going to behave the same way when something goes wrong. One acting up is easier for me to believe. If I was having injector issues, I’d send them to be cleaned out of cheapness and skepticism towards new ones, but that’s just me. WitchHunter Performance does this. That red wire on the fuel pressure relay should be the test terminal to bypass everything and directly apply power to the pump in diagnostic situations, but mine is a different color and gauge of wire. I wish I could give you some info on the other wiring, but it looks like your harness deviates from the factory setup a bit to power some of the truck’s bells and whistles so I’d better leave that to someone else to speculate on. @hatzie @chengny

 

[Lil'm]

Ordered a custom Suburban from Geneva way back. I lived about 90 minutes away and went there many times to watch the operation. Started small and grew really big then imploded around '91. AS I recall it was primarily GM stuff and mostly vans. Units would come in by the truckload direct from the factory with no interior at all and they would do just about anything you wanted. Much of the finished product went to the middle East. I wanted heated leather power seats that were not offered yet from GM and a custom color. Big block 4x4 w/411 gears. Loved it. I skipped the gawdy walnut wood inserts that they seemed to apply everywhere. A friend now owns the property they had and runs a flea market operation from it. Hope the project goes well!

 

[82sbshortbed]

 

[Crispy]

Nice find, poop aside. Those seats look so friggin comfy and the body cladding is in good shape. What part of PA are you in?

That loose red wire with clip is to test your fuel pump. That relay that the harness is connected to is the fuel pump relay. If you suspect a weak fuel pump you can apply 12v to that red wire and the pump will engage for testing purposes.

 

[HotRodPC]

Ohh yeah, the dear old Copart purchase. Even a spit *** would justify a BIO warning on a Copart car. I'm surprised they didn't even have the Red Bio Hazard warning sticket on that one. Of course this one really was BIO, it wasn't pretty inside at all.

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[RacingTurtles]

Welcome

So glad to be here guys/gals!

Just dripping fuel, huh? And that’s both injectors? Do you hear the fuel pump when you first turn the key? It’s clearly doing something, but it maybe on its way out the door. I’d borrow a fuel pressure tester from Autozone or O’Reilly and test fuel pressure at the filter location and replace the filter. If you’ve got 12 pounds of pressure, you’re good. I’d try to start it again. If it doesn’t show good pressure, you’re gonna have to drop the tank and replace the pump assembly. Check for rust and cracked tank baffling, too, because I had both and replaced the tank at the same time as the pump. AC Delco is the best brand, followed by Delphi, and I can also recommend Spectra because that’s what I’ve used with good results on both of my vehicles. My mech. pump is a Delphi, but I’m talking about what’s in the tank of my car and truck. Avoid Airtex like the plague. If you have good pressure, try to start it, and nothing happens, it’d be good to rebuild the TBI (cheap and easy). The injectors are worth keeping at the back of your mind, but I’m reluctant to believe that they’re both going to behave the same way when something goes wrong. One acting up is easier for me to believe. If I was having injector issues, I’d send them to be cleaned out of cheapness and skepticism towards new ones, but that’s just me. WitchHunter Performance does this. That red wire on the fuel pressure relay should be the test terminal to bypass everything and directly apply power to the pump in diagnostic situations, but mine is a different color and gauge of wire. I wish I could give you some info on the other wiring, but it looks like your harness deviates from the factory setup a bit to power some of the truck’s bells and whistles so I’d better leave that to someone else to speculate on. @hatzie @chengny

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

Keep the volume low

So thats what it does. I call that dripping because I saw another video where it showed a heavier spray pattern. No gas pedal was applied. All I hear is the loud beep (the "you left your key in the ignition, dont lock the doors"/ patient flatlined)

I knew I had to go to advance auto parts for a reason today, forgot to get the fuel pressure tester.

Just for my peace of mind, I have
Spark plugs and wires
Distributor and rotor
fuel filter
coming in. I know the truck has probably sat for atleast 2 years (based on the mileage readings from the vin report) I feel like bad gas would atleast run it at idle.

So with that fuel pump relay, I plugged it straight to the battery with no key in the ignition and no dice. Then had key in on position and got nothing from the injectors (I know I'm dumb)
For the 5 seconds I had my brother help me, I had him turn the key to the on position but not start it. I couldn't hear anything besides that loud beep .

So my process was
Key in ignition> I was at the gas cap with it off trying to hear some buzzing noise from the fuel pump, got no noise.
Went back and pulled the ECMB fuse, looked good.
Had my brother try to start it and it was the same as in the video above. That loud clank at the end was probably the ladder tapping on the bumper.

Ordered a custom Suburban from Geneva way back. I lived about 90 minutes away and went there many times to watch the operation. Started small and grew really big then imploded around '91. AS I recall it was primarily GM stuff and mostly vans. Units would come in by the truckload direct from the factory with no interior at all and they would do just about anything you wanted. Much of the finished product went to the middle East. I wanted heated leather power seats that were not offered yet from GM and a custom color. Big block 4x4 w/411 gears. Loved it. I skipped the gawdy walnut wood inserts that they seemed to apply everywhere. A friend now owns the property they had and runs a flea market operation from it. Hope the project goes well!

Very interesting man! I originally wanted tiny mid 90's tacomas and Datsun/Nissan trucks but people wanted so much for them. Then I got wanted the old Silverados and laid my eyes on the suburbans. Been hunting for one for a while. I've never seen a suburban like this in person or on the internet until I found mine. I appreciate the well wishes.

Realistic Plans are
-to redo the leather seats since the front two need help.
-new carpet
-fix the broken section of the running boards (I kinda like them and they are useful)
-tackle repairs/preventative maintenance and get her running/keep her running
-Get one of my 24" tv's in there and make it work with the sound system

My Unrealistic (or wont happen anytime soon) plans are
-Suspension lift
-Aggressive front and rear Bash bars/Brush guards
-External roll cage (like those jeep dudes) but to tie it into a Safari roof (so it doesn't mess with my high top roof)
-Reinforce the running boards in case someone wants to T bone me

Nice find, poop aside. Those seats look so friggin comfy and the body cladding is in good shape. What part of PA are you in?

That loose red wire with clip is to test your fuel pump. That relay that the harness is connected to is the fuel pump relay. If you suspect a weak fuel pump you can apply 12v to that red wire and the pump will engage for testing purposes.

Should I hook it up to the battery with key in ignition or not. I will try that in a couple minutes.

Can confirm seats are comfy. I'm in Philadelphia. I made a makeshift harness and ran it straight to the battery.

Ohh yeah, the dear old Copart purchase. Even a spit *** would justify a BIO warning on a Copart car. I'm surprised they didn't even have the Red Bio Hazard warning sticket on that one. Of course this one really was BIO, it wasn't pretty inside at all.

Jeez thats rough. Do you work at one of their locations or you just happened to find that online?

 

[HotRodPC]

I'm almost certain the fuel pump doesn't actually start until the engine has started? Even if it does, if it's holding pressure at the fuel rail it'll shut the pump off will it not ??? It appeared to be priming just fine and getting fuel through the injectors.

 

[animal]

 

[HotRodPC]

So do you have a Copart purchasing account or do you use a partner's account? Can you say what you ended up getting the Burb for and what fees were involved? If you'd rather not, that's fine too. I'm just curious.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

For cranking, that looks alright to me. Just take care of the basics. If you have spark that’s timed correctly, you know it’s a good chance of being a fuel problem. I like dealing with spark first because it’s cleaner and easier to me. Ignition control modules, pickup coils, and distributor assemblies all fail on these. You have to check spark and make sure it’s a white, snappy one. If you get spark and injector pulse, which you clearly have one of those, you need to verify the fuel pressure and work your way out from replacing the fuel filter (i.e. dropping the tank, cleaning it, and replacing the fuel pump assembly). Any updates?

 

[RacingTurtles]

Hi friend

I'm almost certain the fuel pump doesn't actually start until the engine has started? Even if it does, if it's holding pressure at the fuel rail it'll shut the pump off will it not ??? It appeared to be priming just fine and getting fuel through the injectors.

Yeah this ones a doosey. So I won the truck for $650, paid Copart $888 with their nonsense fees.
I paid one of my tow truck Drivers who has a rebuilders account $350. Shipping was like $1200 from Colorado to PA

For cranking, that looks alright to me. Just take care of the basics. If you have spark that’s timed correctly, you know it’s a good chance of being a fuel problem. I like dealing with spark first because it’s cleaner and easier to me. Ignition control modules, pickup coils, and distributor assemblies all fail on these. You have to check spark and make sure it’s a white, snappy one. If you get spark and injector pulse, which you clearly have one of those, you need to verify the fuel pressure and work your way out from replacing the fuel filter (i.e. dropping the tank, cleaning it, and replacing the fuel pump assembly). Any updates?

i got a distributor + rotor, plugs, and wires coming in tonight or tomorrow. I already did an ignition coil. I'm currently working on another car until I have all of my truck stuff here.

 

[RacingTurtles]

So the saga continues, put in the spark plugs, wires, distributor aand rotor, still not starting.

Anyone happen to know where I would be able to probe the fuel pump wires for power? I'm assuming it runs along the underchassis or through the cabin under the carpet.