Rough day w/ close call

We finally got word that all our furniture we had ordered for the new house was finished and we could pick it up. The place we had ordered it from (off the internet) was about 160 miles away. Now we were ordering quite a bit of furniture - 3 complete bedrooms, dining room table & chairs, office desk w/ return, and a bench. We took my cousins 16' horse trailer.

A little bit of background. We had been having transmission trouble with our truck. The torque converter wasn't unlocking and it would cause the truck to buck when it wouldn't unlock. I had the fluid and filter changed and it seemed to cure it. So anyway on with the story...

We left the house about 7:30 this morning. Immediately the truck started bucking like it had before, but we kept going finally after about 15 miles or so it smoothed out. We went up through Columbus and decided we needed more furniture pads. So I hopped off on Morse road to go to Horrible Freight. Some how we must have missed it. Ended up just getting back on the freeway, but probably cost us 20 minutes or so. Anyway, finally made it to the store about 10:45 or so. They ask us to follow them to the warehouse. OK, we load up. Takes a little over 2 hours. We go back to the store and go to a place they call The Barn and have lunch and we head out back home. This where the story changes....

We start on the highways again. The truck immediately starts bucking again - but now really bad. Then all of a sudden the truck starts loosing power, not to the point it is dying, but just taking more and more throttle to keep going and it kept shifting to 2nd gear. Then all of sudden the check engine light comes on - and starts flashing. I tell Monica to look up what that means. It says severe misfires and to slow down, avoid acceleration, and get serviced immediately to avoid damage. I'm starting to

We keep going though, just easy and it quits flashing but we are still down on power. At this point we are down to about 1/4 tank of fuel. I pull into a Shell station and fill it with premium. Get back on the highway and the truck starts running better but the light is still on just not flashing. Truck is still bucking though. We keep heading to Columbus and finally get there about 4:30. We basically have 3 directions we can go - all 3 have wrecks. I decide to head straight down 71. We go for awhile till we get close to the wreck so I end up having to detour off. Finally make it through Columbus. We make it to South Bloomfield still bucking. Monica wants to stop at Wendys for a frosty. So we stop. While I'm waiting on her, I do a walk around inspection. Lights still working? Check. Look at the hitch....Why is the ball at an angle? This a Reese 2 5/16" 10k ball Oh shit, the ball is loose. I have nothing with me to tighten it and there is nothing - I mean nothing in South Bloomfield. I tell Monica that we'll have to drop the trailer and go to TSC in Circleville and come back. She didn't want to drop it. She was afraid someone still it and she didn't want to sit there with it. (OK, she is almost 8 months pregnant, so she is pretty moody). I unhook, tighten the ball as best I can by hand, and drive VERY CAREFULLY to Circleville - about 7 miles. Stop at TSC and buy a large Crescent wrench (need to go to 1 3/4") and a pipe wrench. Go back outside, unhook, tighten the ball down good, and rehookup. Check the lights again because the plug was broken and the ground wire didn't want to stay connected. Crap, only a right turn signal, start messing with the plug and give up after 5 minuts or so. Hop back in the truck, I didn't have the 4 ways on, I only the right turn signal. Turn the 4 ways on a recheck. The lights are working fine.(BTW, as part of payment for borrowing the trailer, I put a new plug on it for him when we got home tonight). Start back down the highway. Now that we have cycled the engine several times the check engine light is off and the truck is now not bucking.

I'm thinking the loose ball was causing the bucking and not the "bad" transmission. BTW, the ball has been on the hitch for probably 11 years and never been off and never a problem with it. I'm also guessing on the check engine light/lack of power that I either got some bad fuel or water last night when I filled up to head out or I've got a fuel pump going bad and it was starting to get hot with only a 1/4 tank of fuel and the full tank cooled it down enough to pump properly.

At least we made it home in one piece and the furniture looks great. Can't wait till my buddy comes in the morning to help me finish unloading it.

BTW, if you made it clear to the end of this post, you deserve rep points.

Gimme some reps, then. I don't really think the loose hitch ball had much to do with your problems. It may have cause some of the bucking. Bad gas could well be the culprit.

The bucking could have caused the ball to loosen up. You should have called, you know I'm close to South Bloomfield.



Oh yeah you probably thought I was at work.........not today I wasn't

I get rep points too
Your wife is so funny....in the middle of all that and wondering if you would make it home she wants a frosty?
It sounds like the trip from hell....except for the frosty part

OhioTC18 said:

The bucking could have caused the ball to loosen up. You should have called, you know I'm close to South Bloomfield.



Oh yeah you probably thought I was at work.........not today I wasn't

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Well, this about 6:00 or so, so you would've been off anyway. Oh well, it was probably $45 or so for the 2 tools - a lot cheaper than what the alternative was - the ball coming off. Who knows what could have happened then. And I got a couple of new tools out of the deal. Not bad.

What really has me confused because I would be say the same thing as you guys. Once I tightened that ball up, the truck didn't buck once. It was smooth and the truck shifted super smooth - didn't even know the trailer was back there. It'll be interesting tomorrow when I take it back and the tranny is cool then.

American Woman said:

I get rep points too
Your wife is so funny....in the middle of all that and wondering if you would make it home she wants a frosty?
It sounds like the trip from hell....except for the frosty part

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Even that got screwed up. She just wanted a normal frosty. The lady ended up giving her one of the new frosty shakes. Monica immediately said that isn't what I wanted and they made her a new one. They gave her the shake to - for me. Too bad I tasted it and thought it tasted like crap. I tossed the almost full less 2 drinks into the trash as TSC.

BTW, I've given points to everyone so far.

jwstewar said:

Even that got screwed up. She just wanted a normal frosty. The lady ended up giving her one of the new frosty shakes. Monica immediately said that isn't what I wanted and they made her a new one. They gave her the shake to - for me. Too bad I tasted it and thought it tasted like crap. I tossed the almost full less 2 drinks into the trash as TSC.

BTW, I've given points to everyone so far.

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Man! This sounds like one of those days you should have stayed in bed
Anytime I throw icecream away it HAS to be bad....actually I can't remember ever throwing icecream away

The bucking is due to a misfire.... a huge one in one or more cylinders. What are you driving? Probably a Ford that has coils instead of wires. At the very least you need new coils.

It is a Chevy Silverado w/ coil on plug ignitition. BTW, I've never thrown a misfire code before (at least not enough to set the light). When I had my buddy do the transmission work (he owns a garage) he checked the computer for any stored codes.

Question for everyone, if it is the engine causing the bucking and not the tranny, wouldn't the RPMs change? RPMs remain constant.

The OBDII rarely tosses a code for a misfire. Its a major weakness of them. Either run a stress test on your coils or replace them along with the boots and sping AND spark plugs.
I Have a place that will sell you a OEM coil for $10 a piece.

Spark plugs & wires are relatively new AC Delco platinum put in about back in December or was it Dec. '06. I know the truck had over 100k on it when I did it and it only has 107 on it now - but that doesn't mean something still hasn't happened to them or I do have a coil going bad. At 9 years and almost 110k who knows.

BTW, I'm not discounting or disaggreeing with anything posted. Just several weird coincidences today. I'll go by my buddy's garage tomorrow and see if we can get the codes.

Did you put dielectric grease around certain parts of the coils? That freakin HATE moisture!

They already had it on them. I was surprised by that too - both ends of them.

That sounds like some of our trips. Glad ya made it safe!

I hate trips like that where you have to wonder IF you will even make it back home ....and to be towing all your new furniture would made it even more stressful.
Glad you kept a cool head and made it home safe. Good eye catching the louse ball. That could have been a disaster.

congrats on surviving the adventure - still married!

and aren't you glad all the weirdness with bucking was before you got the furniture? Think of what it would have looked like otherwise...

Bad fuel helped to loosen the trailer hitch ball with the jerking motion of the truck and trailer. The fuel or fuel pump I would believe to be the major problem as an electrical problem will usually get worse when the engine gets hotter.

At the risk of Mtntopper getting upset over another useless post from me I'm going to say anyway
I have had this happen before it was my spark plugs....How old is the truck? How long since the last tune up, and plug change? Switching to a full tank of gas and then it does better could also be a fuel pump. I have had one go bad with bucking like you said when my fuel was low, and then get better with a full tank.

Which makes sense. The pump doesn't have to work as hard with the tank full as it does with the tank drawn down. A weak fuel pump can perform well on a full tank because of this. See how it acts with only a quarter tank of fuel once.

My first thought would be fuel. Especially when it smoothed out with a full tank. Years ago, my PU did that every time it got to the 1/2 mark. Took about 5 ----1/2 tanks of hi-test to get it running smooth again. Now I would try a can or 2 of sea-foam with the fill-up.

I'm so pleased you got home safe Jim....Damn you have had enough crap to deal with....now tell Monica it's time to rest up.

jwstewar said:

We went up through Columbus and decided we needed more furniture pads. So I hopped off on Morse road to go to Horrible Freight. Some how we must have missed it.

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That's because they are on Dublin-Granville Rd (Rt 161)

Glad you got home OK with the furniture, trailer, truck and Monica all in one piece. Oh yeah you too.

Now I would try a can or 2 of sea-foam with the fill-up.

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Sea Foam rocks!!!!

I've "cured" a few carbs on small engines with the stuff. One notable was a Wisconsin engine I was given. When the engine was shut off, the carb would overflow. I put about three ounces of SeaFoam in the tank, ran the engine for about half an hour. Shut 'er down and nary a drip from yon carby!

OhioTC18 said:

That's because they are on Dublin-Granville Rd (Rt 161)

Glad you got home OK with the furniture, trailer, truck and Monica all in one piece. Oh yeah you too.

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DOHP!!!! That would explain why I couldn't find them. I usually go to the one on W. Broad, I've only been to that one once when Monica bought her greenhouse. Oh well. We had enough to do the job.

Well, when I returned the trailer the truck was still doing OK. Once I dropped the trailer it started jerking again. Still have 3/4 tank of fuel. I'm still leaning toward the tranny. Didn't make it to my buddies garage though, took longer to unload the furniture Saturday than I thought it would - OK, we talked a lot to my buddy that helped me unload it all. He also helped us set the beds up and put the mirrors on.

Maybe I just need to convince Monica it is time for a new truck. After all, this is a '99. I haven't had a new truck in almost 10 years. Sad part is, I still like the truck and actually still enjoy driving it.

Thanks for the tips everyone. BTW, someone had asked about plugs. I installed plugs & wires in Dec. '06. Only 6 or 7k miles ago. We don't drive it a lot anymore.

Wow. What an experience. I still can't get over the Frosty. That might have been the end to MY marriage. It does sound like some of the events my wife and I have endured while horse showing. Two of three involved us getting towed and $750 plus repair bills... so far you have been fortunate.

I want my rep points!

I had a trailer ball come loose once. It appeeared that the place I had bought it from had inserted the wrong size ball shaft in the receiver thingy (tech term) and tightened it up. I never thought to check it and had used it to haul a trailer across the US. It finally worked its way loose but I was lucky enough to catch it before I lost a trailer full of furniture.

Glad you made it!

You might want to look into a Silverado Forum about this . A few years ago I read a article about Transmission problems that were caused by a electrical problem . Guys were getting new transmissions installed that were fine if the electrical had been fixed . I guess it was quite common in certain years models .

OK, I typed up a long follow-up to this to post this a while back and got the DNS error and didn't have to to retype it then - and now because of my CRS problem, I'll just give a brief explanation of what I've done to the truck.

I took it to my buddy. He put the computer on it. It just said random misfires. He said if it were more consistent misfires it would be a coil, but random is usually wires. Remembering that when I put them on I just put a set of cheap Autozone wires on and AC platinum plugs we decided to change wires. I went and got a set of AC wires. So far, all is well. I need to take it back to him to see if the misfires are still happening, but so far no more bucking. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Lots of things can cause misfire. Here's one that is easily missed. It stumped a lifelong auto mechanic (and licensed smog tech), and had me scratching my head for a month:

On the old uiiiiiiiii (the cat's contribution) conventional distributors, there's a flexible wire between the outer connector and the inner breaker plate that rotates depending on vacuum and centrifugal advance. Usually that wire terminates on the back side of the points.

That wire can chafe and short to the outer shell of the distributor. When it touches, the coil fires a spark that is out of time.

Examining the interior of the distributor when the engine isn't running, that wire is far from touching anything and doesn't look suspect.

I bought an old 400ci Wagoneer and thought I could get it running nice. After some tinkering I found and fixed that wire, but the misfires at highway speed had apparently bent the crank. That engine had huge internal friction. A racing-boat starter, battery cables made from welder cables, and a huge battery still would barely crank it fast enough to fire.

I ran it one summer then traded it to a dealer since it wasn't worth a full overhaul.