CaptKirk

To start, yes I have read through http://www.silveradoss.com/forums/topic/60365-diagnosing-engine-sounds/ and many other pages/websites about the differences of engine ticking. From the content within, I'm leaning towards piston slap because the tick is lined up with the exhaust pulses, not double (or is it half?) the speed that might suggest valvetrain. My truck always had a slight tick to it since I purchased it about 40k miles ago. It wasn't too loud when cold and wasn't audible even with my hood up standing over it after about 60sec of running which I know is normal. I just changed the oil about 100 miles ago and it got significantly louder. Also, it seems to linger a lot longer. I have to drive the truck a good 10 min for it to fade to the level it used to be at, and 20 for it to really go away entirely. It comes back pretty much anytime the engine is turned off for even a few minute pit stop, not as loud as cold, but it's there for sure. You can still hear it in the cab at this point, and I have a dual magnaflow setup. When it's cold, you can hear it VERY well in the cabin, you can almost 'feel' it. There's no question it's on the driver side of the engine. Anyway - I drove it for a little hoping it would fade, it hasn't. I also seafoamed the truck through the brake booster hose and gas tank, twice. No change in the tick. Got some good smoke out, but no highway-blinding clouds like some have claimed. Good to know the engine isn't overly filthy/clogged, everything I seem to investigate with this truck has been entirely neglected by all previous owners. The only differences I can think of from this oil change to how the truck was before, is it's pretty full now. The truck was down at the 'low' mark when I put it in the air, and now it's just a hair over the 'full' line. I typically run my oil about 3500 miles, this ran a little over maybe 4k. I've always used Mobil1 High Mileage 5w30. Could being this full cause this? I think it's far fetched.. Ideas on the cause? Anybody fix or quiet theirs down with something I haven't tried? TIA

Alright- went and did the brakes last night. Install went fine minus one of the bracket bolts (18mm) getting rounded off. Ended up having to dremel it down to a 11/16 and hammering on a socket. Anyway - my brake fluid might not have ever been done before... It's a DEEP dark green color. I sucked as much out as I could with a turkey baster, refilled and then bled the lines. I then went out to burnish in the pads. Everything went fine but the brakes still feel pretty squishy. While burnishing in, I felt they should bite a lot more so I stood on them once from about 45mph and wasn't able to even lock up the tires. Also, the ABS light is on as well. I thought I'd still be able to lockup the brakes with the ABS on. Now I'm wondering if I got the ABS module all full of crap. Probably going to try and do a full system flush today. Any idea how much brake fluid that takes?

Nice well it was definitely you then chevy I've run into you probably 10 times since I moved here. If yall ever see a black ss hossing it around town it's probably me. I put miles on my truck like it's my job and I dont drive her easy hardly ever lol

Agree, I see some super high performance brakes with drilled rotors too...but also, who knows how often they break/replace them. Where in Houston are you guys at? I'm up in spring off 2920 - I see a red SS occasionally up here... maybe it's chevyss05tx

What manufacturer?

Yeah, I suppose I will look into it afterwards. Once I am ready to have another project with the SS I'll do that and probably some bolt ons with a tune. Hard to save up money for this it usually falls into my other project car. But I'll get around to it maybe after the holidays.

Called AutoAnything to have someone help me out with building a package deal with all the correct part numbers that their site lists for the individual parts for the SS submodel. There's a discount on these packages but they didn't have an SS option. They were happy to put one together for me. Stoptech slotted rotors and their street performance pads 4 corners = 480 shipped to my door. Not the cheapest option, but I like StopTech's stuff ever since I did the same job along with SS lines on my previous vehicle. They had stainless lines but it was another 140. I figure I'll see how much better the brakes feel after this, and maybe do those later. It's only my daily after all, I'm not building a track monster, and the oem lines aren't leaking or damaged. As a comparison, every shop that quoted me to do regular pads and refinish my old rotors was gonna charge me about 500+/- 50 for the job. As I said before they probably wouldn't have let my old rotors slide though, and then who knows where the price would have gone. If I have time I'll take some good pictures throughout the install and make another how to with working pictures. This link is dead and it's only for pads: http://www.silveradoss.com/forums/topic/19755-how-to-change-your-brake-pads/ Thanks for everyone's help.

I have a few shots of this from an online manual, not an exploded view, but a step-by-step.

Thanks for the info and doublechecking those numbers, good to know because 5mm is a tiny difference I wouldn't have thought it mattered. FWIW I called StopTech yesterday and although their catalogue he was looking at didn't have an 03 SS option, they had an 04 and I was pretty sure they were the same. Glad to have that confirmed. He said if that's the case just use the part #s from the 04 off their web catalogue. As for the scraping thing, I've heard that argument, and I've heard of the gasses too, but I forgot about that until now. I dunno, I prefer slotted. It's probably what I'll get if I can.

Thanks for the extensive responses!! I think I'll leave hydroboost for the later date... I know it sounds like the best bang for buck, but I'm just looking for reliable brakes on my daily. If my current setup fails however, that's a different story. I'll upgrade. I'm a slotted-only guy if I ever go that route. May do it, may not here. depends on price. I believe in the benefit of the scraping action, I know all don't. Drum in the back and the recommended air-tools/torch may stray me towards just letting a shop handle it. I would rather this not be a 10 hour learning experience.... I believe I found my same Stoptech setup I did on my car here: http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A2722A0A0.aspx I'm half-faithful in the selections as it had an SS option.. In case I still decide to DIY: Do we have a How-To? Or anyone care to post a few pics they may have taken doing their brakes? I found one How-to for pads on here but all the pics are busted. Thanks

Hey guys - Yall are way more knowledgable than me and have way more experience upgrading stuff so I just wanted to ask some simple questions about these trucks brakes/rotors. My pads are burnt out and the rotors look very old, and 1 has very slight stress cracking so I doubt any shop is gonna let me leave without replacing them. I'm considering doing some decent slotted rotors, oem style/aggressiveness pads, and maaaaybe SS lines if they're cheap, front and rear. I really only want to do this if I can do the work myself, no shop I talk to is willing to put on aftermarket parts like this even if they're the same size/process. If not I'll just bring it to a shop and let them ping me for oem replacement stuff. My questions: - I have a 2003...I've read places about some SSs with rear drums (for the ebrake?) and also discs, also people keep asking if the rear is single or dual-pot caliper? I can only see discs in the rear but unsure whether it's single or dual pot, and no drums. What exactly is going on back there on my truck? - Do I just need to have the size correct on the rotor? Or is there more differences between the AWD and 2WD versions of the truck. I'm worried about ordering the wrong stuff online. Front is 12" and rear is 11"? - I did this with all StopTech stuff on my s2000 and it was a breeze to order and do the job. There's too many options here, and StopTech doesn't seem to make stuff for our trucks. Recommended brands? - Are centric ceramics a comparable oem replacement? I know oem is ceramic. - Does this job require any crazy tools for these trucks? I have a pretty limited set of ratches/sockets/wrenches and I think my torque wrench goes to 140, maybe higher. Thanks in advance sorry for the length

Unfortunately the link I had for the corsa expired and their price jumped up significantly, I had it for 850 new.... What do you think of this magnaflow? http://b.cdnbrm.com/images/info/magnaflow/15838.pdf And it's really just to have something decent on the car that flows a little better than oem so I will gain something from a tune. I dont need it to be loud or flashy, my supra will be a 4" dump off the turbo, plenty fun, flames, and noise for me.

Would prefer the touring as I hear it's the quieter of the two, but I know it's discontinued. New or used is fine. Just not full of holes or super rusty. Located in Houston, will drive up to 4 hrs or so one way. Otherwise will need to arrange shipping.

Turns out my cats and Y Pipe/cats are fine. Shop cleared my codes and said all the sensors are working fine he thinks I may have gotten on it while it was cold and it threw the codes because they didn't go closed loop yet. I do a lot of running around and have a tight schedule, so I could see myself being in a rush somewhere and doing that. I will be more careful with her from now on though. So I'm back at square one, need to replace my catback and then I will likely get a tune just to clean up AFRs and help the mpg and smooth the truck out a little. It's just my daily and has 150K so don't want to push a tired motor as I already hoss it around town pretty good. I don't have a CAI or any other power mods and don't really intend on doing them although a cam lope would be fun... I may just get the Corsa and deal with being a little louder than I want it to, as most reviews says it won't drone.. will this bolt up to the Y pipe I have?

Thanks for the review!

Yeah I've heard those arent too bad, but they don't make them anymore apparently just the sport

So it looks like a lot of people just pick out the mufflers/cats/x-pipes they want and have a shop fab it up for them? It seems the corsa sport exhaust is really the only bolt on option and is too loud for my liking plus I don't really like single side exit... Just new to doing exhaust this way...I'm used to having 10-20 options from different companies that bolt right up with no work to do

Thanks, I didn't think it'd cause a problem missing that part either that's why I waited so long to get another exhaust.. appreciate the help Yeah I had a feeling..okay. Do you know of a quiet magnaflow catback that'll fit AWD? That's almost sticky worthy!! Thanks for the great write up. That was really helpful and I'm sure others down the road will find it to be as well. So the truck goes in today for an alignment and to check out the AC, so I'll ask about the cat deletes.. Texas does inspections, but I'm not sure how much they'll care about cats. On the other hand, since I want a quieter exhaust, I may do high flows Thinking it over more, I'll just spring more bucks for some new midpipes, find a somewhat quiet catback, and get a mail order tune done. Thanks again all for the responses. I'll continue to update this thread with the outcome of the sensors/exhaust

Okay I got under the truck and took some pictures because I'm pretty unfamiliar 1. Can anybody recognize this exhaust? Custom? 2. With the codes explained above, do you think keeping the Y pipe and replacing the catback will fix the issue? 3. Will this fit an '03? It says 6.0 here but just want to confirm the part # with someone who knows it does. In my searches it sounds like Corsa will be too loud for my liking and magnaflow will be quieter. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mpe-15840/overview/ I want the exhaust to stay quiet and not drone and I'd also like to not spend a fortune it's just my DD. So I'd like to keep my Y Pipe, cats, and O2 sensors if I can, however, I'd like to only go through this process once. From what I can see, the O2 sensor wires look fine not cut up or frayed or bent weird... I know they could still have gone bad though

I will look into that, sounds like a good alternative. There is just 4 correct? Pre/Post cats? Can the stock ECU be tuned or do I need to purchase a piggyback? Sorry I don't know anything about this. I'll do some research Perfect, thanks for this!

Little background on what's up with the truck/exhaust: since I bought the truck 2 years ago, every so often it would give me a random 02 sensor code for somewhere between an hour to a few days, then clear itself up. No change in drivability, never bothered me. Fast forward to 6 months ago, I have the truck up in the air investigating a "loose heat shield" that I'd hear clanking occasionally over bumps with the windows down. Turned out to be my exhaust that had rusted in half, the backside was pivoting on the hanger and bouncing on the rear end. So I figured that was the O2 sensor code from the terrible exhaust leak. Anyway, I pulled that part of the exhaust off and have been cruising around with one half my exhaust dumped right after the muffler since, with intentions of buying a new exhaust sometime soon. Fast forward to about a month ago. Been distracted and still haven't bought an exhaust. I had to drive through some high water because it floods like a mofo here in Houston, truck is my DD. Not right away, but a few weeks later my CEL came back on and I figured it was the same, but after some driving I could tell I was down on power a little bit. Sometime when using more than half throttle at about 3600 RPM you can feel it return all the power. So I read the codes and now I have basically every O2 Sensor code... P0131, 0137, 0151, 0157 (twice, each bank) and P0101. Did some searching on what others did to try to fix...pulled/cleaned air filter, MAF, and TB, no difference. Nothing but the air filter was particularly dirty at all, in fact they were so clean I'm rather suspicious this isn't the original motor with almost 150K miles on it. Cleaned it anyway though. So, basically. I still have all these codes, my truck has quite a bit of rust underneath (most of it's life was in the north), so I'm fairly convinced it's further rusting/exhaust leaks in the (magnaflow maybe?) exhaust that came on the truck when I bought it. Although the MAF code (0101) has me worried it could be more than exhaust...? Curious what yall think, is there something else I can try? I'm going to replace the exhaust regardless, is it worth it to try and reuse the O2 sensors? I don't really wanna replace 4 (6?) at 50-100/pop Also, any recommendations on a quiet, deep toned exhaust with dual exits (not a two pronged tip) either before or after the rear tire? I'm unsure if I need mid-pipes...would rather go catless if mine are damaged, but will pay for them if deletes are going to be raspy regardless of exhaust choice. Praying I don't have to do headers too. I'd rather save my money for my project car not my DD. This thing drinks enough 93 as it is. Sure do love it though! Sorry for the novel ^

Before I could get new pics seller decided to keep it. Mods please delete/lock

Gotcha, thanks I'll get some new ones up, and talked to him about price, he's willing to come down.

Shoot me some feedback guys!

Just as a followup, in case anybody searches this looking for answers. I picked up 2 sets of a MOOG Camber kit that came as a recommendation. You can search MOOG K100026 to find them. Thanks Doughty08