Moon Shot: Clyde the K2EC at 200,000 miles

CadillacLuke24 · September 15, 2021

Almost forgot one...AC Condenser was replaced along with the radiator due to a catastrophic leak I believe was from the top driver's side of the condenser. This is a known issue with early K2s. Chevy redesigned the condenser and added a plastic shield in front of the trouble area. So far it has worked. After the recharge the AC works better than ever and the transmission cooler functions perfectly too (the trans cooler occupies the lower half of the AC condenser in my Silverado). For what it's worth Mahle built my current condenser.

When I replaced the radiator I replaced the hoses and the thermostat, as the old thermostat would open too quickly, putting excessive pressure on the radiator side tanks. New one works perfectly. I briefly replaced the Silverado spec thermostat with a Corvette/Camaro SS thermostat seeking performance improvements. Cooling didn't noticeably change, fuel economy actually dropped slightly, and the interior temperature seemed to run higher with the settings on outside air intake (as opposed to recirculation). Returning to the Silverado thermostat restored proper operation.

The dash and interior lights began to literally strobe at night, to the point it was very distracting. Remembering something I read on the Cadillac forums I frequent, I immediately suspected the Alternator. I replaced that and the belt drive components at 181k. Problem vanished.

Battery was replaced at 131k initially, going from an ACDelco factory unit to an AutoCraft AGM unit. The ACDelco Battery was replaced because, after sitting in my truck for 15 minutes messing with the seat adjustment, he failed to start later that day. Prior to that, leaving the truck on with the engine off would trigger a BATTERY SAVER ACTIVE alert after only 10 minutes, whereas before he would go like a half hour or more

While in Las Vegas in early July, at about 207k, I got a BATTERY SAVER ACTIVE message upon starting him after sitting for a couple hours. Pulling into a parking lot he stalled, but restarted immediately. I did read later that there was a TSB issued for the geographical area (SW US) that vapor lock is possible in hot temps (external temps were 110s), but that was enough to spook me. AutoCraft AGM battery was replaced at 209k with a Diehard AGM battery.