I finally got the timing chain and gears installed. I had a hell of a time yet every step. The plastic cover literally says "replace if removed" but my cheap self may have gotten around that with a ton of grey silicone.

Also my 5.7 doesn't take the stock chain, it doesn't fit! I looked up the glovebox codes of my truck and it said upgraded towing package, thankfully the guy who sold me the stock timing chain (mizuno auto on ebay, good people) took my vin number and said I have the 4l80e transmission and not the 4l60e, even though it's a half ton...

Why does that matter? The 5.7v8 uses an entirely different timing chain if it was mated to the 4l80e from the factory... Strange!

Okay sorry for the words. I test drove it today for a little under an hour. It didn't stall, I thought it was acting like maybe it wanted to, like before, but I could have been wrong.

So far so good but I am not going to say "it was the timing chain", yet.

Also I removed the thermostat when it failed, I heard that the engine technically gets hotter because the water flows faster and doesn't absorb heat? Maybe it was getting too hot even though the temperature gauge said it was actually running cool, maybe thermally overloading a sensor? IDK.




Also guys please help me with a new issue, my gauge lights are dim, and when I hit the brake they start dancing and freaking out, mph gauge, tach, oil pressure, fuel level, everything possibly but voltage.

I took a jumper cable and connected it to the ground under the dash driver side, and directly to battery negative, and it was the dashboard ground. Any ideas?? It seemed to happen only when I would apply the brakes, or held it down, and immediately gets better when I let up on the brake pedal.

i will keep you guys updated on the stalling, if the timing chain was the issue. Next thing I will change if it stalls is the thermostat, then as a last resort, the wiring harness.
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A few last things I forgot, I removed the thermostat a while ago, but it did stall a few times before that. Strangely after the first two stalls it gave me like a year of reliable driving.

Also the old timing chain was heavily worn, it had at least a half inch of play on the loose side. The new chain has 1\16 inch, for the Europeans that's over eight times the stretch. The gear teeth were grooved pretty bad too. Maybe the cam was lagging so far behind the crank that the computer stopped being able to generate a firing solution for the ignition. "Timing chain" was what popped into my mind for the solution.

Now I gotta fix the cross member behind the transmission that got ripped off during an accident, and restore the interior, and other things.



​​​​​Also, my radio turns on, but there is no sound output to the speakers. I made sure the cluster was inserted properly but still the same dim lights, no left signal indicator, high beam indicator light slightly on.

 

Alright, I may have some answers.

Today I took it on a test drive for two hours, (previously it wouldn't drive longer than 17 minutes without dying) up some steep twisty roads and I got it pretty hot. Up and down. On the downslope I noticed a clunked sound and pulled over, turns out I forgot to tighten the lugs on the driver side front wheel. And, I couldn't find the tire iron. So I let the truck idle for an hour while s friend brought a tire iron. The truck neither faltered not stalled. The chances of the stalling being the timing chain are pretty good.


I cleaned the grounds of the rest lights and both sides of the front lights. The passenger side was dim, and it brightened right up.


​​​​​However, the driver side stoplight isn't working. I traced it to the connector-nothing. It could have burned out via the inline trailer connector, would that burn up the flasher relay? It clicks really fast when I signal a left turn. And the left hand indicator is always dimly lit and doesn't blink. Speakers still don't work.

 

Rear light on drivers side. Check the bulb & bulb socket. Blinking “fast” indicates a bad bulb or bulb socket or bad ground.