Truck won't start - ignition or fuel delivery?

[BigDaddy13440]

As the title states, my truck won't start. Went out to leave for my mother-in-law's for turkey day and it ain't going nowhere.

It's cranking over, AND I can hear the fuel pump in the tank buzzing like it always does. This leads me to deduce that it's probably electrical in nature. It's been pouring rain up here in NY the last couple days, and I've had it skip more than a few times when the RPM's have dropped below 1000.

Whatcha think? New cap and rotor, did it crack and getting condensation inside? New plugs and wires? Have SonicSpark-modified plugs in it now (AC Delco's with the center electrode drilled out with a tiny bit, supposed to improve the flame kernel, blah,blah....), been in there for about 20K. Haven'y changed the cap and rotor since I've had it, 51K and counting. For that matter, does the Vortec 5.7 have a cap and rotor, or is it coil-pack?

Gimme a little help here guys, I really don't want to get stranded in the rain away from home.

 

[viximaging]

Do you have a spark tester? little thing that goes between plug and wire? Good start, then check power at the distributor I would guess. Its so simple if you have proper tools to diagnose problems lol I usually don't either lol. Are you sure you are getting fuel to the engine too? Even though you hear a pump it could still be bad. Happened to my silverado

 

[BigDaddy13440]

Definitely electrical related, as soon as I started to crank it over, I could smell gas. She was turning over consistently, just not firing. An occasional sputter like it was going to, then back to just turning over.

Drained the battery down to nothing, have the charger on it at 10amps for a recharge rate. If I can't get it running when I leave for work (2:30 am), I'll take the wife's vehicle, but DAMN! I HATE to be seen driving an Expedition!

 

[99Yuk]

Definitely electrical related, as soon as I started to crank it over, I could smell gas. She was turning over consistently, just not firing. An occasional sputter like it was going to, then back to just turning over.

Drained the battery down to nothing, have the charger on it at 10amps for a recharge rate. If I can't get it running when I leave for work (2:30 am), I'll take the wife's vehicle, but DAMN! I HATE to be seen driving an Expedition!

IDK if this helps, but mine had the same symptoms. Smelled gas, turned over, and sputtered then turned over some more.

Turned out to the the distributor gear ring was worn completely round.

Short term solution: I replaced the gear ring, and cap and rotor, battery and the truck fired up again.
Long term solution: I replaced the motor.

 

[BigDaddy13440]

IDK if this helps, but mine had the same symptoms. Smelled gas, turned over, and sputtered then turned over some more.

Turned out to the the distributor gear ring was worn completely round.

Short term solution: I replaced the gear ring, and cap and rotor, battery and the truck fired up again.
Long term solution: I replaced the motor.

Didn't have the time today to deal with it, have to do it tomorrow or Sunday morning.

I really hope it's nothing more than the cap and rotor and/or the coil. I had an S10 Blazer with the 4.3, that just died while driving down the street every so often. Turns out I had to replace the whole distributor, really don't feel like that hassle and headache again.

Then again, that would be better than doing the whole engine. Zero extra funds at the moment, have Christmas shopping to pay for.

 

[viximaging]

well I had a tbi once with a lot of miles and It ran okay for a long time.. Finally was acting crazy.. SO I put in a new distributor, new cap, new rotor, new plugs, new wires, new filters, oil, etc.. the works and it lasted 5 days and the motor went out.. sold the truck for 500 bux.. ran good for those 5 days.. beter then ever.. Guess it as too old to handle it I dunno

 

[BigDaddy13440]

Been running strong up until a couple days ago, no issues at all. 60+psi of oil pressure, no knocks, pings, whines of any sort. Roads were a little slick, tromped the gas and turned sideways pretty easily.

Figured I'd do the cap and rotor, and the coil to start.
No problems pulling everything off, just had to climb up into the engine bay a bit.

Of course, as I'm installing the cap over the rotor, I made the mistake of using the new screws. The old ones were steel/iron/whatever, while the new ones that came with the Accel cap and rotor were aluminum.

Yep, you guessed it right. Started to torque 'em right in where they needed to be, when one of the heads snapped off. ************! Sat up straight, pissed off, and slammed my head into the underside of the hood. Went to back the opposite side out, that ***** snapped off too!

So, now I've got no choice but to drop it off at the shop, half apart. I could probably pull the distributor out, drill and re-tap the holes, but not worth the time and headache I'll have if I do it myself.

 

[BigDaddy13440]

Got the Hoe back, it was definitely moisture under the cap giving me problems. The mechanic pulled the distributor out, drilled out and tapped the holes, then installed the new cap and rotor after putting the distributor back in. He said it fired right up, but still a little sluggish. Advised me to change the wires, seems to think they're original (with 150K on them??? ).

Going to do a Seafoam treatment to it, using the brake booster hose, and the rest in the tank. Replace the wires, pull the plugs and check 'em over good. Maybe I'll get better throttle response and better mileage!

Oh yeah, best of all.... the shop only hit me for $50!

 

[BigDaddy13440]

Seafoam works!

http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e48/Bigdaddy13440/Mobile%20Uploads/?action=view&current=1130091937.flv

This was my wife's Expedition with 259,000 plus miles. I'd done mine (96 Hoe with 151K) about 1/2 hr earlier, smoke was just as bad. Luckily, I did it in front of an Advanced Auto store, buddy is a manager - Rome PD rolled slooooowwwwwly down the boulevard as we were doing it, recognized my buddy, then kept going.