I hadn't noticed that truck before...

Thanks, Stampie.

If I pull anything else RX related out of the garage, I'll set it aside.

I got new brake lines, a fuel filter and plenty of DOT3 fluid. The drive home with the truck will most likely still be an adventure, but I'm hoping that replacing the 29 year old brake lines takes some of the pucker factor out of it and a new fuel filter will catch any schmutz in the tank and not clog up completely.

You got this! Its a sbc. It'll be fine. The truck its in will function enough to get home, where you can invest time in making it reliable and useful. 

Things were looking good for a bit. It was was cruising great at 60-65 MPH. The headlights, brake lights, turn signals and dash lights were all functional. The alignment was good. The tires weren't rubbing. 

Oh, there were a few issues that hadn't really surfaced until I was doing more than driving it around the yard.

There is a bit of a "kronk!" noise from the front suspension if I hit aa jarring bump. A gentle swooping dip doesn't do it, it has to be sharp.
The odometer doesn't work.
There is a distinct odor of mouse pee.

Then...

The truck's engine stopped like somebody unplugged the PCM right about here, in the middle of nothing. That stretch near the guard rail is uphill, but I had enough momentum to get past the guard rail and pull off onto the side of the road.

It still cranks, but it just spins like it isn't getting any spark at all. No plugs or wires loose, I am betting something in the distributor went bad. I *knew* I should have replaced it.. 

The AAA membership has already paid for itself, as a tow truck has scooped it up and should be making its way back to Raleigh with the truck.

More updates as they happen...

Coil, ignition control module, and rotor button are the common ones.

Smell of mouse pee?

In for rodent related wiring problem.

There is a small puddle of ATF under it, too.

It's so low I can't fit a catch pan under it.

Debating if getting a parts truck with a good interior and a 4L60-E is worth it...

Another suggestion is to replace the coolant temp sensor, it's on the intake manifold. Had one go bad on my 90 c1500 and it acted like it had lost spark. Would spin over and you could see the injector spraying fuel in the throttle body but wouldn't start.

untchabl said:

Another suggestion is to replace the coolant temp sensor, it's on the intake manifold. Had one go bad on my 90 c1500 and it acted like it had lost spark. Would spin over and you could see the injector spraying fuel in the throttle body but wouldn't start.

Good info! Thank you.

I'm going to start with a complete tune up and go from there.

I had an hour or so to kill after work before it got dark tonight, so I figured I'd do the tune up on the truck.

I found that a wire had been spliced very poorly into one of the wires leading to the ignition coil, probably for the tachometer. I removed it and put liquid tape over the cut in the wire. Ugh. I think once it is moving again, that is the next project- clean up all of the crap that's awful. That will include removing the interior and power washing everything.

So, yeah, tune up and troubleshooting. Plugs, wires, distributor all that is fine. The plugs were nasty, but I expected that. The ignition coil, though...


How the heck are you supposed to get the ignition coil off when there is no way to unscrew it from its mounting? Not sure if the screws got snapped off, rounded completely or what here.

I figured I'd just remove the bracket and drill those out of something, but one of the bolts for the bracket is under the fuel lines and TV cable mounting in another bracket. There was no way to slip a gear wrench, socket or anything like that on it. I need an offset box wrench... which I don't have in 13mm. 

To be continued...

You wind up removing the throttle body if i remember correctly. Its been a minute....

Ugh. I don't want to do that.

I took a gander at it this morning. It doesn't seem that bad, but I'm guessing I'll have to pick up some gaskets.

 

The delta on a TBI rebuild kit (while I'm in there) between my local parts store, (who would have to order it anyhow) and Amazon, (who will bring it to my house), was about $20 in favor of Amazon.

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

Sounds about right. In the effort to enable scope creep, look into the ultimate TBI mods while you're in there

Getting it running again is the current goal. All mods can wait until then.

Since this was an unexpected breakdown, the repairs are challenge budget exempt provided I use OEM equivalent repair items. It looks very unlikely I'll be bringing it to the challenge this year, though. There is a very remote possibility I may drive down to spectate for a couple of days, though.

 

Did you try jumping the aldl port and see if theres codes?

My bet is still ignition control module. 

Not yet. 

Every single plastic connector has broken. Every. Single. One.

80s gm product. 

I generally usd tine zipties to hold the connectors together. Unless its a common one, then i grab them every time im at the yard and see an unbroken one.

I still haven't made it to any yards around here in the past few months. I have another set of things to add to the pull list.

Well, I rebuilt the TBI and then replaced the coil, wires, rotor, distributor cap and plugs. It'll crank, but not start, which is where I was before. 

It looks like I am getting fuel (the bowls were wet) but I'm not sure how much fuel. I didn't check for spark yet, as it's time to wind down for the night and I just got inside. That's for another day. I'll see if I can pull some codes then, too.

Plus, more insanity! Remember that ATF I saw in the driveway and put a catch pan under? I had a quart or so in there. Obviously something isn't right down in the transmission area. It wasn't leaking before I tried to drive it home, so I am guessing something wasn't screwed in well enough and popped loose underway. That will have to wait until I get it started again- I'll have to put it on jack stands to troubleshoot the transmission, which makes working under the hood more difficult. 

The only code is is throwing is: 

Code 33- MAP Sensor Circuit Error (Signal High Indicating Low Vacuum)

I'm guessing it died and didn't have time to write a code. I'll check the spark later on.

The bad thing about obd1 gm is that it self clears error codes upin shut down. 

So, error codes may be a bit of a red herring. You know you have fuel. Check spark. 

These things are pretty simple, but can be incredibly frustrating due to how simple they are. Not nearly the diagnostic capacity of obd2.