Won't start

Dominosdad · June 10, 2018

88 k1500, 146k miles 5.0L

1yo battery, new starter, new fuel pump, new alternator

Truck has been running great, for a 30 year old, would like to do some suspension work on her

Out of the blue, today will not start

Turns over strong, just no fire

Not sure where to start looking first

Distibutor, coil????

Have checked wires, nothing's come loose

Any suggestions would help, are there recurring issues with these trucks, or is this just old age creeping up?

no HD · June 10, 2018

Check the rotor cap under the HEI distributer cap to be sure that hasn't burned through.

SarahsGMC · June 11, 2018

definitely check distributer most likely cap is burned up or out of place

Dominosdad · June 12, 2018

Pulled distributor cap, definitely arcing present in the cap. Rotor won't budge. Have done tuneups on farm tractors and worked on other machinery, never had one stuck. Don't want to hurt distributor, sucks that chevy has to put them in the back close to firewall w/no room to work. Any ideas??? Pry bar??? Heat???

SarahsGMC · June 12, 2018

pics of what you're trying to do? best bet is to run to the part store and get a new one rather than mess around with that unless you know how to clean and rebuild them.

Dominosdad · June 12, 2018

Can't even remove the rotor. I have a new rotor, just am not able to remove the old one.

I've never had one that would not just slide off.

Dominosdad · June 13, 2018

Just saw a reply to a similar question and answer on another auto repair website.

Their answer was to remove the set screw.

The new rotor does not have a set screw, did chevy use rotors with set screws?

And why.

I'm on my way back out now to climb inside the hood and see.

SarahsGMC · June 14, 2018

im not sure my only experience has been with msd, and my old 51 ford tractor

Supreme Pizza · June 16, 2018

Hey, slow your roll man. From my understanding, you have not located the problem.Tearing the distributor apart is a very bad idea unless you are doing it for a very specific reason.

You crank it over, and it does not fire on any cylinders, and you have not done any troubleshooting, correct? If that is correct, here is what ya need to do:

Is it spark, air, timing, compression, or fuel?

AIR:

Check your air filter, is it plugged? If in doubt, remove it for this test.

FUEL:

Try starting it with starting fluid. If it starts, then you have a fuel issue. If it doesn't start, you do not have a fuel issue. If its a fuel issue, check you gas gauge, then the fuel filter, and then on to the fuel pump.

Spark:

Remove a spark plug and inspect, then check for spark. If the spark plug is extremely dirty or wet, replace all the plugs. If you are not getting any spark on a new plug, then you may have a distributor, coil, or other electrical problem.

Timing:

Does the distributor rotor turn when you crank it over? If not, you have a timing problem.

Compression?

This is probably not not the problem, but you could run a compression test to check. You must have compression for it to run, period. 80 PSI is terrible, but it might run. 100 is the minimum standard for "gas engines". Most engines are supposed to have something around 140 - 180ish.

Basic no-start diagnostics are very strait forward. No computers or diagnostic shops needed. Engines are very basic on that level. Its like a PB&J sandwich. Which ingredient is missing to make it a PB&J sammich? Which ingredient is missing to make your engine run?

Dominosdad · June 16, 2018

OK, so original post was looking for others with similar experience, to point me in a direction.

The first 2 replies were to check the cap and rotor, I was prepared to change the coil also but not sure if that was the first place to start. Pulled off the cap, found bad arcing present, but not able to remove the rotor. I was not trying to rebuild anything, just remove the rotor without do any damage to the distributor. Have never seen a rotor stuck this hard, did not want to spray any PB or WD40 inside of distributor. Using small/medium pry bar and working from side to side, slow, firm, pressure was able to work it up off the shaft. Replaced rotor and cap, started first turn.

This truck has less than 150k miles and 30 years old.

My guess is its been sitting for a good portion of those years without a real tuneup. That would explain some of the suspension and undercarriage issues that I would like to address. Body is solid, but Wisconsin winters, even if your it just sat around through most of them will eat you vehicle from the bottom up. Or cause drivability issues.

Plan is to be a project truck, but my daughter is using my Durango while her truck is out of commission (accident) so I'm using this one as my DD for now.