Cranks but won't start. Have fuel.. where to look.

phillyturbosix · September 3, 2006

My 98 Chevy. Silverado C1500 5.7L vortex cranks but won't start. Just turned 100K I hear the fuel pump running and plenty in the tank so I know it's not fuel. I came home last night was running fine. Parked it and when I came out in the morning cranks but won't kick over. I was reading somewhere there is a coil pack issue? It's been raining like crazy here all last night and all day today. Plugs, cap and rotor are pretty new. Any suggestions where to look/go next? thanks!

ZZebes · September 3, 2006

i would put money that says it is the Distributor shaft, my buddys truck had the same symptoms and it ended up being the shaft, apperantley it is the weak link in the chain.

phillyturbosix · September 3, 2006

wow that would suck! sounds like it's gonna cost allot. The rain has stopped here so I'm going to go out and poke around a little more. Is there a way to tell if it's the Distributor shaft for sure? Thanks for your reply!

phillyturbosix · September 3, 2006

Ok went out and took the cap off and cranked the truck I see the rotor spinning normally. I took the connections off the coil pack inspected them everything seems fine. I put it all back together crank the truck giving it some gas as I cranked and it fired up. Ran a little rough for a min then smoothed out. It's still running. Think it could have been a moisture issue? if so where was the moisture? Could just a little cripple the truck like that? Or should I look else where? I'm going to take it for a ride and make sure I can turn it on and off ok. Figures too holiday weekend and I have to work and the job I have I'm the only one in there and of course no one else would wanna work! Hopefully it lasts till Tuesday so I can take it to my mech for further inspection. It's also inspection time for the truck. Seems every year around inspection time something breaks on it! So let me know what you guys think! Thanks!

crazymjb · September 3, 2006

Moisture would most likely be effecting the coil. Commonly that is because it has a crack somewhere on the housing allowing the moisture in.

Mike

rjirvine · September 3, 2006

How about the fuel filter? I've had intermittent no start problems from that before.

phillyturbosix · September 3, 2006

hmm that's what I'm starting to think. I picked up a new set of wires to put on tomorrow. They have 100K on them. They don't look bad at all but are originals. So I figure that would help as well. I also got a new cap and rotor.

Is the coil pack that entire piece on top of the pass. valve cover? Easy to replace? Expensive? I didn't do any research on it. Is there an aftermarket that's better then say a GM one? Maybe something a little better? We had that hurrican come thru here so we did get a ton of rain dumped down on the truck for a good 18 hours. Thanks again for your replys!

phillyturbosix · September 3, 2006

How about the fuel filter? I've had intermittent no start problems from that before.

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Well about this time last year I lost the fuel pump and had to replace all that. So when I did he did a new fuel filter. It's due for inspection the end of this month so I'm going to have him replace that while it's up in the air as well.

OnyxMAX · September 4, 2006

accel supercoil is around 40 others like msd and such about the same.

with that much water something wasn't happy but finding it now that it's working would be a pain. and you allready hit most of the spots any tech would. only thing i would add would be a ground check and wire wiggle. just wiggle all the wires and connectors from the ecm to the ignition

phillyturbosix · September 4, 2006

accel supercoil is around 40 others like msd and such about the same.

with that much water something wasn't happy but finding it now that it's working would be a pain. and you allready hit most of the spots any tech would. only thing i would add would be a ground check and wire wiggle. just wiggle all the wires and connectors from the ecm to the ignition

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yea it must have been something that did'nt like water. I'm thinking cracked coil or somehow moisture is getting into it. I put new wires (bosh), plugs (bosh plat.), and cap rotor kit. Wires didn't seem aweful but they have 100K on them so I figure it's time for sure. Seems to be running a little smoother now. Being the coil is not a million bucks I'll try that. I have a friend that works for GM and gets parts cheap so I guess I'll go with the oem one for now. I guess on a stock set up won't make much difference doing a high end coil. Hopefully this gets it whatever it was. Nothing like coming out of the house to go somewhere and your truck won't start! thanks again guys for your posts!

phillyturbosix · September 8, 2006

Well so far so good. It started a little funky after that rain but maybe it was something else. I went to the dealer today and picked up a coil pack. Just for the record the GM part number is 10489421 this one looks like it's been dipped in some rubber material. The oem one didn't look this way so maybe they made an improvement on it. We'll see! I think it was $44 bucks with my discount. Not bad!