ledzeppelin3270

Hey guys, posting for a buddy. He's got a 1982 2wd longbed from Kalifornia and it recently has been acting a bit naughty. After sitting while he was at college, when he came home on break and tried to get it running, it wouldn't start. It would crank fine, of course, but no amount of choking, ether, or other trick would get it running.... Until we pulled the wire to check for spark and upon touching the wire to the engine while cranking it fired right up and ran fine. Turned it off, reconnected the wire, and it started fine for the rest of the day without trouble. Next day, we go to start it and have the same routine. I've never heard of this and neither have the guys at work. I've looked online and found nothing. Please help..... it's an annoying issue.

djfell80

Bad gas?? Carb I'm guessing? Pull carb off clean it out and rebuild it if needed. Add good fuel and maybe some octane boost to help out. Always use fuel stablizer when parking a vehicle for a while...

ledzeppelin3270

Possible, but he was pretty good about regular Sea-foam treatments and he put fresh gas in it after we got it running the first time.... I think it's pretty clean.

djfell80

How long did the truck sit? (I forgot to ask that...important question...)

ledzeppelin3270

Only about.... three weeks? A month at most.

djfell80

Hmm... Try to add fuel straight to the carb slowly and see if this helps. If it seems to start better and run then you can at least say there is a fuel delivery issue. try to use a turkey baster to drip fuel in slowly while he cranks it. Just be careful of carb backfires...these can be naughty!!

ledzeppelin3270

At first I thought that might be it, but we tried and it didn't work. The truck has a newer fuel filter and fuel pump so I don't think delivery is an issue.

djfell80

Try cleaning all the ignition contact points and spark plugs; change anything that is questionable. If it sat, and you are getting positive fuel delivery, then you just need air and spark to make it run. If you have a weak spark then it may be difficult to start, or not start at all. This is definitely a weird issue. Would be much easier to diagnose in person. I will ask some friends here and see what they say. In the meantime: Good Luck! Let me know what you find out!

ledzeppelin3270

Thank you sir. Hopefully I'll get around to it tomorrow, but you know how that goes....

yodafan93

i would think its a bad wire, just from what you did to get it going?