4rnr

Yup, im stumped. My 88 3.0 5spd cranks like a champ. I checked voltage (with a volt meter) I have juice off the coil, and all outputs on the distributer, I pulled the wires at the plug for cylinders 1 and 3 and they are live. (I havent pulled the plugs)

I pulled the large hose on the pressure regulator and primed the pump and it sprayed gas everywhere, so I think I have fuel. To be sure I pulled the intake and sprayed starter fluid in the intake and it still wont start.

I replaced (bc I had them, and the originals are ancient) the distributer cap, all wires and the rotor.

So to me it appears I have fuel, spark, and air.

It started for the first time in a week yesterday and I ran it for 20 min. then shut it off and it hasnt been able to start since.

What am I missing.

^VooDoo^

You wiggled a wire somewhere to make a connection, Try doing it again.

Gumby

Stop by the shop and grab a noid light. It plugs into the injector harness right at the injector and will tell you if you have a pulse from the computer.

Plugs look OK? are they smelling like fuel? Sooty black?

4rnr

As far as wiggling wires I figured that might be it and wiggled like crazy and no luck, so I replaced the plugs wires. But I will play with harness's

As for the spark plugs I havent pulled them, I wasnt sure that was it bc it runs great when it does start. If they were fouled enough to not start then I would think that when the truck is running I would have a cylinder down or something.

4rnr

Ok, I replaced the spark plugs yesterday, and it didnt make a difference. After a while of tinkering it did start and ran good. but then on the highway if I would put it in a higher gear and accelerate it would sometimes "buck" or hisitate. But other wise ran good. Then I got to the exit ramp and stopped at the light and the thing died. I tried to start it but it would just crank and every second or so it would chug or try to start. It never did start and again and do to the location (HEAVY exit ramp on I55 at 5:30) I was forced to call my first tow truck ever on one of my trucks. I starter drove it off the road and had it towed to my house.

I think its a connection somewhere. Maybe a corroded connector and during my tinkering I wiggle it (wherever it is) enough to make a decient a connection and while the rpms are high there is enough voltage to maintain the weak connection. But as I stop and the rpms drop below 1000 and the voltage also drops the weak connection is lost.

Any ideas on what connections to start with???

kmcc78240

Could the coil be an intermittent thing. Any Codes Stored

INFINITY

messed up air flow meter or wiring?
or you might want to pull the ecu or computer and open it up and look at the guts. mine was so corroded on one of the connectors that it would send spark like normal some times and others not send it at all. just a thought good luck

4rnr

I guess it could be. I tested the coil with my voltmeter but I was hesitant to leave the meter on the coil and wiggle wires, bc the coil puts out so much voltage I am afraid it will hurt my meter which only goes up to like 60v dc.

But I dont beleive it is bc every time I check for spark or voltage its there. but the truck had only started twice out of a hundred trys.

I tend to think it is something fuel injection related, but it still wont start with starter fluid. It seems I have spark and fuel

4rnr

Well even with NO AFM the truck should start, then die immediatly. As for the ECU, who knows. my next adventure is connections.

bruizer

Had an old Chevy that did the same thing,,,,,,,,,ck the timing..........

hosh

put a timing light on it. that will tell you if your getting spark when its not starting.

BlackSR5

I had similar symptoms. I replaced the o2 sensor and the truck would start again. You could try unplugging the o2 sensor to test the theory. It should run without the o2 sensor plugged in. check out my thread : https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/3-0-running-problems-longish-109462/

4rnr

Thats an interesting thing. My o2 sensor has been dangling by the wire ever since it ripped out of the exhaust pipe. Actually I think now I wrapped it around the t-bar. Could this possibly be my problem?

As for timing...it runs great... when it starts. So i dont think timing is the prob. plus I never touched the distributor.

JEBSR5

Worth unplugging it and trying.

^VooDoo^

The EFI is very O2 sensor oriantated, It tells ECU wether your running rich or lean and it can make big adjustment to the engines needs, Get that fixed.
That can be the chugging cause.
At first I thought maybe the Coldstart wasnt working but since you mention the O2 sensor being like that, The ECU may be seing a super lean out and opening up the injectors for fuel and flooding the engine not to mention the timing being really retarded.

4rnr

I was thinking cold start injector until I tryed to start it with starter fluid with no luck.

As for the sensor Ill try that tomarrow. As Iam attempting to start it it behaves like a truck with bad timing, but it runs good so I ruled out actual timing. but I guess the ecu could be messing it up.

Ebin

Office Space! That's where that pics from....oops, sorry maybe a little off topic. Carry On.

4rnr

Yup, I laugh cause alot of people think thats me!!


As for the truck I messed with some wires and it still didnt start. Then last night I disconnected the 2 leads (black/red) from the coil because the connectors were turned in such a way that they were touching the rubber boot that covers the out put of the coil. While my friend was cranking I touched the boot and got shocked. I put them back on so they werent touching anything and now the thing runs great. tomarow I will drive it 100mi. We will see how it does.

Ebin

4rnr, I had a TV I spark tested once. It also worked great afterwards. Kewl :-)>