Mr. L

***cliff notes***
Changed cap, rotor, plugs, and plug wires. Fired up initially only to eventually stall and die. Now it won't even crank over.


***long version***
Okay, I've held off long enough. I swear I'm about 20 seconds away from either burning this damn truck to the ground. Before I start I should give you a little back story. First things first, I am not mechanical inept. I have worked on cars before. I wouldn't call myself a master tech but I've done everything from engine swaps to turbo installs etc. so I'm pretty comfortable under the hood. The truck is a 1989 4 cylinder 4x4.

Now, I bought this truck about 2 months ago and it's been a pain in the ass ever since. Among other things replaced, my latest project has been trying to fix my damn idle. I started with running the codes, at first I got codes for the tps, knock sensor, o2 sensor, and clutch switch. I replaced the TPS sensor and set it according to the FSM with help from the ever popular 4crawler website. That got the truck to run better but the truck wouldn't idle all that well, especially if I turned the truck off at a store, came back out and turned it on. I would have to drive with three feet, one to work the clutch, one for the brake, and a magical 3rd foot to keep the truck from stalling. Eventually it would work itself out and idle steady. I assumed this to be the o2 code that I was getting and started to look at that as an option.

After poking around I found 3 wires cut and tucked away above the driveshafts (the previous owner was a complete moron). 2 wires turned out to be for the o2 sensor and the 3rd wire was for the clutch switch. Soldered them back together last night in the hopes that I would finally have a truck that idled well. This got rid of the code but it still idled like poo so I decided to reset the tps sensor. After getting it reset I couldn't get the idle to rise above 250rpms with the sensor plugged in. With it unplugged it'd idle high (1500rpm) but it was solid like a rock. Also, I was getting codes 51 and 52. TPS sensor, so maybe the newly installed sensor as of 4 weeks ago is bad. I quit for the night and figured I'd start anew today.

I figured I would address the ignition system since the truck has been running crazy rich (o2, knock, and tps codes). I went to auto zone and bought new plugs, plug wires, cap, and rotor and put them in. After installing them I fired the truck up just to see if that might have solved my idle problem before starting to mess with the tps again (I didn't expect it to), it didn't. It idled up to 1200 initially, then after idling for 20 seconds it dropped down to 500 and eventually stalled. When I went to turn the truck back on and start working on the idle it wouldn't crank at all. This is where I am at, the starter motor clicks, as if getting power, but it will not crank. I tried hitting the starter under the assumption that it may have developed at dead spot out of the blue, but that didn't work. I literally did nothing to the truck between the time it started up, idled and stalled, then wouldn't start. This all unfolded as I was sitting in the cab.

SO WHAT GIVES? Tomorrow I'm going to check the wires leading up to the starter, maybe the previous owner cut that one too. In the event that I find nothing wrong, what else can I look at? I swear I'm about fed up with this thing. I've owned it for 2 months and haven't even put 250 miles on the damn thing.

Thanks in advance. I tried to hold off starting a thread but I've had enough. I need suggestion.