Hey Folks, parked my truck, woke up next day and it turns over but won't start. heres what I've checked so far. fuel pump seems to be working, regular clicking in start position, gets fuel to carb then shuts off, when cranking pump turns on again and continues to feed fuel to carb. No problems that i can tell. pulled plugs, all are new and in good condition, also new cables and dist cap/rotor. left one plug out of block plugged into plug cable, cranked engine and there is spark, and fuel/air spitting out of open plug hole. Also used a timing light to check the other plugs and they all seem to be firing. im a little lost now as to why its not starting, its not even popping or sputtering when cranking, timing light confirms that all plugs are firing when cranking. Is it possible that my timing belt jumped a tooth on the cam pulley? or my rotor has shifted on the post and its not firing at the right time. The truck was running tip top before this. I will confirm that the timing belt is in its proper position and recheck cap and rotor position. any thing else i should be checking? any help is appreciated, as usual this forum has always provided me the right guidance for my mini. thanks
You didn't mention the choke and if you're in the part of the country that is having winter that could be a problem,also check all vacuum lines anytime something goes bad all of a sudden.Is the spark a good "hot" spark? Sometimes a coil starting to go bad especially in cold weather will cause a weak spark but if you have tried for quite a long time the plugs would probably be wet.If you have air,fuel,and fire it should run as long as you have all in adequate amounts.
The symptoms you described perfectly match what my truck was doing when the timing was way off....however since you were just driving your truck and didn't mess with anything it would seem strange for your engine to get out of time by that much unless the belt came off or skipped a good bit. Theres a bunch of vacuum lines which means there a bunch of places they can be broken or slipped off.
I'll recheck vacuum lines, I recently replaced all my vac lines so I'm leaning more toward timing, haven't poked around the timing yet, leaving it for tomorrow. Jim, I am in a cold climate, interior bc, but my truck normally runs fine in way colder temps then what were having now. What really weirds me out is that I'm not getting any indication of combustion when cranking, as if the plugs are not firing at all. But the timing light connected to each plug wire confirms that they are firing when cranking. And when the plugs are pulled out, they seem to have good spark with no signs of wear or corrosion. Garrett, I'm curious, what threw your timing off? My belt seems a little looser then it should be. Also thinking that the rotor may have spun out of wack on the post it sits in the dist cap.
Tyler.Heather What ever you do PLEASE post the solution to your problem on this thread. Too many of these threads never get the final report on what fixed the problem, so they become useless to other people that are searching. My timing was off because I took the timing belt off during head gasket replacement. When I took it off mine seemed on the loose side to me also. You know how to time the engine right? If not theres a good thread on it now or I can tell you because I'm a pro at it now lol --- Again, if you were driving your truck and then parked it and it wouldn't start I find it almost impossible for that to be a timing issue. If the belt jumped it would have ran like crap while you were still driving...and obviously the timing didn't change while the truck was parked. I'm thinking fuel or air is your problem. And if your rotor is like mine it can't spin out of whack on the post. It only can go on in one position. However, the gear that connects your distributor to the cam shaft is where you make adjustments. Theres 3 10mm bolts holding the distributor housing to the back of the engine. If you pull that housing off you will be able to adjust the rotor. Make sure you know how to completely time the engine because chances are you when you pull that dizzy housing off the gear will move a bit...not a big deal. You just gotta know what your doing or you'll be lost. When crank, and cam are at TDC, that rotor better be pointed right at that motha effing #1 cylinder spark plug on the dizzy cap. I'm still venting from the 8 hours I wasted timing my engine that should have taken 20 mins lol.
The easiest way I have found to trouble shoot fuel problems is to use starting fluid. If it starts and runs a few seconds with start fluid most likely you have a fuel delivery problem. If it doesnt start look for ignition problems, fire(which you already done), dist. timing, timing belt. By your posts I'm leaning towards timing as well. I recently had a gentleman stop by the shop with a early 90's dd51t that was running great then the next day it would start and run a 2 or 3 seconds then die. The truck had well over 100,000kms but had regular maint. pulled. My first thought old truck needs was a carb. rebuild. After closer inspection I found a vacuum lime had weathered and broke off a nipple between carb. and intake manifold. Reconnected hose and truck started and ran fine. The point I'm try to make is look for the simple things first. I wish I had a nickle for the hours Ive spent thinking the worst.
