1986 K30 - Rapid Learning

[ZooMad75]

I've got an easier trick. If you want to "free up" the starter, just push in the clutch with the trans in reverse or low and give it a little shove in the direction you have the trans in gear for. As it's moving just pop the clutch pedal. It's moving much to slow to bump start it, but the flywheel should move enough to allow the starter drive to go back into position. Then give the key a try for the starter. You might have to try it a couple times and if all that is wrong is the starter drive is hung up it should pop free.

It's worth a try.

 

[sweetk30]

Can't see the bolt, and the fan blades are blocking my arm. Gonna try and remove the fan

dont pull the fan .

rock the motor with moving the truck in gear .

 

[Wes Harden]

I wasn't suggesting the starter drive was stuck engaged with flywheel. I wanted the battery charged. Current symptoms described indicated a dead battery.
The Po's statement about flywheel damage lead me to try to explain how to temporarily deal with the missing teeth.
Thou the drive could be stuck and have a low battery. I can't say from here.

 

[shima]

@Wes Harden you were correct the whole time, it was just the battery. I jumped to conclusions way too early and focused on the starter, which was a total waste of time. I gotta learn to slow down and think more critically. I knew it started and ran before I tore down the front end, so I should have known it would fire up again.

Anyhow, I don't own a car battery charger... but I pulled the Blazer alongside the pickup in my garage and connected them with jumper cables. That helped a lot but even after letting the Blazer run for up to about 5 minutes, the terminals on the pickup battery tested at only 11.5 volts. I said screw it and pulled the battery out of my 3000GT and dropped it into the pickup. That proved immediately that the issue was the battery - the pickup cranked just fine after that.

Unfortunately earlier in the night I got it into my head that it might be a good idea to put some "starter fluid" into the carb to help the truck start. Well I didn't have starter fluid so I Googled it and found that you can use carb cleaner. I put some into the carb while the truck was off, which was a big mistake. The first crank resulted in a loud "boom" and a lot of white smoke filled my garage. After that I tried about 5-10 more times and it would always turn over but wouldn't stay running. I tried playing with the gas pedal to keep the RPMs up and the longest I kept it running was about 5 or 10 seconds. Once you let your foot off the pedal a bit too much it would shut down.

I gave @Bent77 a call last night and chatted it over (thanks again). Today I am going to get some fresh gas and I'm going to buy a battery charger from the parts store. I'll try charging up the battery fully and I'll try putting in some fresh gas and will give it another go. If it won't stay running then my next task will be to pull the plugs to check and see if they are fouled.

 

[obijuank5]

Man you're learning all kinds of fun stuff on this truck lol

 

[sweetk30]

alternators dont put out full amp load at idle speeds . so you letting it run for 5 min was NOT going to get it done .

glad she is running finenow and thats all it was from just sitting a long time .

 

[shima]

@obijuank5 I'm really hitting it out of the park on stupidity with this thing. Hopefully it results in some actual learning.

 

[Bent77]

Oh you’re learning. This is how the rest of did it. Welcome to the school of hard knocks

 

[ZooMad75]

It's how we all did it. There is no easy button.

Carb cleaner as starting fluid has been used many times by me and in the shop. But it can and will run on the stuff. It's not ideal, but works when you are bringing an engine back to life. Even more so with a carb using today's shitty gas.

Keep this in mind if it sits for a while. Fuel evaporates in the carb. Because of this you might have to crank it longer to get fuel up to the carb. Plus since it's probably got a quadrajet carb it may have the well plugs below the float bowl leaking too. Which that could empty the bowl overnight too.

 

[Wes Harden]

Check all your vacuum ports. The boom may have uncapped one or 2.

 

[shima]

I put 4.5 gallons of new gas in it, and I'm charging the battery right now.

I also have a bottle of this stuff in the garage, will read through the label to see if it might be a good idea to add into the gas tank.

Anyone use it before? "Techron Complete Fuel System Cleaner"

 

[centexk5]

My dad swears by it. Had an old bmw 30 years ago that the injectors would constantly clog. Every time he ran a bottle of that through it it fixed it.

 

[Wes Harden]

How long has truck sat, including pre purchase? Did you drive much b4 axle maintenance?

 

[shima]

How long has truck sat, including pre purchase? Did you drive much b4 axle maintenance?

It sat for at least 3 months pre-purchase, then sat for 5 months while I did the axle work. I didn't drive it more than once before tearing into the front end.

 

[Wes Harden]

gas could have a lot of water in it. Your state has ethanol in the everyday gas ? The carb may have water in bowl as well. An ethanol fuel treatment in tank and get engine warm for long enough to evap any water in carb. With ethanol in our fuels all the experts recommend keeping the tank full for infrequent use vehicles. This keeps the condensation down in the tank.
How did it run the 1 time you got to drive it?

 

[Bent77]

gas could have a lot of water in it. Your state has ethanol in the everyday gas ? The carb may have water in bowl as well. An ethanol fuel treatment in tank and get engine warm for long enough to evap any water in carb. With ethanol in our fuels all the experts recommend keeping the tank full for infrequent use vehicles. This keeps the condensation down in the tank.
How did it run the 1 time you got to drive it?

Yeah, we're a E10-15 state...

 

[shima]

gas could have a lot of water in it. Your state has ethanol in the everyday gas ? The carb may have water in bowl as well. An ethanol fuel treatment in tank and get engine warm for long enough to evap any water in carb. With ethanol in our fuels all the experts recommend keeping the tank full for infrequent use vehicles. This keeps the condensation down in the tank.
How did it run the 1 time you got to drive it?

It ran great the first time I drove it, and I'm pleased to report that it ran great tonight! It took a bit of playing around with the gas pedal and the choke, but two friends and I got it to idle tonight and we let it run awhile to burn out all that crap. After that we took it for a drive. I almost stalled it a few times but it drove great. I forgot to snap a photo or video but I will when I get it out next.

 

[shima]

"Thank you" a million times over to you all. I am so happy to be able to drive it.

 

[mrk5]

if your going to have it parked quite a bit, I would put ethanol free gas in it.

 

[shima]

No major updates, just been driving it. The truck is still not registered, but due to COVID the Denver PD isn't giving tickets for expired plates through the rest of July. I have a few more days to practice before I have to put it back into the garage.

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the last few days:

Front View 200729

• shima
• Jul 29, 2020

Garage View 200729

• shima
• Jul 29, 2020

Front View 200729

• shima
• Jul 29, 2020

Side View 200729

• shima
• Jul 29, 2020

Trying to determine my gas tank size, the passenger saddle. Guessing 20 gallons but going to double check the Haynes.

Stalled it today at an uphill stoplight, starting rolling backward. Panicked a little bit but managed to get away without hitting the guy behind me. Getting better day by day.