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Hate to say it, but another problem, SBC only starts sometimes

Caps are available in lots of colors. I have a purple one on my engine to match everything else on it. I'm not sure but the truck one may still have the plug for the computer being its an 85. I would pull the better looking of them and try it in your blazer.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-BBC-CHE...Parts_Accessories&hash=item5656b9d28e&vxp=mtr

There is a complete distributor for $50 shipped. That's another way to go I know you said you were broke that's why I recommended the JY distributor earlier.
 
Like I said, I am a diesel guy and just kind of flying by the seat of my pants here.

My distributor that is in there now only takes one plug, there is another plug that looks like it would go to the distributor that isn't plugged in that is zip tied to the fire wall.

(my dad bought this truck about 6 months before he passed away, and he passed away in July of 2011, so this distributor can't be more than 2 years old)


The dizzy in this white pickup in the junkyard looks like it is in a lot better shape than the Impala's, So I will probably try it.

Also this junkyard has a lot of other GM's, but they all diesel's, a 92 K3500, an 89 6.2 K1500, a 97 3/4 ton electronic Stanadyne 6.5 burb, a 85 6.2 Jimmy, and a 6.2 Blazer that I don't know the year of. Damn I want one of those 6.5's
 
Well, I spoke to a friend of mine about a bed for the Cummins, and after showing me the bed, we went back to his massive shop, and I mentioned I needed a distributor, and what does he do? Climbs up onto one of his tube chassis crawlers and pulls the distributor out of it, and says "here ya go, this should do"

It was too hot today to start crawling around under the hood of the Blazer, but I think I know what I am doing tomorrow.


He is one of the wealthiest guysI know, like yesterday he bought a $35,000 H1 Hummer and doesn't really know if he will keep it, but his main vehicle is still a 300,000 mile 1st gen Cummins

He told me that he might trade me a stroked 377 SBC race motor from his mud truck for a set of tires, some 35x10.50R16.5 BFG KM2's
 
Ok, I am completely lost now, I checked all the wiring going to the distributor, there is power.

So first I put the new cap on it, no change, I put the new distributor in it, no change.

A friend of mine did say something about the alternator, but what would that have anything to do with this?
 
OK, just to make sure, you put in the new dizzy, and you still have no spark?

Assuming you did not get a second bad distributor, unlikely but possible I suppose, then there are only three possibilites.
One, the voltage you are measuring does not have enough current to fire the system, which is possible.

Two, you have a bad ground. But, since I'm pretty sure it gets its ground from the engine block, same as the starter, it would not turn over if the block did not have a good ground.

Third, its not turning. Pull the cap off, and bump the engine around and make sure the rotor turns.
 
I'd test it buy running a hot lead straight from the battery positive to the + terminal on the cap. Of course if it fired up then you'd have to unhook it from the battery to shut the truck off. Are you sure the distributor is installed correctly and not 180 out?
 
Yes, I put the whole new distributor in it, and nothing changed, it came from my friend's rock crawler, which was running when I arrived.

Even if it was 180 out, wouldn't it still start? it would run like hell but still start, right?

Also, the truck tried to kill me today, I had the hood off and was sitting inside the engine bay, I went to get out and I missed my steel milk crate, fell, and hit my head on the open tailgate and hitch of my friend's truck.

How soon is it safe to go to sleep after this?
 
A few questions first.
1. Is it HEI (coil in cap)?
2. Is it EGC (coil separate with 2 external plugs on the module)?

If you have changed the distributor on coil in cap with a known running unit and it still won't start run a jumper wire from the ground terminal on the cap to battery ground. Run a jumper from the batt terminal on the distributor to battery positive. Try to start. (To shut it down you will need to remove the positive wire from the battery). It must start or at least have spark with this set up. If you have no spark it is in the distributor. If you have spark and run the you have a wiring issue to the distributor. If you have spark but no run then you either have a fuel issue or the distributor is installed incorrectly.

If you have the separate coil with 2 plugs on the cap there will usually be a module and a computer controlling it. A common problem with these is the short wiring harness from the coil to the cap. I work in the marine industry and see this all the time.

Other things.
Ensure that the ground from the block to the battery is clean and tight.

Ensure the ground from the body to the engine is clean and tight. A common problem is for the ground from the engine to the body to be bad or missing. If this is not there and system that runs the engine (with ANY spark ignition) will ground thru the drive shaft and suspension.

Ensure the ground from the battery to the body is clean and tight.

If it has the divorced coil system there will usually be several grounds from the computer to the back of the head and some to the front of the intake, usually to the intake manifold or to the thermostat housing bolt. You must ensure these are clean and tight.

Hope this helps
 
Well, I found both of my problems. when I put the new distributor in, (which by the way, is completely brown, oily and dirty) I must not of tightened the bolt enough, because I spun the whole distributor, and ripped the wires out from inside of it.

a few minutes ago I was sitting in here with the old distributor I pulled out (still shiny enough to see a reflection in) and I was looking at the connections on the ICM, and I noticed on the rotor side of the ICM, and the connector for the green wire was not making any connection at all, it was shoved all the way to the back of the little black box.
 
You know, when I asked if it was turning, I meant the shaft, not the whole darn thing............:D

Yep, having the wires hooked to thing is important. Glad you found it.

Might want to spin that brown one by hand. The bushings might be frozen.
 
The dirty blue cap one is a bit stiffer to spin, it stops as soon as you let go, my old one will spin for a solid 3 seconds on it's own


I do however have a new, but less serious problem, I can only get two of my spring loaded cap holder-downers to go down.

what do I do for that?
 
The Griff said:
I do however have a new, but less serious problem, I can only get two of my spring loaded cap holder-downers to go down.

what do I do for that?
Click to expand...

Double check the alignment of the cap. Otherwise, push harder on the screws... :D
 
Well, Happy fourth everybody, but I am really, really lost now.

I put the distributor back in, rechecked all the wires, burned the gas off of the plugs and scrubbed them, then re-gapped 6 of them and we're still dead in the water.

I pulled the cap back off to make sure those connections were still good, and all four were good and solid.

I swear this truck hates me, it took me a solid half an hour to get the distributor to drop down.
Then I whacked my head again on the driveshaft trying to get the #8 spark plug out.
 
Lets start at the top.
How are you aligning the distributor?
Easy way: remove the spark plugs that you can easily get to. Plug the number one spark plug hole with your finger. Have someone turn the engine over by hand on the crankshaft nut until compression pushes your finger.
Take a longish screwdriver and put it in the number plug hole gently. Have someone turn the the engine by hand. Clockwise. You wil feel the screwdriver move upwards (make sure to keep it loose so it does not bind or jam. All you are doing is trying to put no. 1 at TDC. Once the screwdriver stops coming up look at the timing marks to verify that they are correct. It should be at TDC or very close. Remove screwdriver and turn the engine by hand in either direction just enough to set the timing pointer at 6-8 degrees Before TDC (BTDC).

Fun time:
Take the dist hold it abouve your head with with the rotor pointing roughly where it would if it was aligned between the intake and exhaust valves on the No. 2 cylinder head. Look at where the oil pump drive is pointing. Take a long screw driver and a flash light and look down the dist hole in the intake. align the slot in th oil pump drive shaft to about where the drive on the dist would be the turn it about 1/8 inch counter clockwise.

Install dist with rotor pointing roughly between the intake and exhaust valves on No. 2 cylinder. It should drop right in. If not you can turn the engine by hand in either direction a little to get the o/p drive shaft to line up. Return the timing marks to 6-8 BTDC
Align dist dist cap no.1 wire with the rotor. VERIFY YOUR FIRING ORDER 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.
Hook up the wiring and the plugs.
hit the key. vroom. if not you have electrical problems.
It should take less time to do than it did to write.

If not my next step would be to run around the truck 3 times clock wise and 4 times counter clockwise with two fresh chicken feet in your hair and slapping 2 live beavers tails together sreaming F%$k, F%$K F%$K cause that thing is haunted.
 
That's move for move how I put the distributor in, except that I just had wait until I couldn't poke the screwdriver in anymore.

Today I'm going to try putting the blue cap and rotor on it, and see if anything happens.

Also I'm going to get new sparkplugs today, there are only so many times you can burn them clean.

If that doesn't help, I guess I will attempt to summon ignition, jumping up and down on the hood juggling sparkplugs and chanting "start b*tch start"
 
Get one of these it will help.

image_20365.jpg
 
Ok, well the truck is cursed, it must be.

put a new cap and rotor on it, got new plugs and wires, and rechecked that there is power going to the distributor when the key is on and not when the key is off.
it is cursed.

I am strongly considering buying a old 454 my neighbor is selling for $150, and I know it runs for a fact.
how hard is it to change the mounts?
 
If you're a diesel guy, and are considering a swap, why not hit up that junkyard full of 6.5's and 6.2's :whistle:

I'm looking at getting a "new" K5 to replace my wrecked M1009, but you're darned tootin I'm pulling that 6.2 and all related components (hydroboost, fuel sender, etc.) to swap into whatever truck I wind up with. It uses small block chevy engine mounts, and is a pretty direct swap from what I understand. Especially if its a non-turbo model.


Your intermittant issue may be a damaged voltage supply wire. maybe corrosion under the insulation? Wire is cheap, I'd replace the voltage supply wire to the dizzy just to be safe and rule it out.

Something else to consider, when was the last time you changed your fuel filter? the one by the frame rail. Maybe junk in the fuel tank is floating around the fuel pickup and intermittantly clogging the fuel line? reducing fuel pressure, and leaning out the mixture to the point where it wont fire. Given the almost hyperfocused attention you've given the electrical system when you can see a spark off the plugs, you might want to think about trying to clear out any junk from the fuel lines and maybe even the fuel tank. Its a long shot, but I have seen it before, and it would explain your symptoms.
 
Trust me I've thought about it, but it's just I know if I really got to it, I could (unless the mounts are trouble) have it running and driving in the space of a day.

I did mess with it some more today, I stole a friends voltmeter and checked again, but this time I was able to actually the check the power to the distributor, 12 volts, from the big pink wire. Checked the ground cable under the coil, it was good and tight. Then all the connections, all were good. Nothing

A friend of mine said he would give me a set of plug wires tomorrow. (can't hurt)

I checked fuel too, quite a while ago, before I started really messing with stuff, just to make sure. nothing wrong there.
 
do you have anyone looking down the throttle body while you're trying to start it and its just cranking? have you verified its getting fuel in a strong clean spray pattern.

You seem to have an extensive network of awesome friends, anyone have a TBI throttle body you could swap on and see if it makes a difference?
 
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