lost spark and no starter

[colorado plow guy]

Hey guys its been a while since Ive been on this forum, so I figured Id renew my membership and get my old blazer some tlc. anyway its been running great this winter and all of sudden the other night I start it up then moved it about 100' got out and let it idle for a while and it just died. So I pumped the gas and kept cranking and nothing until I smelled gas I just gave up. the next day I went out with inline spark plug tester and sure enough no spark. So I pull the cap and make sure rotors turning and it was, I put the cap back on, crank some more and starter quits,( no power at solenoid) So I trace the puple wire back all the way to firewall and its good. I thought maybe the ignition switch went out, and put a new one in and no results. I Do not know if this has got a neutral safety switch, and if it does I can not find it. Its not on the tranny and their is a switch at bottom of column with a blue and green wire but I think that's a back up light? but I'm not sure. If anybody can give me some insight on this I would appreciate it.

I don't remember if this is in my sig or not, but Its a 1984 K5 350, with a turbo 350 trans, mostly stock and as far as I know the electronic spark control has been disconnected. The Distributor has the three wire going to the cap, as with the hot wire on the bat. side on cap

 

[diesel4me]

The neutral safety switch is on the steering colum down next to the firewall,it also runs the back up lamps (on the other side of the switch with the blue & green wires ,unless its a manual trans..in that case it would be on the tranny itself..there should be two purple wires on the neutral safety that go to the solenoid..

It could be the starter just decided to quit after prolonged cranking,maybe the solenoid fried,or perhaps a fusible link fried..

If power is getting to the battery cable at the starter,you could try jumping the solenoid to it with a screwdriver to see if the starter is working--this will tell you if its just not getting activated by the ignition switch..if no power is at the cable at the starter,it could be just dirty battery terminals or the cable failed inside from corrosion..

The lack of spark could be many things,one being a bad ignition module,first make sure its getting 12V to the coil at the dist. cap with the key "on"..if it has power it could be the module,coil,or pick up coil..usually the module goes out long before the other parts,but any of them will create the same symptoms..

 

[colorado plow guy]

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The neutral safety switch is on the steering colum down next to the firewall,it also runs the back up lamps (on the other side of the switch with the blue & green wires ,unless its a manual trans..in that case it would be on the tranny itself..there should be two purple wires on the neutral safety that go to the solenoid..

It could be the starter just decided to quit after prolonged cranking,maybe the solenoid fried,or perhaps a fusible link fried..

If power is getting to the battery cable at the starter,you could try jumping the solenoid to it with a screwdriver to see if the starter is working--this will tell you if its just not getting activated by the ignition switch..if no power is at the cable at the starter,it could be just dirty battery terminals or the cable failed inside from corrosion..

The lack of spark could be many things,one being a bad ignition module,first make sure its getting 12V to the coil at the dist. cap with the key "on"..if it has power it could be the module,coil,or pick up coil..usually the module goes out long before the other parts,but any of them will create the same symptoms..

thank for the reply. I did jump the starter across terminals and it works fine. As far as the switch at bottom of column the only wires it has is the blue and I think green. There are no place for other connections. That's what's got me stumped. Does it even have a nuetral safety switch and which way to trouble shoot it from there. Like I said I traced the purple solinoid wire all the way to the firewall behind fuse panel and it's good but from there I just loose it and don't know from there.

 

[diesel4me]

The NS switch should look like this...

The purple wires should plug onto the two tabs on the lower right side in the photo..if yours looks different,I dont know what to say,unless someone has modified or removed part of it..(or broke it ?)

You can just jump the two wires at the plug that should go to that switch to get it to crank in any gear with the key--just remember you did that,so you wont start it in gear someday and crash into something.

You could rig a wire to the solenoid "S" terminal and use a push button wired to a 12V source to get it to crank also..then you can proceed with testing the no spark problem..

On my diesel I by-passed the NS switch so I can re-start it in gear should it stall while moving (can be dicey plowing if the thing dies while your moving!)--also I have a wire on the "S" terminal under the hood I can touch to the battery to crank it over in the event I need to use ether to get it running some frigid day..its best to have it spinning over full tilt before applying ether to avoid kickback and busted starter housings or drives,and damage to other internal engine parts..

 

[colorado plow guy]

ok ill look at that switch again tonight, but I think it only has two terminals, one green and one blue wire, I take it that the switch just slides off column.

hot wiring it with an external switch might be my next option

 

[colorado plow guy]

heres my switch from bottom of column, No NS switch as I can tell it just run back up lights

 

[diesel4me]

Huh..maybe GM decided to move the NS switch on certain years,maybe its further up on the colum,or on the trans linkage ?--never seen one like that before...
Looking on google I have come across other threads on other truck forums saying their trucks has "no" NS switch too,so I guess yours isn't the only one that doesn't have it mounted in the usual spot..
I'm sure it has one--somewhere...see any wires hanging under the dash with a plug that aren't plugged into anything ?...
You should be able to trace the purple crank wire from the ignition and find out where it is hiding..

 

[colorado plow guy]

ya Ive traced purple wire from solenoid to firewall, its good to thier. and yes I have a lot of clean up to do on both sides of firewall, lot of wires hanging not do anything, cleaning it up as I go. I have been deleting anything related to cruise control or emissions, this is a silverado package so lots of stuff.
im going to pull the wiring harness off firewall behind fuse panel and see if that don't reveal anything