problems with my tow rig

[rick88blaze]

My tow rig is a '93 K2500 with a 350tbi engine. I was towing my K5 this weekend to Kansas and back to do some wheeling and my truck started losing power, backfiring through the exhaust and through the TBI. It actually blew the exhaust doughnut out from in between my manifold and Y pipe. I still had power when it did straighten out. I ended up leaving it about halfway back home and driving my K5 home. It lost all power and would barely stay running. I went to tow it home today and when I got there I started it up and it ran fine. So I drove it for about 10 miles with my buddy following me in the other truck when all of a sudden it lost all power again. It did this right when my thermostat opened up.

It sounds to me like I either have a cracked head or a blown head gasket and when my thermostat is opening up it is dumping antifreeze into the cylinder causing the engine to lose all power and run like crap. I'm leaning more towards the head gasket since it came on kind of gradual. If you have another idea of what it might be please let me know.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[MTChevy]

cats? check your oil? timing?

 

[rick88blaze]

No cat, PO took it off. I just got it home this evening. I plan on checking out my oil and A/F tomorrow. I don't think it's a timing issue. When it's cold it runs great with plenty of power. Once it warms up is when it runs like crap.

 

[MTChevy]

No cat, PO took it off. I just got it home this evening. I plan on checking out my oil and A/F tomorrow. I don't think it's a timing issue. When it's cold it runs great with plenty of power. Once it warms up is when it runs like crap.

hmm, that leads me to believe your distributor is poopin out on ya. coil and module

 

[Hossbaby50]

You would have a nice cloud of white smoke if water was getting into the combustion chambers.

Harley

 

[Thunder]

As said above. Either dist module or magnetic pick up coil. Check the easy ovious stuff first before you go tearing the engine all apart.

 

[rick88blaze]

I got to thinking about that stuff today. There was no white smoke. I'm going to pick up a new pickup coil, ignition module and coil today or tomorrow and get them put in.

 

[rick88blaze]

So here's what I've replaced so far:

distributor cap
rotor
pickup coil
ignition module
spark plugs (old ones were fouled out)

After I did all of this I let the truck run for about 1/2 an hour in front of the house and then took it for a short test drive (about 6 miles or so) so far it's running better than it has since I bought it last year in June. The pickup coil looked like absolute crap. Both of the wires coming off of it had broken insulation and bare wires. Where the 2 wires were soldered to the coil, the solder had actually burnt off. So I'm pretty sure that the pickup coil was my culprit in all of this.

But, like I said it ran great tonight. If there are any more problems with it I'll post up.

Thanks for all the help and info guys.

Rick

 

[MTChevy]

So here's what I've replaced so far:

distributor cap
rotor
pickup coil
ignition module
spark plugs (old ones were fouled out)

After I did all of this I let the truck run for about 1/2 an hour in front of the house and then took it for a short test drive (about 6 miles or so) so far it's running better than it has since I bought it last year in June. The pickup coil looked like absolute crap. Both of the wires coming off of it had broken insulation and bare wires. Where the 2 wires were soldered to the coil, the solder had actually burnt off. So I'm pretty sure that the pickup coil was my culprit in all of this.

But, like I said it ran great tonight. If there are any more problems with it I'll post up.

Thanks for all the help and info guys.

Rick

awesome! thanks for the update, your issue is quite a common problem!