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Won't Start!

K

K10bolts

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Joined
Feb 8, 2005
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Location
Big Rapids, Michigan
Hey guys. I recently made some changes to my 83' K10 350, and now she won't start. When cranked, it will try to fire and very occasionally barely run for less than a second and then die. It sounds like it is only firing on a couple of cylinders. It doesnt backfire either. The only changes I made were rebuilt my carb, and swapped out the intake for a stock aluminum one from a 350. I'm sure it's not a timing problem, I have checked it a million times. The distributor looks to be in good shape. I borrowed a friends carb and it does the same thing, so it's not the carb. I originally suspected a vac. leak, but can't use the ether trick without it running. Any thoughts would be appreciated as I have been working on this for weeks.:confused:
 
I think you have a spark problem. I would second the 180* turn on the distributer and check to make sure all the wires are in the correct firing order.


P.S. On what did you find a stock aluminum intake manifold?
 
First things first , double check for TDC on #1 on firing stroke , see where the rotor points , and do the wires 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 . After that make sure all the connections are solid and good . Then pull a plug and hold it to ground with a wire on it and see if it sparks , maybe a good time to replace them since they are cheap . If you have spark and wiring correct , look to make sure you have gas :k5: :k5:
 
Thank's guys. I have already checked that it isnt 180* and pulled a plug and checked for spark. I'm shure the wires are in the right order too.
 
Oh, and I have already replaced the plugs and wires. The replacement manifold is just a stock aluminum one from a friends 1978 K10.
 
K10bolts said:
Oh, and I have already replaced the plugs and wires. The replacement manifold is just a stock aluminum one from a friends 1978 K10.
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That must be an aftermarket intake because I do't think tock engines inthe late 70's got alum intakes.
 
I do have fresh gas and strong spark. I'm pretty sure It's a factory manifold. It has the cylinder #'s and the firing order stamped on it.
 
Dunno about 350's, but Monte's in the 80's with 305's could/did have AL intakes. Probably the same thing later on with Caprices, Camaro's and so on that had 350's.
 
if you crank it, you should get about 3-5hg of vac. If you have a vacuum gauge handy.

you trying pouring some fuel down the carb? Dont stand near it while its cranking.
 
I put a vac. gauge on it earlier. It read 2hg with the throttle closed when cranked. I tried giving it a shot of gas with no difference. It is definatly pulling fuel.:confused:
 
His timing is definetly on. Im letting him use my vac gauge, its also a fuel pressure gauge so we could try that too. The plugs and wires are new, there is definetly some pressure coming from the fuel pump too. I think theres a vaccuum leak or he has poor compression, were gonna get some more people over and see if we can diagnose the problem on friday. Ill prolly bring my other distrbitor over cuz his vaccuum advanced doesnt work, we'll see how it goes.


Later
 
If the vac advance doesn't work, does that mean its leaking, and thus is a vacuum leak?

Shouldn't be enough so that it won't start, but can't help if it is a problem.
 
Well the auto teacher from our school went to his house today. They rechecked the timing and he said it was cranking to slow and that the timing needs to be adjusted just a tiny bit. I brought my big battery charger over, put it on high and she finally fired up! It wasnt running to great but it ran for a long enough time for us to get the timing squared up. We need to do a starter draw test on it too, the voltage drop was high so he may be replacing the starter sometime soon.


Later
 
Yep. I got it fixed. The starter wasn't cranking it fast enough to start. My timing was just a few degrees off. It only took me 3.5 months to figure it out. It's 'bout time to celebrate with a cold one. Thank's for all your posts guys.:D
 
Sounds like the timing is off to me. Try advancing the timing 20+ degrees.
 
zeroz400 said:
We need to do a starter draw test on it too, the voltage drop was high so he may be replacing the starter sometime soon.
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If there's a voltage drop between the battery and starter you may need to replace that cable. It may have internal corrosion causing the drop.
 
Been there, done that

Man... I am searching this forum for help on this very same issue. 76 K5 didn't start one day out of the blue.

Dropped a new mallory distributor & HEI Ignition, went through all the wiring, firing order, TDC zero'd, checked exhaust vs intake stroke, checked rotor position - Battery is fine - new Eidelbrach carb, fuel is not an issue - checked for spark - now thinking about the arc spring in the iginition itself, anyway to screw that up? Maybe it needs more goo? Checked for timing by turning it over and adjusting the rotation.....

ANY MORE IDEAS????? HEEEELLLPPP. My friends said rocker arm is bad - time for a new engine????

thanks.

Kris4real
 
Kris- Try throwing a timing light on it while cranking to see how close your timing is. Have you tried pouring some gas down the carb? Check to see that your choke is closing properly and your plugs aint fouled.
 
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