I loaned my S10 Blazer to my brother the other day (mistake). I asked him to check the oil and he didn't. I should have checked it myself but I trusted him, yeah I know blah blah blah. It has been using oil but isn't leaking it anywhere, not smoking at all and their is no oil in the coolant. First question is where is the oil going?
Anyway my biggest problem right now is it wont re-start. I was driving to my girlfriends house last night and started up a hill when it started sputtering and dieing. It shut off and I coasted to stop. It wouldn't restart. I decided to leave it and come back to it this morning so I called my girlfriend to come get me. It is my understanding their is a safety feature which kills the engine in the event of low oil. I checked and sure enough the oil was very low (actually not touching dip stick on the hill.) The check engine light was on and the check gauges light was on. I rolled the Blazer to the bottom of the hill so it was level and filled the oil up to full. Now the check gauges light is off but the check engine light is still on and it still wont start. I wound up towing it home.
Anyone have any ideas why it wont start?
Let me say I have new fuel pump, fuel filter, oil filter, plugs, wires, distributor cap and all new belts. The Blazer had a complete tune up about 3 months ago and has ran great until now! I have an 06 Duramax to drive but hate to drive it all the time because Diesel is expensive!

 

Well how much oil did you add to bring it up to full? It should hold about 5 litres from dead empty. And no, that engine will still run till it locks up with no oil in it. Wheres it all going? No spotting on the driveway?

You should do that paperclip method of checking the trouble codes associated with that engine light, you might find that its not starting because of something totally unrelated to the low oil.

Down by your knees there is a wireplug. Take a paperclip and jump the top left 2 holes together, then turn the key to the on position and watch the light. It will blink the same sequence three times THEN it will blink out your engine codes. blink blink pause blink blink would be 22 and so on... Come tell us what it tells you.

 

Your fuel pump has two sources of power, the fuel pump relay and the oil pressure switch provides backup power. You could have a faulty fuel pump relay and the oil switch is not providing back up power. The fuel pump relay should be on the driver side fender. There are two relays next to each other. One is fuel pump and I do not remember what the other one is for. You could swap the two relays and try to start the car. I would also check the electrical connection at the oil pressure switch. If the fuel pump relay is malfunctioning when you crank the engine and oil pressure is built up then power is supplied to the fuel pump. Hope this helps.

 

You really need to get the codes before you start throwing parts at it.

 

Thanks guys I'll get the codes ASAP. Have a lot to do today but I will try and get to it. As soon as I do I'll post them.
My 06 D-Max is so much easier to work on. I'm really good with old cars and new high tech vehicles but surprisingly I somehow skipped over the 80's technology. I guess because it's so much easier to modify the old cars (79-) and the new cars (95+).

 

Okay I checked the code last night as per ohsofly and I couldn't get it to blink more than once and then stay on. I decided maybe it was too dark and I couldn't see the holes properly to be sure I was touching metal inside. I waited until this morning and went out to try again and nothing! The light blinks once then stays on. Are you sure the two top left holes are correct for jumping? Does no blinking mean there are no codes?
To answer a few other questions, their is no oil puddle anywhere. The motor is very clean top and bottom. It hasn't been that long since the swap so it hasn't even gotten dirty yet. I haven't pulled the plugs yet to check them but as I said it is not smoking at all! As for the fuel pump relay I can here the relay click and the fuel pump kick on at first if I turn the key on with the driver door open.

 

It's the two top right holes (A & B) you're jumping. Make sure the key is off first, then jump them. Turn key to the "On" position (Do not start the truck) You should get a Code 12 three times then the fault codes. Get them all. They will blink 3 times. You'll know you got them all when you get a Code 12 again. Turn key to "Off" position before you pull the clip.

 

No start condition will falll into either a spark or fuel issue. (I am sure you know this) Pull a plug wire and check for spark to ground. Check coil for spark. Fuel pressure for a TBI needs to be around 11 PSI. I have owned my 89 since new and have had the coil go bad, distributer go bad, timing chain jump, fuel pump die. This is over 420,000 miles. Checking the fuel pressure on a TBI is difficult as there is no test port. A test kit needs to be put in line somewhere in the fuel line. I have a kit that I can install at the front frame where the lines attache via a hose connection. I have since added a permanent fuel gage at the TBI. I bought an fuel inlet fitting for the TBI that has a port for adding a gage. (CFM Technologies) I have aslo had the injectors go bad. Just wanted to list the things that I have had go bad over the years, and most of the time without waring.

 

Start 1st by testing if there's power coming out of plug wires. If no power; test if there's power out of the ignition coil.
If there's power out of the coil but no power out of the plug wires, the problem is in the distributor. Open the cap and take a look.
1st, ask someone to start the car for you and make sure the rotor is turning (to make sure the shaft is ok). Could be the rotor with bad contacts (but you said it's a new distributor), could be the brush on the main wire on the cap, could be the magnet (I had it broken to pieces once by revving the engine very high).
A quick way to make sure the problem is not a fuel one, remove the air filter, put a little of fuel in the carburetor and try starting the car. I did that when I bought my S-10.

 

X2 on a little fuel down the throat of the TBI. That will tell you real quick if it is fuel or something else.