Back again with yet another issue, just can't ever have a perfect Blazer haha. Anyway, I have a 1998 White 2 Dr Chevy Blazer, 4X4 5-Speed.

Recently, I took a trip to DC, everything went fine the way there the whole 300 or so mile trip. The next day I drove to the gas station for my friends to get some stuff from the convenience store, and on the way back to the hotel parking lot I was staying at, the truck lurched real hard, then started sputtering, then cut off completely as I coasted into a parking spot. Tried turning over, would start rough, sputtering a bit as if exhaust wasn't escaping but checked that and it was, ruling out plugged exhaust/catalytic converter failure. Pumped the gas a bit, started for a few and would idle, press the gas it died. Thought one potential problem could be FPR, although in the past three months I took the plenum off and cleaned it as well as the injectors up real good, even replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, and intake manifold gasket recently.

Hours and hours pass, I have my dad come down because I try to turn over more, this time no spark for it's not even starting and sputtering now. So I guess maybe my distributor blew out, bad cap/rotor, something. New cap since it was on too tight and cracked, but that changed nothing. Dad came down with new distributor, lined it up, got the new one in, fired up and ran like a champ. Drove it a block, did the same thing and just died in an intersection and wouldn't start. No spark. Gas is present, air is present, the only thing else needed is spark to fire the engine. Being a new distributor, cap, and rotor, something else mut be causing the problem, perhaps electrical I assume.

One other thing I can say is that since I have owned the vehicle, the ignition has never worked great, having to jiggle the sterring wheel and key to turn over into start/run position. My trip odometer resets mostly everytime the car is turned on, and gauges and such have dropped before, but to fix that I jiggled a fuse in the fuse box and gauges would come back on, so I don't know if that's related to ignition switch problems or not. But I read some other threads stating that sometimes the ignition switch can cause those types of issues, and I need anyone and everyone's opinion on if that could be it, maybe FPR, or should I look somewhere else mechanical or electrical in general? Thank you all for your time and comments and reading through this newspaper of a thread, just figured all the information I could pass on would help in the long run!

 

I guess it is possible that the timing chain has worn out and you just got lucky when you dad came with the replacement distributor. You can check the compression to verify.

Do you ever the "security" light on the dash either blinking or staying on?

 

Never have seen the security light come on, just physically hard to turn the key. We checked compression and made sure pistons were aligned right for timing, put the distributor back and it was one gear off before all the changes. But we got all that put back right the other day, as usual started and drove for maybe 5 minutes, then died and had to tow it back to the house. Timing chain was tight enough as well, I'm a bit stumped. Unless my ignition switch or computer is crapping out on me since the timing is all done by the PCM I do believe.

 

Oh, I did not get that impression from your post.. Have you tried any dry lock lubricants in the ignition cylinder?

 

Not as of yet, will try spraying some once it's all put back together, ignition cylinder is all taken apart at the moment as well. Got a new key made and it wouldn't even turn it, old one is quite worn. But turns over with a screwdriver, haha.

 

WHEN YOU CRANK IT DURING A NO-START/NO-SPARK MOMENT ARE THE(oops sorry) dash lights illuminating? JP[8D]

 

Since the old key is quite worn, I would suspect that the tumblers inside are also quite worn and more than likely sticking. The new key is probably slightly different than what the original was when new which may be enough to mess up the engagement in the cylinder. Turning with a screw driver is another sign that the cylinder is probably shot.

 

Everything is on and illuminated as normal, cranks and cranks just acts like it is receiving no spark for some reason. I don't know what the reason is behind that. Is there anything that if something were malfunctioning, spark would be auto shut off kinda like if the security/ignition switch has problems, the gas shuts off? It's just odd because once in a blue moon it starts, but that was only when distributors were changed or realigned. Would work for maybe 5 minutes, then never start again unless the same process was repeated.

 

What is odd is that there are no codes being stored. It is possible that there is an intermittent interruption in the CKP (crankshaft position) sensor, but I would think that would set a code... Have you had the codes read to see if there are any pending codes?

 

Have checked for codes multiple times, nothing thrown, the only time one was thrown was when the MAF and all was disconnected with the intake taken off. Gone over vacuum lines once again, all look okay, checked them and tightened them. As far as my simple P0 code reader goes, nothing shows, haha. And an additional note, throughout all this mess, for the past 5 months or so the same issues of my RPM's not dropping as immediately as they should with the clutch pushed in or at a stop has still been occuring. Last time the Chevy dealer said that was because of my fuel pump, which I was losing fuel pressure, so had that under warranty and changed that. Must've broke a vent valve while doing that because my gas tank holds pressure and blows out when the gas tank cap is opened. Also, my dad just checked timing again, it was out of time right after we checked it yesterday so we're ruling and leaning towards the timing chain pretty much being shot. Safe bet?

Edit: Dur, forgot to mention in my first post that yes, my Blazer is quite near the 150k marker just so you know.