I have a 96 Blaser, 4.3L, 6 cyl, 219,000 miles that will crank but won't start.
Sometimes it seems like there is a light backfire under the hood when starting. Before this I had a rattling sound under the passenger side of the vehicle and bad gas mileage.
I've been told it may be the Catylatic Converter and to drill a 1/4" hole in the front of the converter so I can start it to get it to the shop.
I tried that and still it won't start and doing the same as above.
It went from starting great one day to nothing the next.
I'm a great machinist but stink at mechanics.
Does any one have any suggestions ?
Thanks for your time and help,
Doug

 

You need spark, air, & fuel to start. Check your sparkplugs and wires. I think you can pull one out to see if it's sparking too. If that seems fine...check fuel filter maybe? I've seen people with 175k miles on the same fuel filter they had when they bought it. Hope this helps!

 

I had a similar problem with my 96 with almost the same amount of miles. The rattling was the cat on mine. When mine was cranking and not starting, I changed the fuel pump, fuel filter, and cleaned the distributor cap. After all that it still didn't start. I then turned to the first thing I should have checked, the spark plugs. I changed those and it started right up. Don't forget the simple things.

 

Thanks for your help guy's.
Being a machinist, CNC programmer, a rotten mechanic and trying to build something an engineer has put on paper, I always find myself having to think out of the box. Sometimes simple is hard for me.
I'll try changing the spark plugs today if I can get to them and I'll let you know later how I made out.
Again, thank you for your time & help,
Doug