Remember that right or wrong, its still only your opinion. I think there is room for more than one. Anything else insults all involved.

 

So you are having both no crank and crank no start. For no crank I gave you a flow for determining the cause. For crank no start the first thing is to determine if you have spark at the plugs. Look for 1" of strong blue spark that runs in an even cadence with the engine. If not then the same at the coil output.

George

 

So what’s your opinion on fixing this guys problem? Isn’t that what forums are for? So people can post their opinions?
Absolutely, there is obviously going to be more than one opinion on almost every matter.

I felt differently, and said it although clearly a different opinion caused waves; however, I still feel the OP should consider the most likely cause,

I never meant to insult anyone with my comments, and the insinuation is uncalled for,

 

I'm with Les on this. We are all here to help people with their issues and there is nothing wrong with more than one opinion but there is no place for insulting people by calling someone's opinion and offer for help a "huge list of ****". The OP subsequently confirmed that part of his problem is a no crank condition and so tracing the voltage path to energize the starter is completely relevant and giving him the entire diagnostic path keeps him from doing one test, reposting, waiting and doing another test. Some people need to get their trucks running because they are daily drivers for work or school. Someone with a meter and a little knowledge can do all of those tests in about 15 min. While I understand that a wet distributor cap might be the cause of a crank no start issue, it has nothing to do with the OP's no crank problem.

It sounds like you have training in automotive repair and that's great but you don't know anything about the training and experience of the other people on this forum. We have some very technical and very knowledgeable people here. Mechanics, engineers, techs from dealers, etc. and some of us have been doing this for over 50 years, perhaps longer than you have been alive and the information comes from our schooling, knowledge and experience not from the Google. I for one traced my first no crank issue in 1970. There was no Google.

Let's help this guy get his truck running right and leave the insults off of this forum. The OP can decide for himself which advice best suits his or her situation.

BTW, my logic for the path that I suggested is to also rule out the ignition switch which is one of the few problems that would explain all of his intermittent issues. Classic fault analysis after listening to the customer.


George

 

Hey George, lighten up. I never insulted you. All I said was that a huge and nearly irrelevant flow chart that anyone can copy and paste from google is pretty much a waste of time, except perhaps for someone who has absolutely no experience how things work.

You and I obviously have huge differences in the way we diagnose things, and that’s fine, but please try to take it in stride when someone else sees things entirely differently and isn’t afraid to step up and suggest something else.

 

My suggestion is not copied from a google flow chart. It is specific to the wiring of the OP's truck after spot checking the schematic for his truck, and the sequence came out of my head, using my 50 years of experience to help the OP get his truck running. Yes, sometimes making an educated guess at one suspected point of failure can get a hit especially if its obvious and a routine failure on that vehicle and if the OP wants to follow your approach, no problem. I do think differently than you in that I offer a diagnostic flow to pinpoint the problem. He lists more than one problem, some of which have nothing to do with the distr cap.

This forum is littered with OP complaints of dumping mad cash into their trucks chasing one guess at a time by themselves or after sending the truck to a mechanic who did the same. Every outstanding mechanic that I have ever watched and learned from uses diagnosis to find the problem or to prove the educated guess and then uses the same process to prove the fix. Same is true of the top guys on this forum who are the best problem solvers that we have. Its more involved and requires a deeper knowledge of test equipment and automotive systems as well as a person who appreciated this approach. Your approach is more common and may be exactly what the OP wants. I am not however, going to insult your suggestion even if its not the way I think things should be done. I will keep those thoughts to myself and keep trying to help the OP. BTW, the recipient of your commentary gets to decide if they are insulted or not.


George

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've printed them off and have them ready and waiting the next time the truck decides not to start. It hasn't rained for a couple of days so its been starting and running just fine.

Gotta love intermittent issues.

One thing I forgot to mention - when I initially had it all put together I missed reconnecting the crank position sensor (?) - the one that is installed inside the distributor. I noticed and reconnected it *after* the first time it did the no-crank-no-start thing. I can understand how that sensor being disconnected might cause a no-start, but a no-crank? Seems unlikely, but what do I know.

George - your mention of the ignition switch has me wondering. The lighting and dash instrumentation all appeared to behave normally during the no-crank. I assume there are some test points which go along with the procedure you listed earlier?

 

Not saying that you are wrong or right. Just saying you are being a bit hard on George. Let the OP choose who he wants to follow. I do it all the time. It will become apparent in the thread. As far as me commenting on the problem - i think the two of you already have it covered.

 

I have given you a diagnostic flow for finding out why you would have a no crank situation by testing through the starter circuit flow specifically for the wiring in your vehicle. If you have a crank, no start situation then one or more of the big three is hosed - spark, fuel or air. Since we are talking electrical we will start with spark. While the starter is cranking you need power to the starter, crank sensor, VCM, fuel injectors, ICM, coil; and spark from the ignition system and proper distribution of that spark. You can start at either end, I previously suggested looking for proper spark at the plug end because its a fast and simple first order check and everything has to be working right.

At the other end is the ignition switch. When in start the switch provides power to the starter and (on the pink wires) to the items above as well as many other systems including the instrument cluster - all through various fuses. One check is the instr cluster or you could measure voltage at ECM 1 fuse 15A while cranking. When the key is dropped back to the run position, there is no power to the starter but the switch has to provide continuity so that you still have 12V on those pink power wires to all those systems. If you have ignition switch power but no plug spark you check for spark output from the coil and if not then there is a problem somewhere in:

Power or grounds
Connectors
Crank sensor
ICM
Coil
ECM

The first thing that you check is power on the pink wires to each of those items then their function. If you get this far with no joy then we look at the ICM, coil, crank sensor, ECM.

BTW, this is where Billy's suggestion would come into play: no spark at the plugs but good strong spark at the coil output. Under this scenario you have a problem in the distr or the spark plug wires and a wet cap is one possibility. He likes to take his best guess based on your symptoms and go straight to that part. I like to test, find the failure, then the cause and then repair or replace the offending item. I don't want to be wasting time on distributors if there is good strong spark at the plugs or no spark at the coil because the distr is not the issue BUT, its players choice. If I can be of further assistance just let me know.


George

 

Hmmmmm..... I am torn, part of me wants the guy 2 finally fix the problem on his vehicle BUT, part of me wants 2 see what will be said next LOL!!!!! We are all on here for the same reason more or less, helping people when we can and learning different tips and tricks from others... I learn stuff almost every time I log on here at the Forum