Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Why wont my truck start?

350tbi. Last ran a few days ago. took a few tries to get started but ran well. sat for like 2 days through the super cold and now wont start. i tried atleast a dozen times to start it. Battery is fine and it turns over like it wants to start, fuel pump primes when i turn the key but no luck.

today i went and got some starting fluid and popped the hood. i noticed the air raid intake was pretty much off the intake thing, but it was just laying like it had not moved much. and it hasnt really be driven a whole lot lately either. so i sprayed a generous amount of starting fluid right in the intake and still no luck, tired to start 5 or 6 times and sprayed fluid like 3 times. still no luck..


any ideas?? any way to make a make shift block heater or is that not the problem?

if your getting fuel, (or starting fluid), and it still dont try to start then you have an ignition problem try taking off one of your spark plug wires and put a screwdriver in it and hold it next to the exhaust manifold or a bracket and have someone crank it you should nice blue spark, if nothing then i would check into a coil you can look in a chiltons and they have a diagram how to test a coil with an ohm meter, make sure all the wires are pluged into the coil or make sure a mouse or rat didnt chew on some wires that seems to happen when it gets cold they look for a warm place, if still nothing then i would pull the ignition control moduel out and get it tested at a local autoparts store, hope this helps ya gettin it started

Ryan

yeah ill have to look into that, i dont think its a rat or anything lol its a 94 silverado with a 9 inch lift, and its in a parking lot at school so i dont think many animals will climb that high.

it just seems odd that it would run fine until its cold, and not that its cold its having trouble starting. and no just wont start at all....

is it possible the battery is strong enough to put on the radio and turn the car over...but not strong enough to get it started???

i doubt it the battery if its cranking it over good then you shouldnt have a problem there, have you ever had this problem before? i asked about the rat because ive had that problem and many friends with that problem before.

nope i have never ever had a problem with it not starting. i got it in early december so its been pretty cold here like the last month or so, but it wasnt until it got really cold, as in negatives that it was having a hard time starting. today its 7 degrees and with windchill -10. and its been a little colder lately, especially over night but hasnt been really any warmer.

may be the ignition module under the distributor cap as well, ive had a few go bad. they never gave any warnings either. always had me puzzled because it was this time of the year they went bad, check for spark.. if no thats more than likely a good culprit. good luck.. it was 9* where i live today my motavation outdoors is hurting!! :cry:

to check for spark can i just pull any plug wire and then hold a skrew driver with a rubber handle, with the metal tip near the wire and see if i gotta spark?

no because its not grounding that way.. you would have to have the shaft of the screwdriver touching a gound.. and you would see the spark where your touching ground 2. or stick a nail in the plug wire boot.. scrape it on a fender or anywhere bare metal thats a good ground. kinda move it around while cranking you should see a blue spark.. or pull the plug out and hook the boot on it like it should be and crank. you should see a blue spark jumping between your plug gap... many lil tricks..

sounds like the ignition module. my 93 silverado done the same thing,and i had another distributor lying around so i tried it and it fixed the problem

ignition module or maybe a broken wire under the cap

Mine did the same thing it was the ignition module.

Like everyone is saying, lack of spark, which narrows your search to the ignition module or ignition coil. Good thing is that you can remove the module and have it tested at almost any auto parts store.

I would check for spark, if you don't have any look to see if there is fuel being directed into the cylinders. Since you may not be able to see that, just crank the engine a bit and smell the exhaust pipe outlet. If fuel is being injected it will be pumped, the smell anyway to the rear end of the pipe. If you smell fuel you can assume the computer is seeing a cranking signal from the distributor. If you don't smell fuel then the computer isn't seeing a cranking signal and is more likely the pick-up coil in the distributor. Normally heat kills modules but just about anything can sink a l pick up coil. Since starting fluid didn't help I would think your fuel pump is working.