first no fire, now another problem

[gafiredog]

got the dist. problem solved, now another problem. after letting it run for about 5 minutes, i cut it off to tighten down the dist. went back to start it, turned over about 20-30 times before it started. let it run for about 5 more minutes, cut it off, and waited about 5 minutes tried to start it, ran down the battery trying to start it, never did start that time. carb. gone bad due to sitting for about 10 months ? any ideas ? thanks, Art

[Albatrossian]

Did it crank right up when you put the new distributor in?

[billm90]

Did you set the timming?
Try pooring a little tiny bit of gas into the carb and then cranking it over to see if it is a fuel delivery problem?

[impalamark]

sounds to me like the dreaded ESC problem -acts just like it
MArk

[Captkaos]

I am with Mark. I read your other post and then this one and it sounds like the ESC.

[old Rusty C10]

im going to chime in and third the motion... and even if its brand new ive seen the auto parts store have a whole bunch of bad ones right off the shelf which is why i refuse to use KEM ignition parts

[impalamark]

Art
I fought my 86 for over a year and would have sold it
but nobody would buy it I changed everything - except the
ESC and I've never been so frustrated- run for a week a minute
a day then no start for a week a minute or a day
good luck

MArk

[gafiredog]

thanks guys, i've been working around the clock for the past few days, and not worked on it. tomorrow i plan to find the problem. thanks for all the help. if all you guys were close by, i'd spring for the beer or soda, super good people on here. thanks again, Art

[gafiredog]

Albatrossian, i had to spin it a few times, but it fired up with no problems.

[Captkaos]

BTW, It hasn't be said, but don't replace the ESC, bypass it...

[spr85gmc]

excuse me ESC i knw not what this is or shortened to mean

[gafiredog]

Originally Posted by spr85gmc

excuse me ESC i knw not what this is or shortened to mean

me either spr85gmc, i was gonna ask somebody local.its better to let people think your an idiot, than open your mouth, and remove any doubt.

[Albatrossian]

Electronic Spark Control.. here is a link basically telling you what it does.
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...rInfoPages.htm

[jdurant]

That's funny,

I didn't know either.

[spr85gmc]

wow i felt dumb when i posted that now i know i aint the only one... thanks for the info...live and learn live and learn

[impalamark]

Ok
ESC electronic spark control

when it starts to go bad very often it does it intermittently

meaning some times your truck starts and some times it won't and
no amount of swapping anything under the hood will get you going if it ain't in the mood
this is a quick fix that can get you going to bypass the ESC .
this is a temporary fix - some trucks run fine with this modification
some have driveability issues and reduced gas mileage but if you can't
get spark to start and have tried everything
else try this
"I had a problem with my 86 C20 305-H engine. It could start and run fine and just suddenly die out, sometimes start right back up or take a couple hours to get restarted. After several weeks of this nonsense (and getting very good at getting those half turn dist. cap latches off), I did some checking. There is a power feed to the spark control unit under the dash that comes off of the pink (hot) wire to the distributor. The pink wire clips into the connector for the feed, which in turn clips into the dist. cap. What had happened was the feed for the Spark Control was shorting out somewhere, killing the spark. I talked to some Chevy mechanics at my dealer about this and they told me how to bypass the spark control computer and keep the original distributor, something they claim is done quite often.

First thing to do is unhook the spark control computer lead from the pink wire and hook the pink wire directly to the dist. cap. Make sure you plug it into the cap at the BAT terminal. The second thing is to locate the 4 wire connector that feeds into the ignition module. {IMPALAMARK HERE -THIS IS THE FOUR WIRE PLUG COMING OUT OF THE DISTRIBUTOR THAT GOES INTO THE FIREWALL } There's a brown (D), green (C), white (B), and black (A) wire there. The letters in () are on the black clip that the wires come out of. You cut the green (C) and black (A) wires between this clip and where they go into the distributor. Then all you need to do is solder the 2 cut leads from the dist/ignition module together, i.e. the green and black ones, (make sure to tape the exposed wires) and now your HEI distributor will function just as a pre ESC model does. I did this and it has been running fine for well over a year now. "

This comes from a guy Named Dan on another chevy forum. I used it until
I could buy a regular two wire vacuum advanced distributor and swap the
ESC controlled one out
Mark

[gafiredog]

thanks mark, i really appreciate it. Art

[87Lowrider]

Originally Posted by jdurant

That's funny,

I didn't know either.

...me neither.. In my office we have an "Abrieviations Jar". To me, ESC means Escape (I own a computer business). But, I still love to play with trucks.

Kenny

[Captkaos]

ESC after a few years mean Erratic Spark Control, or Erroneous Spark Control or Eccentric Spark Control...

There is a great How to on Jeff's Page for this:
http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/drivetrain/escrepl.htm