Everybody Have a Brain?

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Last Friday evening I drove 35 miles to the closest Home Depot so my Son-In-Law could rent a tool of some kind (remodeling his house). Nice ride down in the '83 Stepper. About the fourth trip of the kind since I'd replaced the 305 with a 350.

Ton of smog and electrical emissions stuff on the '83 that I'm not used to....(I framed-offed a '72 with no such "spaghetti" to deal with) .

Truck was running so well with the new motor, that I decided I had to screw something up. Replaced the air filter and assembly with a nice little billet e-bay type. Blocked off the appropriate hoses. Drove fine.

Until the day a week ago that I was in line at In And Out Burger. It was a warm day. But stayed in operating range (I fixed the problem gage). The Bas%$rd just shut down. Stone dead. Two little guys in white hats and shirts pushed me to the "pay" window. Then they pushed me to the "burger" window. Then they pushed me around front. I gave 'em ten bucks. It was 12:00 noon. 4,000 burger-eaters watched me wind the starter for fifteen minutes. Nothing.

Flooded? No gas smell. I was pretty careful with the accelerator, l but I was pissed. Hood up. People laughing. Fat man in the front seat of a nice red pickup. Hood up, 100 degrees. Sweat. I thought, "Screw it, I'm eating the burger". Waited for a while. The White Hat kid came around, this time sporting a broom and one of those dust pans on a stick.

I asked him, "You think you could push me into one of these spaces"....one had cleared out.

He said, "My Boss wants you to move".

I said, "Hell, how am I gonna *MOVE*? "You pushed me here, remember?"

I called my insurance company. I have to admit to the family having five cars. All insured with State Farm. All have towing coverage. *Except* the oldest vehicle. The one I was sitting in. The one that I knew wasn't going to start.

The kid no sooner popped through the door to go ask his boss if he would be allowed to push me, than the '83 fired up. I didn't waste any time. Jetted. Made it home the 35 miles, shirt and tie both drenched in sweat.

I guess I figured it was a one-shot deal.

Friday she fired right up and Lance and I went to Home Depot. I waited while he got his rental tool. It was 9:00. I waited for him about ten minutes.

He came out. The truck did a retake of the no-start routine. Didn't die while running. Just wouldn't start. We waited. At ten we called the girls to come and get us. They came the 35 miles, tired and a little cranky. I left the '83 for the night after borrowing some starter fluid from the tool rental guys, buying some fundamental tools, etc. Nothing. I hoped that State Farm could earn their premiums by paying me off if the truck had been stolen.....

She was there in the a.m. Wife was in town for another reason, and stopped to try to turn the motor over. Fired right up. She hauled ass home.....Or half way, anyway. Stopped dead in the middle of Highway 41. Then started up after she had caused a minor traffic jam. I was on recon and met her half way. Followed her home. Almost. Truck died a miserable death about two blocks from the driveway. Can't write what I said here.

Later in the afternoon, I went back and poured some raw fuel in the carb. Nothing.

In the evening we went back and she fired right up.

I changed the module in the distributor after ascertaining that after reaching operating temp, there's no fire. Run it up to mid-heat range. Shut down. No start-ee.

Okay....Plenty of fuel from the fuel pump. No broken fuel lines. Couldn't smell fuel....Like I said, changed the module in the distributor.

Then, on another list, a guy said that bypassing the brain with two of the wires that feed the distributor fixed his "dying dead" problem. Something about the spark advance portion of the ECU...or maybe just the ECU in general. I remembered that when we put the new battery in just after the new motor installation last month that the installer arced the positive with some hefty sparks. Never a good thing for a "brain", I'm told.

But, instead of cutting and pasting the perscribed wires that run from the ECU to the dist., I found a new ECU on ebay for $50. Although it hasn't come in yet, I decided to go out and pull the "brain" from behind the glove box.

I did. Unplugged everything. Then I thought, if the Dude spliced the wwires to the bypass the "b rain", what will simply unplugging them do?".

I fired off the truck. As expected, she started fine. A little help from me on the gas, since the choke circuit was not gonna work. Natch. Smoothed out and ran up to operating temp.

I shut her down. Started up like a gem......""Whoa!" I was surprised. "No Brain!!!" "Works better?"

So I started her. Let her sit and get kind of warm. Shut down for ten minutes. Fired right up......



Good and Bad. I think I'm still going to put the "new brain" in. But I also ordered a vac. distributor that will work with an Edlebrock 650cfm that I have in the garage. That won't help when it comes time to take her in for a smog test. I'll have to warm up the left over spaghetti.....

Anybody?

[Ron 586]

I can't help you with your problem and I know it's not funny but that's one hell of a story and you sure do tell it well. Good luck on finding a cure.

[Captkaos]

Ditch the ESC completely. It is junk. Just bypass the control on the distributor, this is how GM fixed a bunch of these. Check the bottom of this page: http://73-87.com/7387garage/drivetrain/escrepl.htm

[wedgemon]

If I only Had A Brain....

- Dave

[gchemist]

Thanks for the great laugh!!! I had the same trouble with mine about two years ago!! The HEI just kills modules.

Hey, I'm removing the ESC out of my 83. I'm not sure when but it's gone. The ZZ4 distributor does not have a ESC connection. Along with the ESC wiring, a brand new ESC distributor is out the door too. I'm getting rid of all the rats nests possible.

[streetstar]

I just love the In N Out burger reference ----

If only Oklahoma City could get a franchise.

One Double Double, with onions, otherwise plain please! And 3 budweisers to wash it down

[jermasaurus]

MY 85 has a module under the dash.
I pulled the wiring out a few years ago when I changed a few things. I never bypassed anything.

Been driving it that way for quite some time

[caminokid]

I just had this happen to the g/f's Firebird. It over heated the night before and was towed home. I started right up and I drove it off the roll back that carried it home. The next morning we went down to Advance Auto Parts and I got some things....Came out...no start. I checked for spark...no spark. I went in bought a module and a coil...no start. Had it towed home. Problem??? The pick up coil had went out. I took the distributor out of the truck and it fired right up. I rebuilt the Firebird distributor and slapped it back in. No more problems.

[piecesparts]

Three letters to help you out HEI !


Ditch the ESU garbage---What will California say?

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Originally Posted by piecesparts

Three letters to help you out HEI !


Ditch the ESU garbage---What will California say?

"No tags".