Baffled!! The truck won't fire.

[bessie66]

Hey everybody!, here's the deal;

'71 C10 2wd 350 w/ Hedman's, Performer Intake and rebuilt 1405 600 carb spreadbore adapter(both Eddys)
New distributor. I installed new plugs today(ngk 3442 i have ran for the last year) to try to fix the no-start issue.

Truck has been running with this combination no less than a week ago, but at the moment it will not start. I've researched this topic, like most, a gazillion times...

This is not my first go-around with a sbc, and I have done everything but a leak-down test but may have missed something simple... I'm baffle because it went from running to nothing, for no apparent reason - literally ran the night before, nothing the next day. The motor cranks and sometimes sputters(every 4 cranks or so), but no go. The carb is squirting healthily and obviously there's spark to sputter. From experience I've put new plugs in and sh*t fires right up. The plugs I removed appeared fouled. Ripping my hair out. suggestions and/or theories of any kind welcome!

[68350]

Do you have power to the hei? I know one time I kicked my fuse panel while driving and the power wire came unhooked. Also, is the wire from battery to junction box on the passenger fender intact and hooked up? Timing way off for some reason?

[Hawghauler]

If it was running and you've changed nothing, check to see if your distributer has come loose. If you just changed something, double check the install. Check the gap in the new plugs, check your plug wiring, was it changed? Did you do one wire at a time, or pull them off and install new? Sometimes they get installed in the opposite order. Cap and rotor are good? Check for cracks.

[Wrenchbender Ret]

If you have checked all the normal stuff it's time to check the timing. The timing chain may be shot & it jumped time.

[tcrist]

Do you have an old rotor cap laying around? I have had two go bad in my lifetime. One happened just like that and the other when I was driving and the car just died.

[Marv D]

"New Distributor" doesn't necessarily mean squat these days. The modules are coming out of some third world left handed, 6¢ and hour labor place and unfortunately were not getting 1/2 of what were paying for.

Have an old distributor around you can plug in and try?

There are a number of Evilbay stores selling the imported stuff,,, and even many of the house brand like 'Slummits' house brand is nothing but the low bid supplier. I don't know if this is good news or bad, but if you find power to the distributor and not spark,, start with a HEI module (Even some of the AcDelco stuff is coming up from Mexico and Brazil) which is better than S Korea or Indonesia quality... HEI modules and coils both seem to be a recent hot bed of CRAP available to us. Everyone is concentrating on the LS equipment and sending the sources for any pre LS parts off into never never land.

[bessie66]

Thank you for the responses; sorry for the delay, the wife went into early labor last night

Yes the distributor is from Skip White(evilbay) and I will be checking the cap for cracks and I will check the rotor - I DO have the old distributor still lurking around the garage so I may indeed swap. I'm going to be pissed if the new dist is crap; it has only been installed for a month or so and has been great so far. I will also recheck connections to the hei. *the junction box power is in good standing.

I also am questioning the timing. I will likely re-time it just to get it done and over with, and see if that's the burden.

The plugs are gapped properly(i'm far too detail oriented nearly all the time. I will recheck the plug wiring; i did not change out any wires while i installed the new plugs.

[bessie66]

I'm not sure if this may be part of the issue, or the issue itself, but i noticed throughout trying to fire the motor after installing the new plugs that cranking was lagging(battery under labor from constant cranking while troubleshooting). Is it possible there may not be enough juice to fire the HEI?

... I'm to that point where if my neighbor asks to buy my truck again, I might make his day

[undertaker72]

well if you just changed plugs , like all others have stated , you have to have spark, fuel and timing , then you have a fine running machine, could be a rotor burned thru, no spark to dizzy, no fuel , have you checked to see if spark , if your wife has gone into labor (congrats on that) you cant have her crank it while you hold the wire , , check the items weve all stated , it will run , don't give up , go have a cool one check ont the new one and come back to it

[short wideone]

ignition switch wires loose???mine wouldnt start then i realized it wasnt pluged in all the way...pushed it on and she started...while cranking it would sputter but not stay running....never know.

[bessie66]

Thanks guys I will recheck the ignition and spark.

[bessie66]

Undertaker thanks for the congrats! All of you guys have been awesome, thank you.

PROBLEM FOUND: the new distributor's ground was not solidly grounded... how did that happen..? In comparison - the old OE hei dist has screws on the 4 corners of the coil, one of these screws held the ground down, then the coil cap went over the coil. The new dist did not have these screws due to the style of coil cover it came with. Somehow the "engineers" thought that the coil cover itself was enough to pinch the ground and it would hold ...... amazing.. so I used the old coil cover from the OE style distributor to secure connections. but guess what, friends ... a new issue. F***

I reset timing and ol' faithful fired up instantly, idled gracefully. I let it run a little bit then gave it three short revs and things got ugly. Truck started gagging, not enough to kill it, but enough to warrant shutting it down. .. i let it sit for a few minutes, it started right up and sounded great so i gave it some revs.. sounded decent, then I noticed the idle climbing so i got the timing light out and discovered it had increased it's timing by 4 degrees or so, and appeared to still be increasing. What in god's name is going on at this point?? By this point the truck was running hot, granted it's 86 outside w/ 80% humidity, but it was running way hot.

I shut the truck down and noticed light smoke coming out where the water pump(is new) outlet meets the hose that connects to the bottom on the radiator(new 6 months ago). And of course the radiator cap was hissing out pressure, not smoke or fluid, just pressure.

I'm thinking there's more going on than just a clogged fuel filter ... please help.. again!

[chengny]

Disregarding everything else (sounds like there was a lot going on - and things tend to get misinterpreted in the heat of battle) and just using the info contained in the last couple of sentences - I would lean towards a head gasket issue.

There are not many things that can make a SBC overheat (or appear to over heat) while idling.

The three things you observed; a sudden spike in coolant temperature indication, excess pressure in the coolant system and maybe most importantly, the fact that what was venting off did not appear to be steam - would indicate a combustion space to coolant system leak in the head gasket. To me anyway, someone else may have a less tragic diagnosis.

There is no way your radiator could be plugged up up - right? It's only 6 months old. Try pulling the t-stat and looking down into the outlet tank. Rev the engine and note whether the level in the outlet side drops quickly and about at least 2-3 inches. Also confirm that coolant can be seen gushing from the ends of the tubes into the tank.

[bessie66]

Interestingly with the power brake and transmission ports plugged on the manifold, it runs strong and steady. What exactly does this say? Vacuum leak likely? Yesterday the engine wouldnt fire.. i came out tonight, plugged the two connections, slapped on a new fuel filter for ****s and giggles, and it immediately fired up. Hmm

[truckdude239]

Where the hole open during this?

[jjzepplin]

If you have th350 you could have a bad vacuum modulator. It will suck trans fluid in your intake and foul the plugs and make white smoke.

[bessie66]

Truckdude, what do you mean?