ya, you can do it with a flash light, its not hard to do, and only takes about 5 mins.

 

for a spark test, i just disconnect the plug wire from the installed spark plug, and connect it to an old spark plug from the junk box, and lay the plug into the well around the exhaust manifold or plug hole with the tip touching the engine. then turn the ignition (via assistant) to start while watching the plug. if its sparking you can see and hear it.

 

alright well its got spark...

where do i go from there

 

check for fuel, on the drivers side of the motor, just below the air filter, youll see what looks like a tire valve stem, after turning the key and waiting 10 seconds, trn the key off, and go press down on the valve, if your getting proper fuel, it should spray out (around 45 psi worth.) or you can go to advance or auto zone, and get a fuel pressure gauge, and hook it to that, to see how much fuel pressure you have.

I would also change the fuel filter, if you havent already done so.

 

ok now were getting somewhere lol! nothing sprays out when i push down on the valve stem.. so no fuel? whats my next step?

 

change the fuel filter, and try again, if that doesnt work, check your fuel pump relay(under hood relay box) swap it out with a known good one, and see if you get fuel, if you do, check for power at the fuel pump. not sure which teminals though. there are 4 i believe. if you have power at the pump, its time to replace it, but just to be sure what you can do, is beat on the bottom of the tank(or kick it) right underneath where the pump is. if that works, then you need to replace the pump.

or you could pull the filter out, and blow through it, and thatll tell you if its stopped up.

 

ok thanks for all the help! ill get back to u as soon as i try all of these.
wheres the fuel filter located?

 

its on the frame i believe. on the drivers side, just to the rear of the front tires, i think.

 

Well, since he didn't post any information about the truck(year, engine,4x4/4x2) IIRC, aren't 99 up models only equiped with the fuel filter inside the tank, connected to the fuel pump? My current 01, and my old 99 2500 were both in the tank.

 

ya, true, forgot about that. haha, i think the older ones had both. but in your case(jeff), i would just jump right to testing for power, if you have power at the pump, then you could suspect a worn out pump, and expect to spend around 250$ for a new pump.