ok guys, i just got the truck all back together and ready to run. but it wont run. first, it would turn over and try to start once or twice kinda. then i checked my wires and had a couple in the wrong place. fixed that and i just tried spraying starter fluid in the throttle body and it would eventually start and run crappy but run on the starter fluid. whats the deal here? i need some help asap. im going out of town saturday and need to have this thing running. please ask whatever questions you need to help me get some educated guesses. thanks guys.

 

What were you doing again?

 

What did you do to it?

 

edit - he fixed his plenum.

check for fuel pressure. turn the ignition to on and listen for the whine of the pump. turn it off and press the test valve on the rail. fuel should spray out into your eyes, so cover it with a rag.

check for spark. unplug a wire and plug it into an old spark plug. ground it while turning over. should be a pretty blue spark.

you don't happen to have a "no bus" in the odometer do you ?

 

if it ran off the starting fluid, i believe this to be fuel related...

so i agree with dhvaughn...check the fuel psi. theres a cap on the drivers side of the fuel rail

 

fuel shot out past my head and in my brothers eyes instead of mine. i was thinking fuel problem too but the fuel pump comes on and i can smell the gas. i had the distributor out of the motor to drill out the screw that broke off. i didnt know till afterwards i was supposed to mark the body. never had to work on a vehicle with a distributor before. my friend, a lifetime mechanic, told me i might have the distributor misaligned.

 

so fuel pressure is good.

your problem is in the distributor timing. your friend is correct, you needed to mark the distributor before removal. mark it where its at now, and then try moving 1/8 inch increments and see if you can find a place where it will crank and run.

 

^ HA, that sucks just keep nudging it one direction and everytime you move it try and fire it up, once you get close it will stay running, just run like ****, once you find the sweet spot you will know. if it doesnt work one direction go in the other untill you get it right

Edit: i type too slow

 

alright. thanks guys. i guess i will mess with this damn distributor. its what caused this whole episode. why cant they just use coil packs? ahhh

 

If you pulled the Dist. all the way out you may need to find top dead center on the compression stroke of number one cylinder then find the wire for the #1 plug and point your rotor in that direction.

If this is what you have done previously you may have just gotten it 180 out of time (this seems to happen to me every time I build an engine)

Mines is a 96 and there is no way to adjust timing without other modifications (or at least that is the way I understand it)