I recently rebuilt my 5.2 .It was not a 100% full rebuild, I did use parts that were good. Replaced crank shaft, rods, pistons, timing gears and chain, cap and button, all plugs and wires, new ignition coil, New gaskets/seal on everything. I get TDC, button pointing towards #1, try and start and I get a crank but no start. It doesn't sound strong on the crank, it seems slow. I am thinking timing, so I hit it with some ether turn the distributor and it seems to get stronger and stronger, but still doesn't want to start ( I've turned it until it sound like **** again, then I turned it back to where it sound the strongest) I have spark, good fuel, I double checked both of them. I have my wires grounded, battery is good. I am a little lost at this point. Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

Does it fire, or backfire, at all?

 

#1 cylinder ON THE COMPRESSION STROKE. Then position the distributor like this.

Also check you have the wires going to the correct cylinder.

 

No man it's not back firing at all. I have good fuel pressure, I have spark. Like I said when adjusting the distributor, I can hear it cranking over faster and faster, but nothing.

 

What year truck?

 

Moving the distributor does not adjust timing. That is controlled by the pcm. Adjust the distributor like i said above. You can check spark timing on #1 cylinder if you like(with a timing light) but this should be good enough for the engine to run. You may have the distributor in backwards, If that's the case the rotor will be facing the opposite way of the diagram above.

 

Do you have the crank sensor and cam sensor signal to the PCM? It won't fire if there is no crank signal to the PCM ... Are the connectors (both are behind the distributor) mated together solid?

Good grounds to the block and PCM?

 

Turning the distributor changes injector timing, not ignition. Turn it too far, it is simply starts firing the wrong cylinder altogether. Need to make sure that base timing is correct. #1 at top dead center, rotor pointing at the notch in the distributor, and that should be VERY close to the labeled #1 position on the dist cap.