89 Chevy K1500 - Dead - wont start

[boxpin]

Yesterday my wife called and said the truck died at an intersection. We had AAA tow it home.

When I checked it out there was no spark and no fuel jetting from the TBI. I thought, how could this be? The tow truck driver gave me his professional diagnostic after turning the key once, he said fuel pump. Maybe, I thought but that does not explain no spark.

An hour later I tried to start it and guess what...it started right up

Yeesh, now what, no way to diagnose now.

Later in the evening I decided to move the truck from where AAA dumped it and here we go again...no start. I check it out again and no spark or fuel.

Thoughts please

1989 chevy Silverado K1500 4x4 350 5.7l TBI

[junior3382]

Sounds to me like the signal wire from the distributor is either loose or corroded. Even though the motor turns and seems alive, that one wire tells the injectors/ECU/fuel pump what is going on and turns those systems on to allow the motor to run. I had a similar issue in a car once. being that it works intermidiately, might just be loose and she may have hit a bump that brought this problem to light.

When it IS running, are there any indication lights? probably not, but would help.

I would start at your Dist. Work back from there. I am not sure the exact wire, but having a Haynes manual for a wiring diagram, or even doing a thread search here, you may find one, will certainly help.

If that turns out to be fine, may be the fuel pump, have seen some not return signal through to the system and prevents spark. However, they usually just die, no warning, and if it worked since, I am thinking that is not it... IMO.

[JOHN JAY]

My similar problem turned out to be a bad primary ground from the battery to the block

[boxpin]

Ok all, here is what happened

First I want to share a little tip I learned during the troubleshooting.
-Power travels from the key, through the coil then through the ignition control module to the ECU. From there the 'Check engine' light lights. Tip one...no light, you've got a break somewhere.

I traced power then started checking components. To make a long story short it was the ignitor/pickup module (whatever you want to call it) had rusted just enough to ground itself out. It plugs into the ignition control module. The grounding stopped the module from working.

To fix it I replaced the rusted distributor and ignition control module. I first replaced the ICM but that did not fix it because the ignitor was still grounded.

Trucks back on the road, Thanks all.

[leolkfrm]

Thanks for posting back with the results, Age takes it toll on everything

[wradman]

hard to tell from here but i have had trouble with the chev ignitions , the wire that plugs into the bottom of the distributor comes loose for the main ignition , but i've only had that problem 4 wheelin