Automotive Help Requested?

[oldyam80sg]

T.C.- My Mom had a problem like that on her Blazer-The Money Pit as i called it,the final straw was when the "spider" went.The mechanic said it is that thing on top where the FI routes into.Replacement was not cheap.and she sold it shortly afterward.

[TopCatGr58]

Surpise, it's running!!!!

Well, I pulled the starter this morning, and due to extensive rust around the small starter solenoid wire connector, during loosening of the nut, the screw twisted off at the casing, so even IF it wasn't toast...but I think the solenoid had finally gone bad....it was NOW toast! Had to take S-I-L to a doctor's appt., went to the autoparts store while there, was expecting about $50.00 for a replacement/remanufactured starter! WRONG.....it was about 3 times that, for a NEW ONE, the Refab one was only $5.00 cheaper, so splurged on new with full warranty!!! OUCH!!!

Anyways, came back this afternoon, put the new one in, cleaning the starter battery cable connectors beforehand, and made sure that the engine/starter motor would turn over, it did...check!

Then, thinking about testing the Ignition high tension coil, pulled the main coil to dist. wire off, and lo and behold... but what to my eyes do appears but that nice white fluffy stuff....no, not SNOW, but white CORROSION!! What's that Electrical Gremlin's MANTRA we all say.....clean those connections!!

Rolled back the rubber insulator of the dist. wire, scrubbed the metal inner connector, sprayed with cleaner and pressure air dried. The COIL connector was a bit more difficult, deep recessed well, with metal screw type prong sticking up down inside it. First tried a wire brush, not much depth penetration. Took some emory cloth, rolled up a small piece, put it inside a tube, and was able to stick it down the well and twist to scrub the contact ridges, sprayed with cleaner, air dried. Then took some of that fancy copper impregnated dielectric grease stuff and put it all around/inside the wire connector end.

I took the ohmeter, got 0.3 ohms on Primary side, and ~4.5Kohms on secondary side, seemed about the right ratio , and put the connectors back together, and worked a bit to get it fired up! The Parking break trick worked to keep the lights off, and after about 10-15 more attempts, intermittently sputtering and such, it finally fired up! Punching the dome light override 4 times kept them off!

Drove it to the gas station, tentatively turned it OFF. Filled it up, was down to 1/4 tank. And then drove it on the highway in 3rd instead of Drive to keep the rpms up around 3K to help burn off any partially fouled stuff that might have formed on the plugs from repeated no start sessions and such! It had plenty of power and ran fairly smooth, just had to tweak the idle speed a touch, was below 500 and wanted to stall when coming to a stop while in gear. Will be putting another bottle of FI cleaner in the tank soon, but it looks more like it was ELECTRICAL and not necessarily fuel related! Just wanted to provide some feedback to this hopefully concluded repair session!

THANKS AGAIN for the inputs and encouragement!!!
Ride On!
T.C.

[DGXSER]

TCm Glad to hear you found the problem. Will file that one away for possible future use.

[webbcraft2150]

FYI to 'yall that might not know. If ya need parts for cars/trucks and can wait for them, try Rockauto.com. I have found that most of the time, they are the least expensive and will offer OEM and knock off parts. I was able to buy a AC Delco fuel pump for my Olds at less than what the local boys were able to sell it for. I also was able to buy some Chinese knock off body parts for the beater Cavalier after it got backed into by a pickup. The body parts fit right despite being from China. So far the Chevy has not been yearning for a howitzer barrel exhaust pipe or erector set rear spoiler.

[oldyam80sg]

Yes Rock Auto is the place to go.I thought i needed smaller wheels for my Jeep Cherokee so it would pass NJ strict motor vehicle lift laws.Rock Auto had them and alot cheaper than i thought.And when i found out that i didn't need them,they gave me my money back.

[jeffe]

Just an FYI. Where I live the public libraries have a lot of the service manuals available for check out. They may not have the exact model but something close. They even have a lot of bike manuals available/

[psycoreefer]

Hey, I didn't read through everyones responses but I can point you at a couple of things. I've got both a 96 and 2001 blazer and both have the same 4.3 V6 you've got. The injection is "multiport" but its a funky system with one large injector and then little tubes that run from the injector to the intake. Really sounds like a fuel problem so...

1. Get or borrow a fuel pressure gauge and check the fuel pressure. The tap is on the driver side kind of along side the distributor with a plastic cap over it.
2. If its low, and If memory serves low is bellow 45lbs, then change the fuel filter, its on the driver side below the drivers door.
3. If that doesn't help you've likely got a fuel pump going bad, fuel pumps are about 150 bucks from autozone, napa, etc. and you'll have to drop the tank to change it.

Another thing you can try is after its been sitting, get in and turn the key to "on" but don't try to start the motor. Wait until you hear the fuel pump relay click off and then try starting it. There is a check valve inside the fuel pump that is supposed to hold the pressure in the lines so it doesn't have to build pressure before the truck can start, sometimes that valve gets dirty and sticks and then you'll have a hard time starting the truck until pump builds pressure again.

Last is there is a site S10Forum.com that has a good number of users, most are jerks and not as nice as the folks here but just like here there is a ton of info already covered that you can find via a search.

[Ivan]

1. Get or borrow a fuel pressure gauge and check the fuel pressure. The tap is on the driver side kind of along side the distributor with a plastic cap over it.
2. If its low, and If memory serves low is bellow 45lbs, then change the fuel filter, its on the driver side below the drivers door.
3. If that doesn't help you've likely got a fuel pump going bad, fuel pumps are about 150 bucks from autozone, napa, etc. and you'll have to drop the tank to change it.

Good suggestions. On the vortech engine the minimum fuel pressure is 53psi to fire the poppets. If it doesn't hit that number, it won't open the poppet valves, and there will be no fuel. I totally spaced that off in my first posts.

Another common problem is that the S-10 frames had two different injection systems. The Vortech (non sequential multiport) and the older style TBI. When folks would buy fuel pumps, especially at chain stores with uninformed part guys, they would usually get the TBI version, which is cosmetically the same, but only puts out about 35 psi max, since TBI only needs 9-13 psi to work correctly. Therefore it is critical to get the right pump if you do end up needing one.

[TopCatGr58]

Followup info!

Hey folks,

Okay, after cleaning the main ignition high tension coil wire/connector, it started right up first time everytime for 3 days. THEN it started acting like it did before I cleaned the coil.

Had to wait a few days for the rain to clear, was decent weather today, so I decided to check a few things. EVEN though I had replaced the distributor cap/rotor this past summer, since the symptoms were the same, I felt there was a transmission of power from the coil to the spark plugs. The wires were in very good condition, no corrosion where they plug into the Dist. Cap.

But once I removed the cap, there was about a 1/32" thick layer of corrosion on the plug wire posts inside the cap!! I scraped it off with a knife, and then used emory cloth, then squirted with cleaner spray, and then compressed air, and put it all back together. Only mishap was dropping one of the Dist. Cap sheet metal screws down around the engine, into a black hole somewhere because I couldn't see it, or find it with a magnetic retrieval tool. So....off to the store to get a replacement.

After putting it back together, turned the key, and it fired right up again!

So....again, check those electrical connections!!
T.C.

[ccogswel]

Yeah it still gets me to this day that something so small can create so much trouble. Go figure.

But at least you got it fixed for her. Now maybe she will be able to come and go with out worry of a break down.

[renegade_xs11g]

Time to clean those connections

My dad passed away back in '88, I was 19, but I 'member him a few years before, yelling about a similar problem on his tow' truck,

the distributor kept getting 'wet', he sprayed this silicon stuff, some kind of sealant, any time he did a tune up he'd spray the outside of the cap and wires and problem never came back

Now, I also 'member we never had this problem on any other car, and I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard of it, A LOT

But I'll almost bet, that you TC live in a damp climate, I seem to remember one of the Carolina's or something close.....

I'd guess, you could pick almost any morning and have moisture on the windshields of most cars & you could pull the dist cap and see condensation in it,

Moisture + electrical connections = corrosion, BUT we all have experience with this don't we

[Montreux_Blue]

Put some Di-Electric Grease on it to avoid future annoyances.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Renegade,

Yeah, Virginia, right next to the "Great Dismal Swamp"!

Blue, excuse my possible ignorance, but I didn't think that I could apply that(Dielectric grease) to the INNARDS of the dist. cap due to the speed that it moves, the constant arcing and high voltages that are occuring in there? Also I know that DIE grease is non-conductive and so that wouldn't help in this situation because it would do the same thing as the corrosion that built up on the inner metal posts!

The damn Dist is OFC way in the back of the engine next to the fire wall, barely any room around it to work on it, don't know whether I'd be able to effectively spray a silicone sealant all around it where it meets with the metal base of the Dist.? But thanks for the additional tips!
T.C.

[Montreux_Blue]

I meant you could put it around the lip of the distributor cap and the plug boots to seal out the moisture.

[rpgoerlich]

Looks like you got it running.

FYI you can find most auto repair manuals here: http://www.automotiveforums.com/
Most are on the first page of whatever auto maker/vehicle forum.

Had a similar problem with a 93 Honda Accord. Turned out the fuel pressure regulator was allowing the fuel rail to bleed off during the night, and when you turned on the key the fuel pump only runs for 2 secs before it starts, which was not enough time to refill the fuel rail. By chance I turned the key on then off then on again to start it. It started every time. Check fuel rail pressure in the morning and it was too low to start. Replacing the regulator cured it.