No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

[Timbo]

It's been a year and 4 months since my Ty died. I'm going to be working on it today, and I want to at least find the problem, if not fix it. Here's what happened when it died...
I was driving on the Alcan at about 50-55mph (running 92 octane gas, and not using boost at all), I smelled a slight burning scent, and the truck sputtered and died. The burning smell went away almost instantly. When I turned the key, the truck would crank, but wouldn't start. I opened the hood and didn't see anything obviously wrong. I replaced the cap and rotor, still no start. I noticed that my fuel pressure had dropped, but only by a few PSI. I had the truck towed back to Tok (nearest town, 50 miles west), and borrowed a new coil from a shop. Still no start. It was -10° Fahrenheit out and windy, and I didn't want to try and pull a plug out to check for spark. I had my roommate crank the truck and I put my hand on an injector to see if I could feel it pulsing. I didn't feel anything (likely because it was so cold out and getting colder), so I pulled the computer out and replaced the injector drivers. Still no start. At this point it was -20° with 80mph wind, and working on the truck outside was impossible. The hood had already blown shut on my hand. I had the truck towed back to my parents' house and left it.

Since I've been back here, I've done the following:
Checked ECM A and ECM B fuses, both good.
Replaced the MSD 6AL with a 7AL-2, still no start.
Pulled ignition module and had it tested - it passed all the tests.

Now what? Here's what I'm going to look at today:
Check for spark.
Check to see if the distributor is rotating at all.
Check the power wire to the ECM.

What other ideas do you guys have?

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Do you still have fuel pressure?

 

[SBNova]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Read what I wrote it the "Just the ECM" thread about the TPS.

 

[vinnieTy]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

I encountered a similar issue a few years back with one of my cars not a TY but it was the fusible link under the dash. It was attached to the wiring harness. Still learning the TY's not sure if they have one but have you looked at any of the wires under the dash. If you smelled burning and then you didnt when you turned off the key it sounds like burning wires.

Just trying to help:2cents:

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Do you still have fuel pressure?

Yes.
Edit: Just checked. I'm getting 30 PSI at the rail. Seems low, but I think it would still be enough to start the truck. I know my fuel filters need to be cleaned about now.

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Read what I wrote it the "Just the ECM" thread about the TPS.

Thank you, I'll be sure to check that.

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

I encountered a similar issue a few years back with one of my cars not a TY but it was the fusible link under the dash. It was attached to the wiring harness. Still learning the TY's not sure if they have one but have you looked at any of the wires under the dash. If you smelled burning and then you didnt when you turned off the key it sounds like burning wires.

Just trying to help:2cents:

I looked under the dash for a while today, and didn't find anything abnormal with the wires. Didn't see any fusible links either.

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Couldn't find a voltmeter to test wires with, but here's what I did find:
Ground strap was very loose on the back of the head. I tightened that, but it still wouldn't start.
I do have spark.
I cannot feel my injectors firing. They are 75lb injectors, so from what I understand, with my hand on one while the engine is cranking, I should be able to feel it pulse and hear them tick. So now I've got to figure out why my injectors aren't getting power.

 

[MRKING]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

I had a no injector problem when I just started my motor up recently also . it turned out i didnt connect the fuel rail harness to the main harness .

 

[dhorsman2000]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

If your positive you have spark the next thing I would check would be if you have injector pulse to your injectors. You can do this by getting a NOID light from your parts store (or borrow one) and plug it in to a couple of your injector connectors, if it doesn't blink/flash you know you have no signal going to your injectors. If that's the case it could be several things, but I would first see if you have injector pulse.

 

[Don W.]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

For someone who's brave enough to work on his truck in those conditions here's a couple of links. These are scanned images of the Syclone manual NOT the Ty manual for "Engine cranks but won't start."

www.sonic.net/~donpris/Page1a.jpg

www.sonic.net/~donpris/Page2a.jpg

You may have to figure out how to make them bigger. Otherwise PM me and I'll get you the BIG version. Do you have broad band?

Hope this helps.

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Thanks Don, those are big enough. They should help me out. I've borrowed a Fluke Meter from another member, and that should help with the diagnosis.

 

[Don W.]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Yur welcome. Let us know what you find.

 

[Syclone#1992]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

30 PSI seems awfully low for FP, I know my truck bounces upto 45ish when I turn the key on and it holds there until started.

You check the harnesses under the hood for heat damage? The burning smell had to be coming from somewhere, truck just quit all at once?

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

30 PSI seems awfully low for FP, I know my truck bounces upto 45ish when I turn the key on and it holds there until started.

You check the harnesses under the hood for heat damage? The burning smell had to be coming from somewhere, truck just quit all at once?

It is a bit low, but like I said, my filters need to be cleaned, and I think that 30 (actually, it's been up around 32psi) should be enough to get the truck started.

I'm betting that the power wire to the ECM burned up behind the fuse box. It took about 3 seconds for the truck to sputter and die while I was driving it. No prior symptoms.

 

[midnightbluS10]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Does the fuel pump prime when you turn the key to ON?

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

Does the fuel pump prime when you turn the key to ON?

It's an external fuel pump wired to a switch, and it does work.

 

[Don W.]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

On the Sy at least with key on the FP runs for 2 secs. There is a connector on the harness right behind the dist that is the "test" connector for the FP. You can make this hot with a jumper and run the FP.

 

[Timbo]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

On the Sy at least with key on the FP runs for 2 secs. There is a connector on the harness right behind the dist that is the "test" connector for the FP. You can make this hot with a jumper and run the FP.

The in-tank pump is no longer there, and the Aeromotive pump has it's own wiring.

 

[AlaskaTy]

Re: No start; give me some troubleshooting ideas.

For all of you who don't know already...Tim's truck is FAR from stock. There's a pretty good chance that the problem he's experiencing deals with a part that's not on 95% of our trucks.

You know your fp is low, maybe not too low to start your truck, but low. I'd change the fuel filter first of all, it could be something as simple as a blockage. Check you afpr to see if the adjuster nut is loose and the screw backed itself down (i would doubt it, but what's two minutes of work at this point). Basically what I'm saying is I have less than no idea, I was hoping you had a bad ignition module like me, but it doesn't sound like it'll be that easy...good luck though.