Ignition problem 93 suburban 1500

[Maroon93]

Hey folks, need some help:

Just returned from a deployment and my truck sat for 10 months. Was driving it the other day, had it in park. When I shifted back into drive, the truck turned off.

We troubleshot it, and the distributor module went bad, which burned out the ignition coil. Replaced those plus the distrubutor with new cap. No luck. replaced plugs and wires also. No luck. The distributor is in correct, new module, new ignition coil, new plugs and wires, but the truck will not fire. Getting spark to coil, but not from distributor to plugs.

Any recommendations?

Haynes and Chilton aren't cutting it right now.

Located in Jacksonville NC.

 

[Maroon93]

Ok, we have checked all the wires, all good. Plugged #1 wire to coil, and got spark off it, but the motor won't turn over. No chuffing, nothing, just the starter spinning. Did a compression check, cylinders are pushing between 160-170 pounds. ( 270,000 miles, original motor, too)

Still can't get spark from distributor to plugs. Tomorrow we plan on tearing the front end down, and checking the timing chain.

Anyone got any suggestions before we tear into that mess?

 

[82fb]

Nothing specific comes to mind, but I would take everything you installed off, check all the connectors and pins and put it back together. Check little things like the the spring loaded pin in the center of the cap, as they sometimes fall out.

 

[1leg]

I'm confused you say you are gettin spark at the cap but not at plugs. How are checking this?
Make sure you only use acdelco plug wires from the dealer, trust me on this one.

Next make sure you have fuel pressure and change your fuel filter. If your getting spark then I'm thinking u have a fuel problem. Or a blown cpu fuse.

 

[Maroon93]

Already have done that. Getting plenty of flow through them. Checked it with a voltmeter, and pulled the cap off and watched the spark jump through while cranking the motor.

This post is for 82fb.

 

[Maroon93]

1)I'm confused you say you are gettin spark at the cap but not at plugs. How are checking this?
2)Make sure you only use acdelco plug wires from the dealer, trust me on this one.

3)Next make sure you have fuel pressure and change your fuel filter. If your getting spark then I'm thinking u have a fuel problem. 4)Or a blown cpu fuse.

1) The first thing we did was use a voltmeter to ensure we were pushing power through the coil wire, then we watched spark come from the coil by pulling the coil wire from the cap, inserting a screw driver, and watching it spark. We also pulled the cap and watched the spark inside the cap.

2) We used Omni-spark wires and Auto-lite plugs from O'Reilly's. It's what we got recommended by the mechanic.

3) Should have mentioned that in the first two posts. We are getting fuel flow, watched it come from injectors. The fuel system new. My wife had that taken care of in December, I think.

4) That is a new idea. What is that and what is it's job?

I am not the mechanic in this endeavor. He has called it quits for the night and has gone home to kiss Momma and feed the dog.

I am the tool organizer and fetcher. I am learning a lot from this though, he is explaining things as he goes along. He's a pretty good teacher.

 

[bfdiesel]

Is the rotor spinning that is under the cap as you turn it over?

 

[Maroon93]

Is the rotor spinning that is under the cap as you turn it over?

It is. Plus, you can see the little "burn" marks from the spark hitting the points.

 

[82fb]

If you have spark coming from the coil, and it is somehow not getting to the plug wires, then it has to be in the path between them. Since you say the rotor is spinning and your new cap has "burn marks" from the spark, then your new plug wires must be bad. Like real bad. Try the old ones, or a new set I guess. You know, a bad engine ground can do goofy things, and with the details you have given, something goofy is going on.

Another thought... re-check the wires to be sure you have the correct firing order. Can't really tell from your details if you have pulled plug wires off the plugs and checked for spark at each of them.

 

[82fb]

Update? Curious about what you found.

 

[Junior's 12 Valve]

Ignition switch?

 

[Maroon93]

We still haven't got it figured out. I finally gave in and took it to a local shop. Vacation time came up, and that meant my tinker time was done. I will check with the shop tomorrow to see what they figured out.

They did call me while I was on vacation to tell me my truck wasn't starting because it wasn't getting spark and needed a new distributor. That was helpful. The mechanics in the shop need to talk to one another more.

 

[Maroon93]

Went to the shop today. They got in a distributor from their supplier, dropped it in and set timing, and the truck fired right up.

I am very upset at O'Reilly autoparts, Advance Autoparts, and AutoZone.

A few months back while I was deployed, my wife started having problems with the truck. It just quit running one day ( like it just did on me). My brother-in-law looked at it, and replaced the distributor. That went bad and burned up the ignition coil. That part came from AutoZone.

Me and my friend put in a distributor from Advance. Didn't work. Tried another from Advance. Didn't work.

We went to O'Reilly and got a new distributor. Didn't work. Three distributors in a row, from 2 different stores, not working would lead you to believe you have a vehicle problem. Well, hell no. ALL 3 DISTRIBUTORS WERE BAD!!!!

3 in a freaking row, from 2 different stores, and that isn't including the one that went out that set all this in motion. That makes it 4 distributors. Man, I am upset.