2001 safari not starting

My van wont start. It ran fine the last time it was driven. There is spark to all 6 cylinders. Fuel to all 6 cylinders. I gave it a shot of carb cleaner and it did not even try to fire. I even tried starting fluid and got nothing. I replaced the ignition coil thinking that maybe the spark was too weak. Nothing. checked the plugs and they were gas soaked but not fouled.
I have eliminated everything but the cam and crank sensors. Could either of these be bad? If so how do I determine which one is the culprit?

Welcome Aboard!

As you probably know well, compression, fuel, and spark at the correct time are all that is necessary.

Since you have manually administered fuel with no change, we can presume (for now) that the fuel delivery is not the problem.

That leaves compression and spark. Unless there has been some mechanical failure, like a slipped timing chain or catastrophic failure of the cam, there is likely compression. You would have some indication of that while cranking. If it freewheels while cranking, compression may be an issue. If you can hear or otherwise detect some impulsive resistance while cranking, it likely has some compression.

That leaves the ignition system. While you are apparently getting spark at all the plugs, there are a couple of situations wherein you would be able to test for spark but still not actually have spark in the correct cylinders. If the spark plugs are fuel soaked, the fuel can saturate the center electrode insulators and shunt all the spark energy to ground without ever producing a spark across the plug gap. Connecting an inline spark tester will still indicate a spark in that circuit. If you have been trying to start the engine for some time, and have already determined that they are "gas soaked" (saturated), it might be best to remove at least some of the easily accessible plugs to investigate furhter. You might even want to install some cheapo replacement spark plugs of the correct size in those easy to reach locations just to diagnose the problem. By "cheapo" plugs I mean Autolite, Bosch, and SplitFire. When you finally replace the plugs for good, use a reliable plug like Delco, NGK, or Champion.

A damaged plug insulator or spark plug wire can allow spark energy to be generated at the coil and distributor, but never make it to the plug gap. However, the likelihood of all of them failing simultaneously is low. Still, it would be worth pulling the plugs and closely inspecting the plug wires to verify their condition.

Similarly, and especially on the later 262 V-8 engines, the distributor cap itself can suffer internal insulation failure, allowing spark energy to dissipate through several plug wires at once, instead of the correct plug. That will usually manifest itself as an intermittent misfire and eventually cause a no-start. If you have been detecting a slight miss and reduce fuel mileage or power lately, that could be worth investigating. However, they can also fail without warning, especially in damp conditions or temperature extremes.

I have also seen at least one example of the distributor rotor itself failing, allowing spark energy to dissipate right through the rotor center to the distributor shaft, all while still indicating spark with an inline tester.

I'm betting a quarter that the problem is somewhere in the ignition system.

thankyou bowtie. I have never seen this happen before. I checked for spark on all 6 plugs and it appeared to be good. Nice blue spark. So I went to the local autozone and picked up a cap and rotor. The man behind the counter said I could return them as long as I didnt install them. Which made me happy, how the hell is he going to know if it was installed as long as I used my old screws. It fired right up. It must not have been enough spark.

Glad you found it. Remember this incident in about 6-12 months. There is a chance it will occur again.

For some reason, the aftermarket seems to have a problem with the insulation in these distributor caps. Standard, Borg-Warner, Wells, Accel, MSD, and other aftermarket suppliers' distributor caps frequently fail after a short service life. The OEM Delco caps seem to be the only ones which survive 5 years.

Usually, that's not the case, but this cap design must have "secrets" that the others haven't figured out.

If you have some spare time, search around this site and see how many references there are to cap failures on Chevy 262 V-6s. Start in the Blazer/Jimmy section, since all of those use the engine. You may want to budget a few bucks over the next few months for a Delco replacement, and plan the next exchange instead of waiting until January.

The first and only time I put a "Red Cap" distributor cap on my '94 Astro (from Autozone) it ran for a week- and the wife calls- "Van won't start" -- I have it towed home- pull the old Delco cap out of the trash- put it back on- it starts right up-- put the red one back one-- no start-- I buy a new Delco cap-- all is fine---I could never "see" the difference in the two caps-- but I will never use an aftermarket cap again......

I have a 1998 GMC safari that won't start. It sounds like it's flooded. I had it towed, when it got there it started for the mechanic. He couldn't find anything wrong. Brought it home, it started for a couple of days, same problem. Towed to a different shop, they said, "need a new fuel filter, $450. What do you think?

the inline fuel filter is about $10 at Autozone and takes about 15 mins. to change.