No Spark
Blue)(Fusion
04-15-2008, 08:10 PM
Hi all. I was helping a friend try to get his 1993 Sonoma 2.8L V-6 working today and after spending about 5 hours on it, came up short. Here's what happened.
First, he told me that he could start the truck but it would not remain running if left at idle or even driven around and let to idle. The last time he drove it was about 5 weeks ago and has been sitting in a parking lot since. Today he said he was going to replace the fuel filter on the truck and I went to help. He told me about the issue on his truck on the way out there and to me it did not sound like a fuel filter problem, so I wanted to check out the rest of the engine, too. And today when we tried to start it, the engine turned over but did not start at all.
I checked over all fluids and the carb/air filter. The carb and filter was clean and looked in good condion, but the oild was black as night. I mentioned that that may be a problem. We got the oil and oil filter we needed and performed an oil change, but still no help in getting it started. Next we pulled 2 spark plugs out which looked in good condition. I had him try to start the engine while watching for a spark, but there was none. So either the 2 spark plugs were both bad or the ignition system was not creating a spark. So we figued we'd have to pull the distributor cap out and check that, but that's something for another day.
Additionally, since it was sitting there a while I thought maybe the battery was just a little low on juice so we hooked it up to my car, but no change. The voltmeter read about 13 volts when in the ON position, and down to about 10 (just above red line) when cranking and had same results with my car connected and not so figured the battery isn't the problem.
Does anyone have any experience with a problem like this? I'm not familiar with carbuerator engines or with any GMC cars. Is there something else I should check? If I pull out the distributor cap, what should I look for?
First, he told me that he could start the truck but it would not remain running if left at idle or even driven around and let to idle. The last time he drove it was about 5 weeks ago and has been sitting in a parking lot since. Today he said he was going to replace the fuel filter on the truck and I went to help. He told me about the issue on his truck on the way out there and to me it did not sound like a fuel filter problem, so I wanted to check out the rest of the engine, too. And today when we tried to start it, the engine turned over but did not start at all.
I checked over all fluids and the carb/air filter. The carb and filter was clean and looked in good condion, but the oild was black as night. I mentioned that that may be a problem. We got the oil and oil filter we needed and performed an oil change, but still no help in getting it started. Next we pulled 2 spark plugs out which looked in good condition. I had him try to start the engine while watching for a spark, but there was none. So either the 2 spark plugs were both bad or the ignition system was not creating a spark. So we figued we'd have to pull the distributor cap out and check that, but that's something for another day.
Additionally, since it was sitting there a while I thought maybe the battery was just a little low on juice so we hooked it up to my car, but no change. The voltmeter read about 13 volts when in the ON position, and down to about 10 (just above red line) when cranking and had same results with my car connected and not so figured the battery isn't the problem.
Does anyone have any experience with a problem like this? I'm not familiar with carbuerator engines or with any GMC cars. Is there something else I should check? If I pull out the distributor cap, what should I look for?
maxwedge
04-16-2008, 03:03 PM
Carbureted? isn't this a throttle body engine?
Blue)(Fusion
04-16-2008, 05:57 PM
It appears you are correct. It is the TBI model. Regardless, I am not quite sure what to check out on this engine. I pulled some howtos from Autozone's site for the distributor cap assembly, but I'm going to be aimlessly looking there for now.
maxwedge
04-16-2008, 07:21 PM
If no spark, suspect the pick up and/or ign module in the dist. Make sure no blown fuses first.
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