98 sonoma will not start

[my72phins]

Just the other day my truck would not start it was in the morning and cold, I park it outside. It would turn over and seem to want to start but nothing. A friend came over and we beat on the gas tank while starting and it started, he thought the pump was going bad. It started and ran the next day with no problems than it did it again the following day. beat on the tank to no avail, so I replaced fuel filter and fuel pump, still no start. The plugs and wires were replaced this past summer. any ideas thanks.

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF, do you have good spark to the plugs? Will is start with carb cleaner sprayed into the intake, do you have 65 psi at the fuel rail? all basic diagnostics for this condition.

[my72phins]

I'm assuming I have good spark since I replaced and gapped the pluggs my self, how would I check them without proper diagnostic tools? I had no cleaner so I tried fuel directly into the throttle body and no start. I will check the pressure at the rail as soon as I figure out how to do it, I do have the tool for that I think. Thanks for the quick reply

[maxwedge]

Disconnect a plug wire, stick a screwdriver into the end of the wire, hold it 1/4 in away from a ground, crank the engine the spark should be strong and blue. ( need someone to crank the engine, of course.)

[my72phins]

Sorry about the late reply here. After noticing that one of the ignition coil packs had a crack and was rusty, I replaced both of them. I had replaced the plugs and wires last summer so I left them alone; figuring they were ok. Truck still would not start. Had truck towed to garage, they found I had lost compression. They did a piston ring restoration and got it running I drove it home let it sit for two days and would not start again. Had it towed back. Lost compression again they did another piston resoration got it running again held it for about a week tryting to duplicate the failure, nothing there best guess was a intermitten spark problem. And I should replace the coil packs again and if it happens agian replace the ignition module. Did that, then a few days later after a good wet snow fall, I started the truck and it was running very rough. I pulled out of garage and decided I wasn't going anywhere. I barely got it back into garage. Looked under the hood and there it was a "fire works" display between the plug wires at the new coil packs. Replaced plug wires and have had no problems. Conclusion (I believe): The plug wires were bad all along and most likley replaced coil packs, fuel filter, fuel pump for not! Thanks for the help