1990 GMC 1500 no start

[Willard]

Alright, so this is my dad's truck, which I'm driving while my explorer is down.

Anyways, we had a no-start condition a couple times before, first time a new fuel pump solenoid fixed it, second time the fuel pump.

Now it's doing it again. I can spray starter fluid in the throttle body and it will catch but won't run. It cranks over just fine.

This is a 350ci motor with TBI injection on it. It won't start again, the fuel pump isn't running again I believe. This can't be too complicated, I think the solenoid is working still, but the pump isn't turning. Should be noted it was cold here (~10-20F) but recently warmed up quite a bit (50F) and everything is soaked with condensation. I think this may be playing a role.

Hopefully the new pump hasn't died already, it'd better not for $250. Still trying stuff to get it to run, but no luck yet. I'm not too fluent with these trucks, so I don't know if something else could be going wrong here, except maybe wiring, but it doesn't seem like it.

Any suggestions?

 

[Willard]

Ok, more info. Put in a spare solenoid and the fuel pump ran-with the ignition off.

I'm thinking all the water is shorting something, causing it to do that. After some fiddling around with that we tried to start it again but the fuel pump had stopped running and it wouldn't start still.

We gave up for the night, we'll try again tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[james t]

Im guessing you have some type of wiring issue at the tank. My advice is cut an access panel in the bed or get used to dropping the tank. :

Ive owned several TBI chevys over the years and got pretty good at working on them/figuring out their little quirks. If you need some help post up in this thread and ill try.

 

[Willard]

We figured it out, the solenoid went out again. That is now the fourth fuel pump solenoid this thing has gone through in ~1 month.

Hopefully this one keeps working.

Thanks james t, I'll make sure and post up here when it breaks again, because it's sure to happen, this thing has built it's reputation on breaking down.

 

[Willard]

Alright jamest, completely different issue now. Maybe you (or someone) will have some insight on this.

It's got a manual transmission (5 speed) and a couple years ago the slave cylinder went out. No big deal, replaced it and things were fine. A couple days ago however it went out again. So my dad went and got another slave to put it in. Installed it, he went to push on the clutch and it was super hard. I guess he ended up pushing a little too hard and bent the rod that goes into the master clutch cylinder.

So our thinking is hopefully the master cylinder seized up and that's what happened. However it seems maybe something else is messed up. Any ideas? Are these clutchs known for any weird issues like this? I should probably also add that supposedly the last owner put it and centerforce dual friction clutch in it, we're not sure though. We've never had it apart to see.

 

[james t]

That one i dunno.... sounds to me like the cyl. was seized up.