help w/chevy pu

[daved150]

Tweetmy son has a 98 chevry 1500 silverado x-cab 4x4. it has the chevy 350 in it. he came home from school last week. parked the truck and now it wont start. it really hasnt been THAT cold out, (xmas day was a little over 40 and rainy), but lastnight we couldnt get it started. we tried for so long, we ended up slinging the starter! its feul injected. you can smell the gas, so its getting fuel. take off the air filter to spray starting fuel, so its getting air. checked the distributer and it's getting spark from the distributer. everytime it seems like it's gonna start it pulls real hard on the engine and just stops turning over....like the battery was bad, but we had jumper cables while we was doing this.

any thaughts!!! my son seems to be convinced that the engine is "frozen" from sitting for a week, in the cold, without being started.

[FUZO]

TweetI would take a educated guess thats it the fuel injectors in some way and now it probably needs a new batter.Letting a 98 sit in this weather for a week yeah the car wont start

[daved150]

Tweetyea...maybe injector related....we have 96 through 2001 chevy/dodge trucks here and we started all of them this morning. none have been started since the week before last!! we had to replace 1 battery and jump 1....but we didnt have any other probs. it really hasnt been that cold!! it could be injectors....we can smell gas, but that dosent mean that an injector or 2 could be glogged....

[trip]

Tweethave you ever replaced the fuel filter?

at 12 years old if it's never been replaced it could just be at that point it's restricting enoug flow

filters about 20 bucks and it's right under the seat up against the frame, easy to replace

[Michelle Hayden]

TweetMy first guess is the battery is shot. Even if it turns over could be a bad cell. I think Sears will check it out for free or you have to pay a small amount and if it isnt the battery they will apply the $ to what is wrong and they are usually pretty cheap and they have decent batteries. Start with the basics first, just my opinion.

[tn94z]

TweetI don't think its the injectors if you smell gas. One or two wouldn't keep it from cranking necessarily. You can take the battery to Autozone and they will test it as well. It sounds like the battery. If the battery was getting bad, leaving it sitting for a week, even though it hasn't been that cold, can run it on down.

[daved150]

Tweetbattery didnt need a jump until after 20mins of trying to start the truck...battery is not old. fuel filter replaced a couple years ago. a mechanic just told me that it may be fuel pump. he said, alot of times, they dont just go out. the pressure may be at, for example, 15 or 20 pounds, when it needs to be 60-65!! if its lower than 60, it wont start, but you'll still smell the fuel. i have to get a new starter for it, then hes (my mechanic) is gonna loan me his gauge to check the pressur....if thats it, that sucks!! the fuel pumps are IN the fuel tank!!

[tn94z]

Tweet

battery didnt need a jump until after 20mins of trying to start the truck...battery is not old. fuel filter replaced a couple years ago. a mechanic just told me that it may be fuel pump. he said, alot of times, they dont just go out. the pressure may be at, for example, 15 or 20 pounds, when it needs to be 60-65!! if its lower than 60, it wont start, but you'll still smell the fuel. i have to get a new starter for it, then hes (my mechanic) is gonna loan me his gauge to check the pressur....if thats it, that sucks!! the fuel pumps are IN the fuel tank!!

Yeah, but it's not as bad as it sounds. At least the fuel tank is easy to get to. It may honestly be easier to take the bed off and do it that way. Now on camaros it is a pain. They are in the tank and they suck getting the tank out!!

[daved150]

Tweetwell...gotta find out if thats even it....

[bowbow]

TweetShoot some starting fluid in the intake. It should run for a short period on that. Then if quits it's probably the fuel pump. I've changed a few and it shouldn't be that bad of a job.

[daved150]

Tweet

Shoot some starting fluid in the intake. It should run for a short period on that. Then if quits it's probably the fuel pump. I've changed a few and it shouldn't be that bad of a job.

ok, did that...BUT...he did that after try for 35mins to start it and he was pumping the shyt out of it. well, after the first time of pumping the shyt out of it, it back fired!!! thats the only time it did that. about 20mins later he tried starting fluid. my mechanic thinks he might have fouled out a plug when it back fired...i got a starter that'll be here tomarrow. my mechanic is gonna show me how to use and let me take home his tool for checking the fuel pump pressure. if thats off, we'll deal with the pump and plan on replacing the plugs.

[deepsouth]

TweetDoes it have a distributer? Almost sound like the timing is way out.

[JsJs24]

Tweet

my son has a 98 chevry 1500 silverado x-cab 4x4. it has the chevy 350 in it. he came home from school last week. parked the truck and now it wont start. it really hasnt been THAT cold out, (xmas day was a little over 40 and rainy), but lastnight we couldnt get it started. we tried for so long, we ended up slinging the starter! its feul injected. you can smell the gas, so its getting fuel. take off the air filter to spray starting fuel, so its getting air. checked the distributer and it's getting spark from the distributer. everytime it seems like it's gonna start it pulls real hard on the engine and just stops turning over....like the battery was bad, but we had jumper cables while we was doing this.

any thaughts!!! my son seems to be convinced that the engine is "frozen" from sitting for a week, in the cold, without being started.

I seriously doubt anything is frozen in the temperatures you mentioned, and the fuel definitely is not frozen as gasoline has a freezing point of around -97 degrees.

Did you check your batter cables for proper connections and clean any corrosion off of them? Also, make sure your starter ground wire is properly grounded. The battery could be completely dead, though one would expect a jump to suffice. Leave the engine that you are jumping it with running for several minutes before trying to start it. I am talking like 5-10 minutes. I had a similar problem recently with my girlfriend's son's car and my F250 Diesel truck still had to run for about 6 or 7 minutes before it finally started it.

[daved150]

Tweet

I seriously doubt anything is frozen in the temperatures you mentioned, and the fuel definitely is not frozen as gasoline has a freezing point of around -97 degrees.

Did you check your batter cables for proper connections and clean any corrosion off of them? Also, make sure your starter ground wire is properly grounded. The battery could be completely dead, though one would expect a jump to suffice. Leave the engine that you are jumping it with running for several minutes before trying to start it. I am talking like 5-10 minutes. I had a similar problem recently with my girlfriend's son's car and my F250 Diesel truck still had to run for about 6 or 7 minutes before it finally started it.

guys...the truck turned over for 20mins or more before we had to start using jumper cables. nothing wrong with the battery. its not band new, but maybe 13-15mos old!
starter was working fine until it went "ZIIIIIING" and now it dont work at all...just makes zingy noise.

[deepsouth]

TweetTiming my friend. If it spins and you have fuel- spark- and compression- then it's timing. The zing sound like the pinion gear in the starter is no longer engaging with the flywheel, but what do I know, I drive a Yota. Just tell me what prize I win when I'm right.