Hard to Wake Up

[jacobg128]

I have a 97 S10 with the 4.3. For some reason it will not start after it has been sitting for more than a day - all it does is sping over like it has no fire. I have replaced the coil, distributor cap, wires, and plugs. I checked the fuel pressure, and it comes out fine. It has always been a good truck, I bought it with 20k miles on it, and have only put 100k on it since 2002. I let it sit about a month, and since then have had this problem. Any ideas?

[Bone Crusher]

Or no gas!!! maybe the pump went out!!!

[SCredneck]

Or no gas!!! maybe the pump went out!!!
He sd the fuel pressure is OK...can't have good fuel pressure with a bad fuel pump, I don't think. My first bet is bad gas, or trash in the gas. He did say it was sitting for a month. If it had less than a FULL tank, likely to have a bunch of condensation in the gas.

[csl2006]

x2.

[droopy89]

Go buy a bottle of HEET from ur local parts store,, and maybe a gallon or so of gas if your low anyways

[Bone Crusher]

man I totally read right over that part....LOL

[SCredneck]

Or a pint of rubbing alcohol out the medicine cabinet is almost as good and a helluva lot cheaper. The alcohol will dissolve the water. Pour it in, then add a few gallons fresh gas, then give it a whirl.

[Stevonator]

check the pink/ black and black/white wires going to the ignition coil.....they like to break internally and since the jacket is intact it *looks* like a good wire. The wires also like to separate from the connector going into the coil as well. Another possibility is the ignition switch. But another idea is by the time you get done screwing around with it and buying/hanging parts that don't fix it.....you could have paid a professional tech for a half hour for a real answer....... :)

[csl2006]

hmm if it was the switch it wouldn't crank over. Anywho test it for spark yet?

[Stevonator]

CSL....hate to bring you bad news but you are 150% dead wrong. Most automotive ign. switches when they go bad will do the craziest stuff you'll ever see in your life.... but they ALL crank.
A dodge caravan will lose guages, throw the trans into limp mode, stall, light up ALL the gears on the PRNDL at the same time.....or any combination of the above.
Any of the GM cars with the IGN in the dash can intermittently stall when you hit a bump.... if your key chain is too heavy.....TRUE!

In short (no pun intended) over 50% of all the electric power receives its marching orders from the ignition switch. And when the traffic cop is drunk off its butt.....that power can end up EVERYWHERE and NOWHERE at the same time and can be a real pain to diag.

[12sws27]

Now that gas has ethanol in it it goes bad faster. Good change it is bad fuel. Put some good gas in it and some kind of water remover and try to run it for awhile everyday. might take a couple tanks to get it out. Or you can remove the tank and check?

Out of curiosity, what was the fuel presure?

[csl2006]

hmmm really.....ignition switch is what was wrong with my ol ladies 99 ponitiac gt....wouldn't crank over nothing until we put a new one in.

[SCredneck]

check the pink/ black and black/white wires going to the ignition coil.....they like to break internally and since the jacket is intact it *looks* like a good wire. The wires also like to separate from the connector going into the coil as well. :)
Another good piece of info. I should have thought of that too, since that very thing happened to me a while back.

[trusconi]

why couldn't i have read this 4 days ago? replaced a sending unit in a 2000. ended up being a bad ground. NOT THE FUEL PUMP! oh well the gas gauge didn't work and it solved that problem.

[Stevonator]

Trusconi I wouldn't have much guilt about that. There are only 2 types of fuel pumps on these....those that are bad, and those that will be. Either that or the funky fuel gauge. The repair is the same. That being said....prove it's the problem THEN fix it.
Although if it interests anyone GM will sell just the fuel sender section separately now so you don't have to buy the pump.....nice gesture.....if the pump wasn't just as likely to fail. I'm assuming it had the new style plug on the pump that you wire in. They've actually proved that connector is one of the reasons the pump fails.
Hopefully they sent you the heat shrink butt splices to put it in with.....otherwise Mr. Greendeath will destroy the connection.

Make sure you keep the old one.....nothing say the one you put in will last forever. There's still a tank pressure sensor on it and at least an "OK" pump.

[oddball]

I have a 97 S10 with the 4.3. For some reason it will not start after it has been sitting for more than a day - all it does is spin over like it has no fire. I have replaced the coil, distributor cap, wires, and plugs. I checked the fuel pressure, and it comes out fine. It has always been a good truck, I bought it with 20k miles on it, and have only put 100k on it since 2002. I let it sit about a month, and since then have had this problem. Any ideas?Mine does that sometimes and I traced it back to the fuel relay plug on the firewall.

[jacobg128]

So sorry for the long delay in the reply time. I did not realize that the forum did not automatically send an email when I got responses. The fuel pressure is good, this has been going on for a while now, the age of the gas does not matter, it will do it on a brand new tank of premium if it has been sitting still for more than 24 hours. One other thing I noted is that the truck seems to idle rough and miss a little for a few minutes after it FINALLY starts. Normally this goes away after the first few minutes of driving and it performs fine. I am hoping to have some time this weekend to look it over. Thanks for all of the advice. I will probably start with the electrical end of things as that seems to be consensus. When I get results I will post.

[s-10 2.2much]

my jimmy was doing the exact smae thing hard to start after it sat i have 40psi of pressure but found this isnt enough changed the fuel pump should be getting around 60-65 psi if im not mistaken and drop no lower then 50 after its shut off they actually need the full psi when cranking cold also i think there is a primary relay to give the motor a squirt of fuel when you turn the key on after that it relys on the oil pressure to make the pump kick in maybe check the primary circuit relay ? mines in the glove box on my 97 maybe try to cycle the key on and off in the mornign 2 or 3 tims waiting about 10 seconds then turning the key back on to make the pump build pressure ....good luck

[jacobg128]

Tried the cycling thing with the key and it did not work. I am finally going to have a little bit of time to work on the truck tomorrow, so I am going to start checking the relay. The book (Chiltons) gives a pretty good layout of the electrical circuts involved and even gives voltages for some of them. I just bought a gauge to check the fuel pressure, I can hear the pump cycle on for a bout two seconds, and then again after you turn the key to the "start" position, it runs for a few more seconds. I also had a friend tell me that he had the same problem with his 98 and that the only thing that ended up being wrong was the power connection to the fuel pump.

[jacobg128]

Hey guys, just to close this one out, I FINALLY took a weekend off to work on the truck. As it turned out, the fuel pump was fine, I put a gauge on it, and ran a consistent 62 lbs of pressure. One of the guys at the parts house gave me the solution. I did not know that there is something like a pickup coil inside the distributor. $35 and an hour later, the truck was running great. My Haynes manual never mentioned it, so I never looked at it. Thanks for all of the advice.

[Slacker1357]

I had replaced my fuel pump. Fuel pressure woulda been fine. But im pretty sure the corroded wires had something to do with it...

I had to key up my truck 30 times to 'prime' it, then try to start it... after a couple tries, it was fine. I got the fuel pump replaced, now it works like a charm... starts instantly

[Slacker1357]

glad you found a fix

[jacobg128]

I was happy not to have to spend the money on the fuel pump, downside is that the fuel gauge still doesn't work. Still if I get another year out of the pump . . . . .

[Jongo88]

Glad you got it fixed..:)