1990 chevy c1500 randomly dying
 

I have a 1990 chevy c1500 with a 350 motor. I have been fixing up this truck for the last few months, I pulled it out of my grandfathers backyard where it had been sitting for 10 years without being started. The first time I got it out on the highway after doing a bunch of work to it, 30 minutes into the drive it just died. I pulled off an still had battery power and it cranked but didn't start. I tried again 10 minutes later and it started up and drove 30 minutes back home. I then replaced the fuel filter thinking that it was clogged and went out again, this time it lasted about 40 minutes and then died randomly, turned over but did not start I had to wait a couple minutes for it to cool down. Here is a list of the new parts that I have put on it that relate to this issue, I cannot figure out what is causing this problem and would like to see if you guys had any ideas.

• Gas tank
• Fuel pump
• Injectors
• Rebuild TBI with new gaskets
• Idle air control valve
• Distributor and timing reset
• Spark plugs and wires
• Fuel filter

My current ideas are as follows
- possible bad distributor connection or wire between distributor and ignition module
- bad fuel pump connection
- I do not know if there is a fuel pressure regulator but if there is that could be a problem too

The check engine light came on when the truck died, but I do not have an OBD1 reader to scan for the code
Please give me any ideas or advice that you guys have I am trying to get this truck running so that I can take it to college, I appreciate it.

Is the gas original to the ten years it has set? You can do the paperclip method on the OBD A-B with key on, count the pulses, then use a reference chart to determine what it is. Code 12 will come up with key on. The pulse on the CEL is a long, that's 10, each short pulse is a single number, i.e. long pulse, then 2 short is 12, and that's what you will get with key on, not running.

the gas is new, there is no old gas in there, as the fuel tank was replaced. Okay, thank you I will figure out what code is popping up.

Is this an electric fuel pump?

Obd1 code retrieval and decoding

i will say this, if the engine cuts off it will pretty much trigger the CEL light as the ecm no longer sees the proper signals for any of the sensors.

did you replace the components in the distributor or just the casing?
what about the coil?
do you have spark and fuel?

Yes it is an electric fuel pump

I bought an entire distributor off rock auto so all that would be new. Are you asking whether I have spark or fuel right after I try and start it back up again? When it happened I tried to start it up right away and cranked it for maybe 5 seconds and didn't get any spark and I was afraid to crank on it too much and run the battery out so I let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then it fired right back up pretty quickly

So a new ICM with distributor change I assume. My 93 has done this 2x due to ICM when hot; easy part to change and see what happens, even if a new part already. Good luck, random quits are patience busters!

yes i was referring to when it acts up. the main thing behind this is to see what possibilities it could be. the ICM could be bad even if its new and only act up when warm like redneuc stated, same thing with the fuel pump and coil. since you verified no spark that would point to either the coil or something in the distributor

Distributor componets test

I will see if I am getting fuel next time this happens to direct the solution more specifically. I guess there could be a possibility that the ICM is bad on the new distributor I will probably replace that since it is pretty cheap. Thank you