I bought an '89 K1500 in July. It has a 350 TBI in it. It started and ran beautifully until about a week ago and now it cranks but wont start. I live in Maine and we have had a stretch of cold weather but nothing crazy. 20's to 30's during the day and in the teens at night. Today it was 40 degrees and the truck still wouldn't start. I'm not familiar with the TBI system at all. I thought it had a carb until today. There's snow in the forecast so I really need to get this thing running again. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Try pouring a little gas (1-2 tablespoons) down the throttle body and see if it fires. That will help tell you if the problem is not getting fuel vs spark

 

He didn't even check for spark? If not spark, he's likely got a bad pump, filter, or regulator. or clogged up injectors run on the cheapest gasoline they could fill up with. Sure was nice back when we didn't need a regulator, and the fuel pump came off the front of the motor.

Check how how dirty the resonator outlet is,along with the rusty air-cleaner adapter and sealing gaskets are, along with that hose that isn't' connected to anything, and all that green "stuff" on his intake manifold?

Then you have his return throttle spring connected to who in heck knows what?

I'd never allow a motor of mine to appear as sadly as this motor appears. Lack of Maintenance. Good ignition and. spark, _maybe_? Then he needs some starting fluid pronto! This motor has NOT been maintained well whatsoever.

Sorry, but I call them as I see them. I've been around this carousel long enough to know how awfully this poor motor has been taken care of, over all of these years. "Pay me now or pay me later" is how this issue will go. I'd love to see a professionally tested sample of the motor oil. And what his his current air filter and the metal air-cleaner box look like.

Chevrolet did a good job building this poor old engine. The previous owner(s) really messed it up, but good.

 

Brake fluid in the Master Cylinder is low, and I have no idea what that tube in back of the TBI unit is but it looks like a heater pipe.to me And what s that malarkey on top of the battery used for?. That green stuff on the intake looks like tire Slime for a quick tire repair.Someone also added manual T style valve cover bolts and an aftermarket engine oil fill cap too. What a mess!

 

I have spark. I tested it. The fuel pump does hum when the key is in the on position. Nothing comes out of the injectors even if you press the gas. The throttle linkage looks to be intact and functioning. I bought new plugs so I'm going to change those out anyway but I suspect the real culprit is the throttle body. Still open to advice. I got the truck cheap and have had it for 5 months. It started and ran consistently until a week ago. Take it easy.

 

So with fuel injection, if it's not running, no gas will come out of the injectors when you press the throttle. If you have spark, pour a little gas down the throat of the throttle body. If it starts/fires/runs briefly, your injectors are not firing and supplying fuel. When my '93 Suburban did this, a new ICM (inside the distributer) had failed. I am on my 3rd or 4th one now with 350k miles.

 

The other day I put some gas in a water bottle with a squirt top and sprayed it into the throttle body. The truck perked up a little but it still didn't fire. I hadn't checked for spark at that point. I just assumed the spark plugs were bad based on their condition. Now I know there's spark going to the plugs. The plug I pulled was pretty fouled. So the injectors only work after the engine has started? My theory is the fuel filter might be clogged.

 

What does "perked up a little" mean?

 

It would sound like it was closer to starting. But there's been a few developments. I replaced all the spark plugs and when I tried to start directly after that It did not start. I poured some gas into the throttle body and tried and it started right up. It ran until it cleared the gas but died as soon as that gas was gone. The injectors didn't activate at all even as the truck idled for 20 seconds or so. The fuel pump is at least making the sound it should make when it's priming but without seeing anything come out of the injectors I can't confirm that it is priming at all. I crawled underneath the truck to check the fuel filter expecting it to be a giant ball of rust but to my surprise the filter and the fittings were recently changed, no rust at all. So I'm confident it isn't the filter. Should the next step be disconnecting the fuel line from the back of the throttle body to check for fuel pressure, or is there a sensor or module I should be looking at? I live very close to a garage so I'm going to see if they'll let me borrow a GM noid light so I can test the pig tails on the injectors. Still open for any and all advice.

 

When my 93 would run pouring gas in the throttle body but injectors didn't fire, it needed a new ICM.