Hi I’m a new member so please be patient. Also thank you in advance for any help. I have a 2001 Chevy express 2500 with 4.3 vortec. I was going down interstate and vehicle just died like out of fuel but had over half tank. So checked fuses and relay before getting towed home and they were all good with the exception of the big 50 amp aux 2 fuse under hood. Anyway figured fuel pump because couldn’t hear it power on and bought from auction couple months before and assumed fuel had been setting up and possibly gummed up filter and caused pump to burn up. So changed fuel pump module and filter and still crank but no start. So then started investing further and do have 62 psi at rail and doesn’t bleed down. So started looking at ignition. 3 gears were broken on dizzy gear so replaced entire dizzy, coil, plugs, and wires along with crankshaft sensor. Made sure #1 was at TDC on compression stroke by lining up the 2 marks on harmonic balancer at the 1 and 4 o’clock positions and also rotor button was pointing at the 6 that is molded on dizzy housing to be pointing at #1 cylinder. Still same crank but no start. Have spark at all plugs and good fuel pressure at rail. I also smell gas when trying to start. Started looking for a possible ground issue and did find that with test light hooked to positive side of battery when I touch fuses in fuse box light would light up meaning I have a positive and a negative right? Also thing on pink wire going to ignition switch. Unplug connector to ignition switch and light goes off when touching pink wire at ignition switch meaning negative or ground was taking away. Am I correct? I noticed on spider going to injector has several pink wires and all reading ground with test light to battery positive. Also reading a ground on fuses under hood. Eng 1, Ecm 1, and Ign E fuses all light up test light when light is hooked to positive post on battery and touch end to these fuses with test light tip. Same readings when the pcm unplugged and removed. Really not sure where to go next. Also good compression. Does anyone have a clue where to go next. Thanks in advance. Bruce

Hi guys thanks for reply’s. Yes gears broken on bottom gear. Pull oil pan and pump to clean. But did change dizzy. Marked it before coming out but didn’t know if broken gears would make out of time. So pulled #1 plug and used compression gauge till started to read compression then from there lined marks up on harmonic balancer. Also lined up dimple on bottom of dizzy with mark on shaft and turned oil pump shaft to line up with notch on dizzy shaft. That way when dropped in and rotated the rotor button wound up pointing to the 6 mark stamped into dizzy housing. If you follow path of electrode across dizzy cap this is where electrode for #1 cylinder fires from. It’s actually on right side of cap but it is where electrode for #1 runs to.

Yes pulled plug. Smelt gas strongly and also smell out of tailpipe not sure plug was very wet but did smell gas strongly. Did not try starting fluid. I can tomorrow. If it cranks for a second that probably indicates the spider not supplying correctly, right? And again I’m asking not telling because I’m at wits end on it. If try starting fluid tomorrow and it cranks for a second I know I have a fuel issue , but if it don’t start momentarily it probably ignition correct. What else would I check in that case. Thanks.

Oh yeah what I meant by 1 and 4 o’clock positions is my harmonic balancer has 2 marks on it. The first mark actually lines up towards the bottom of engine on a mark under there and the second mark lines up on timing mark (cut out V) up top . And it’s around the 1 o’clock position.