William Allen

Hello how are you and how is your van crazy I seen your message and I have a 96 Chevy Express conversion van and it just cut off on me today and then it would crank up but won't start towed it home and looking for options to start with to try to figure it out

hanky

There is one quick check you can try , that you can do just about anywhere and won't cost you anything.

When the engine quits running and won't restart after it gets hot, dump some cold water on the crank sensor . If it restarts then, replace the crank sensor.
Not all vehicles will throw a crank sensor code.

mountainmanjoe

@William Allen You were replying to a post that was 9 years old. I moved your question to a new topic where it will get the attention it needs.

Spray some starting fluid into the throttle body while you crank

William Allen

What is that going to do

William Allen

It's not shutting off when hot

mountainmanjoe

It's called troubleshooting. You narrow down the problem by process of elimination.
It will either start, or it won't.

If it starts, then you have a fuel delivery problem.
If it doesn't start, then the problem is your ignition or something else.

William Kisselstein

Troubleshooting is pretty basic, the engine requires fuel and spark to run and the timing to be correct. So you check the easiest ones first, the fuel by start fluid, then pull a plug wire to check for spark. It's also helpful to get a scan tool and look for the live data.

davidjohn

there may be following reasons, first diagnose the issue.
low Compression problems which can be caused by abroken or loose timing belt or chain or a snapped overhead camshaft.
Lack of spark may occur due to a damaged ignition module, a faulty crank position sensor, a flooded engine , bad spark plugs, or a problem in the ignition circuit
Weak or corroded battery cables or a dying battery can contribute to the problem as well

William Kisselstein

These engines have a timing chain and the cam is in the V of the block. It would be unusual for the chain to be the problem. There are a lot of plastic parts on these engines including the distributor base, it would be a lot more likely one of those be damaged.

There is a common issue on these with ground straps which corrode and fail in time.

mountainmanjoe

pushrod engines don't have overhead camshaft or timing belts