I need help with a cranking problem that has turned into a money pit. I have 98 Chevy 1500- 5.7L 4-wheel drive. 247K miles.
Two problems: fuel and electrical. Vehicle would bog and spit and sputter. Did everything to resolve. New fuel filter, new pump (even went as far as replacing the tank). This seems to work for a while. During all this vehicle was draining the battery constantly. New battery and alternator and still doing it. Mechanic shop could figure it out and recommended putting a cutoff switch at the battery to shut down the power. I knew this wasn't fixing the short, but did it anyway. All seems to work for a minute.
I can crank the truck. Hits in like one second and runs like a top. Next day nothing. Crank and crank and it spits and sputters and does nothing. Starter fluid sometimes will bring it to life. Once running for about 30 minutes it may start to bog and leave me on the side of the road.
Next day it will crank first time. I hate to get rid of a truck in pretty good shape over an electrical problem I'm thinking. I've spent a ton on this thing and it's turned into a personal challenge to resolve.

Please help if you know what to do. I will send you a personal thank you via Venmo!

 

Welcome to the forum. Anytime starter fluid seems to have a positive effect, that usually a points to a fueling problem. If you haven't done so already, you might repost this in the Chevy truck section for this particular truck. Probably get more views there.

No venmo necessary. 😉