dadischevyman

so here it is, the original truck engine (305) just up and quit running on me on the highway one day in december 08. We ended up pulling the engine out and replacing it with an engine from a 1978 caprice which ran fine. They are both 305's of course but the 78 has carb. versus the truck has fuel injection. We replaced the intake manifold from the truck engine to the caprice and it bolted up perfectly. We dropped the caprice engine in, hooked it up, and started it. It started the first time out of the block, ran very rough like it needed an adjustment so we turned it off. We made some small adjustments here and there, nothing major and now the 78 caprice engine will not start at all. It just turns over and over and over but never catches or runs at all. We thought that the timing was off so we pulled the distributor and went through the rules for reaching top dead center and still nothing. We have repeated this a hundred times thinking we are just missing something simple but we are having no success. we have went through the strokes manually and waited for the blow off and everything but still no luck. Can anyone pinpoint anything for me from this mess. We are pretty money poor with it now, just like everyone else in the world, but do not want to sell the truck because the rest still in good shape with new tranny and everything. It has tremendous sentimental value as well because it belonged to my father who passed in 2005 at the age of 52 from a long long battle with cancer. He was a true chevy man, so I just wanna keep it workin....anyway i welcome any suggestions at this point and thanks for listening to my long long story!

maxxman04

is there GOOD spark at the plugs? how's fuel pressure? what adjustments were made? is compression good? did you reuse the original oil sending unit, as it is tied in with the ignition? are all fuses, relays, fusible links good? wire connections?

gflatt

Sorry but I need to shadow your post, see this is total deja vu for me.
I'm trying to bring back a moth balled "91", drove it from the side of the house
to the garage and it hasn't started sense. It had intermittent gas supply problems, so I replaced the fuel pump with a new air-quip,new supply and return lines ( they were so so rusty, and thin) new filter, new oil pressure switch,( the distributor needs to be removed to access) and new relay. Rebuilt the TBI with new injectors and a fuel regulator rebuild kit. I had more fuel flow than a 502 could use pulling a boat up hill! Isolated the water temp sending unit, the one at the thermostat/upper radiator hose out let, jumper the wires. AH, normal fuel supply, Like you, I've gone through the initial ignition timing procedure over and over, up to the point of pulling the drivers side valve cover to certify that the cam timing was on. This is a six year old GM 250 HP crate engine with 25,000 miles on it, stock-stock-stock. Even though ignition (spark) has never been an issue, I've swapped the distributor with a known runner, cap and button, the coil meters good, and I'm going crazy, not to speak to the $500.00 + so far.
If I get mine to run You'll the first to know, mean while, I'm following your thread.. Good Luck!! gflatt

2wd-K5

dadischevyman i would be looking for a spark first, and to both of you have somebody looking at the throttle body to see if it is squirting fuel as it is cranking, if you have fuel and spark then u have a funning engine, gflatt, when u said it is getting lots of fuel, is it getting too much? after trying to start it smell the plugs if u smell raw gas, u have too much fuel or not enough spark
just check these things and let me know, im sure if the other guys here know how to help, they will

gflatt

2wd-k5 Thanks for being their.
Dadischevyman I apologize for butting in on your thread, with your blessing I'd like to update.

I haven't replaced the sending unit as of yet, but then it still hasn't fired for me either. For now fuel supply, and injector spray pattern look to be normal. I have a "crack-en"! blue spark, at least on the #1 cylinder, with the plug out and cranking with a remote it's flashing on every compression stroke. So, yesterday I pulled the drivers side valve cover to certify crank-cam timing. Every things on, no lifter pressure applied to either valve Though my frustration is soon to be off the charts! Let me go through this in an open format, because, well I just need to.

1: FUEL, (got it)
new= pump,filter,relay,oil pressure switch,supply and return lines plus rebuilt throttle body with fuel pressure regulator gasket kit
2: IGNITION, (Got spark)
new= cap, and rotor, plugs and wires
observed to be good= distributor and ignition module (have a spare known to be good) Coil, meters to be good, plus have again a known good backup
3: COMPRESSION, checked crank timing ( pulled valve cover @ TDC on the compression stroke, No pressure on valves) this is a 25,000 mile old factory crate engine.

OK, I've made big pieces of junk run, with no knowledge of the engine, just because it had fuel,spark and compression.

I'll be so so embarrassed, to be pulling this to a shop. Brothers I'm Up for any suggestions.
dadischevyman were do you live, I'm in Delaware.
thank you
gflatt

2wd-K5

yea i know what u mean, everything i have worked on if spak and fuel there, then u have a running engine, i have had a 2 liter pop bottle full of gas run an engine before, ill bet there is water in the gas though, i have seen this before too, disconnect the throttle body and pour a small amount of fresh fuel down the intake if u get a flash from the engine, drain the tank and remove it and slosh new fuel in it to flush it out, reinstall and flush the fuel lines.

gflatt

Great and logical thought, When installing the new pump the tank was placed in the bed and siphoned clean, visually, but I going to go through the chug-a- lug down the old intake any way. Only a damned fool would ignore a simple proof positive test like that after blubbering and wining like I have.
Thank you for taking your time. bob
Dadischevyman, any good news??

2wd-K5

did it flash when u poured fuel in the engine?

gflatt

The truth hurts, jumped to 1,800 cranking amp hour supply from my diesel pickup key on, #1 plug out and grounded so to offer a visual display of the ignition, and a half assed reason to report compression stroke from the woosh of air escaping from the #1 plug hole. TBI injector electrical leads disconnected. Fresh gas supplied, remote trigger in left hand right hand on lightly bonded distributor. CRANK! and Crank we did round and round and round woosh-woosh-woosh, moving of the distributor 10* 20* and more then back a 10* 20* and more in the other direction.... nuten,, nuten I say,,, and it hurts.. When this thing does fire, and fire it will my deepest wish is that I'm fully aware of WHY!! Because if it just starts I'll pull my hair OUT..
I once again Thank you for your in put, and thoughtful recommendations
Gflatt
My wishes for success to Dadischevyman, and I apologize for co-opting your thread, I'ed had truly planed to be working exhaust or breaks by this time.

2wd-K5

wow man thats fukin strange, it has to be something stupid that we are overlooking, it always is when everything works but the engine