Ok, so I have been working on this truck just about every weekend for the last few months. HG was blown on it and it was left sitting for about 6 years. I have it running, and am down to just a couple bugs.

#1. It runs a little rough and have a CEL for a cylinder 2 misfire. Switching plugs/wires does not change the location of misfire either. Only other thing I can think of is fuel injector, but don't know for sure and don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a new spider if I am unsure. Tried putting Sea Foam in the tank, but it didn't clear it up at all..

#2. It is kinda hard to start. I turn the key and it cranks fine and sounds like it is trying to fire but doesn't start. After about 3 attempts, it will start and it will idle fine. Related to #1?

#3. It has an annoying sound coming from below the truck. Sounds like a heat shield, but I can't find anything. Not really a big deal, just throwing it out there in case it's a common quirk. Truck is old and makes alot of weird sounds, this one isn't much worse, lol.

It's a 96 with a 4.3. 165k miles. Have replaced all the typical things (plugs, wires, dizzy cap, filters, fluids, fuel pump, etc) and cleaned/checked all the typical things (fluids,EGR,IACV,TB,PCV,hoses, etc).

 

setting for 6 years? I would pull the intake and check for a mouse nest in #2 intake runner. been there done that,,, too many times! especially when pulling an old car out of a tree row.

 

I have had the intake manifold apart recently, definately doesn't have nests in there.

Also should mention it starts right up after it has been running away. Guess it's a hard cold start..

 

noise and hard start ---- that says fuel pump to me, might check your fuel filter as well the check valve may be bad, letting the fuel drain back into the tank over the time of no run

 

Filter and pump are both new. And if they were bad, then there would be a random misfire, this is limited to #2 cylinder only. And the noise sounds metallic, pretty sure it is exhaust related.

 

as for the exhaust it is more than likely the heat shield for the cats, the stumble...if it were my truck i would dump a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in it and take it out on the highway, give it a good stomp to clean the injectors up...thats what i would do before i bought new spider injectors

 

That's exactly what I thought on the sound. But it's so minor I haven't even thought about it lately. I haven't driving the truck because of the misfire and another recent problem, which I fixed today. And I already poured a bottle of SeaFoam in there, but have only ran about 1/8 tank since I did it.. No difference yet.

 

Did you replace the D.cap & rotor? Cap could give you a bad #2 all the time, no matter what plug or wires. The stud in the cap could be broken or worn down to where the rotor cant touch it.

 

yea the cap could be the problem, cheap enough thing to eliminate

 

Yes I did. It's an OReillys part, but it's new. Guess it could be defective though.

Also, I took out the plugs from #2 & #4 today.
#2 looks super clean, looks like it's still brand new
#4 looks dirty, pretty normal looking

So I stuck a strip of a towel down into the cylinders and didn't smell gas in either. Removed the plug on the ignition coil and cranked the engine a few times. Tried the rag again, and #2 didn't smell of gas still, but #4 did.

So it looks like #4 is getting fuel, but #2 isn't, hence the misfire. So I would chalk another one up to the injectors. Think I am going to go ahead and buy a new spider. Even if it's not the problem, I would think it would help out a truck with 170k miles and the old style poppet system.