Hi,


I bought a 96 K1500 a while back and it's been a good work truck. But every so often it would just die. It would restart, but now it's stalling all the time and not restarting. It will stall from idle, or while driving. I've had to tow it twice.

I've replaced the crank sensor, the ignition coil, the ignition module, cap rotor and wires. Using a spark sensor it shows no spark. Fuel pressure is good, even while cranking. (I have a fuel pressure gauge)

Usually, strangely, in the past if I swap out the ignition coil it would almost always start right up. Now swapping the coil or module doesn't do anything.

A few days ago I wired every sensor directly into the ECU using different connectors, and that worked for a while. (Including power)

The only sensor i haven't replaced is the cam sensor. That's next.

One thing I have discovered is that this only happens when the engine is hot. A few times I've gone into Lowe's to get supplies and come out and it refuses to start. After cooling a bit it will start. The most recent time, yesterday, I had to get towed, it would start and let me go a quarter mile then die and leave me stranded, wait ten minutes for it to cool and it would give me another quarter mile, until finally it refused to start altogether.

After it was towed home it started right up, and also this morning, but I can't trust it.

I noticed there's just one wire going from the ECU to the ignition module, is it possible to wire the output from the crank sensor to the module and bypass the ECU? At this point it's either the ECU or the cam sensor because I've bypassed the harness. Not sure if there are any other components that can completely cause a no spark situation.

Also there are no codes in the computer except for a lean condition.

 

Pretty sure it was the ECU. I replaced it with one from the same year had similar numbers. Forgot to remove the battery terminal oops. Removed the drl fuse 15 and turned key on for 12 minutes. Cleared codes (were none) and it started right up. Hasn't stalled yet. I remember trying to diagnose ignition problems and blew the ECU fuse. Maybe that damaged something.

 

Nope that wasn't it. Just stalled twice. Swapped starting and fuel pump relays (???) IDK what else to do besides give it a viking funeral. (Set it on fire)

 

This is my

 

This is my story too, and the tale here (as I read it [others too that are similar] get me excited for a minute but fail to provide a resolution or at the very least a conclusion-this practice ruins the whole point of the forum, why the half measure members who do this are not paraded through the community and punished by the community? This is lame. It's my first day and I'm only partially navigating w ease so I could be missing a po procedure but I doubt it.

 

So what you're saying is, because the problem couldn't be figured out, that someone should be punished because you didn't get a resolution? Do you not know I am literally trying to keep my family fed with a handful of broken down work trucks? Do you not know until I worked a van off I was driving a 40 year old Japanese truck that had bad tie rod ends and could have killed me? Because my truck was untrustworthy? You think this is fun for me???

Anyway I had an idea. I've literally replaced every sensor and even the ecm. The engine almost has 400,000 miles on it. when I took the distributor out I noticed the wear on the distributor drive gear was pretty significant.

What if the problem is that the timing chain and gears are so worn, that it confuses the sensors and the ecu shuts the engine down? I might try replacing the timing gears and chain.

How hard is the camshaft to replace? Do I need to pull the valvetrain?

 

I agree, to a point, with Matthew. posters should come back and keep the thread updated even if you haven’t found a solution.

I do that with my personal posts. I also (typically) ask posters to “keep us posted” on their progress when I provide some ideas.

Its just the right thing to do.

 

It gets expensive to swap out parts. An you borrow a hand held code reader/scanner to see what codes are present? Heck, it’s even worth $75 to $100 to have a professional scan / diagnostic tool run by a repair shop to diagnose what’s going on. That’s gotta be cheaper than throwing parts at it and having unpaid vehicle down time.

400,000 is a lot for even a diesel motor but it could be this motor might only have 120,000 on it. If you are the original owner or owned the truck for several years you would know more about the age of that motor.

Any updates since you last posted?

 

I ordered a timing gear and chain set and will let you know if it ends up fixing the problem

 

Great!