why wont my truck start?
 

I've got an 86 c10 with a 350 and 350turbo out of a 77c10. The truck will turn over all day long no problem but it wont fire, I just put new spark plugs in it and that didnt help, Ive tried playing with the carb myself but i probably made it worse if anything. It doesnt try to fire at all but it's getting plenty of fuel to it itll flood the hell outta that carb so the fuel pump is not an issue. Any ideas??

Are your plugs firing? Are you running an HEI distributor? If so, is it wired correctly? If so, is it timed correctly? Has the motor ever run since it was installed in the 86?

Get a know good plug, Pull a plug wire off of a plug.
Stick the plug on wire hold against block or exhaust manifold .
Crank truck over see if you see spark.
You probably are running hei big distributor with coil in dist. cap.
If your not getting spark probably pickup module.
See if getting spark first. :rolleyes:

Alright so i checked and its not getting any spark. the plugs and wires are brand new so it has to be that no name distributer i got when i built the motor. And the truck was running consistently for 3 years before this i drove it to work just fine last week and one day it wouldnt start when i came out. Ive got a new cap and rotor laying around for it so i think i'll try that next but i dont know how to reset the timing any help there?

sounds like a pick up coil to me.....also check and make sure you are getting power to the coil....sometimes the fusible link will burn out

If it was me . I would change pickup module . It is the bigger module in the dist.
most time when they go out when you shut truck off. On the timing should have a timing tab above harmonic balancer , and a mark on balancer . See if you have theses then go from there. If module goes out will not have spark at coil.

It took new plugs, cap, rotor, and ignition control module but i got the thing running! but this problem it had before is even worse now it idles fine while im letting it warm up after i start it, but once i've gone down the road aways the idle drops down way lower than normal and it dies at lights and such. It goes down the road fine though its only when im waiting at a light or driving really slow like in a parking lot. I think it might have something to do with my bigger cam but not sure where is the screw at to bring the idle up?

I assume that the motor has a Quadrajet carb on it? The Idle screw is by the throttle where the cable hooks up...also check the mixture screws.....but only if you know a bit about carbs....bumping the idle is only a temp fix if there is another issue.