mainer

bought a 96 about 2 months back and bought it in non running condition.

its got 203k on it completely stock, guy was "going down the highway when it wouldnt rev above 2,000 rpms and had no power" got it home and parked it, ended up buying another truck the next day. truck sat for 1.5 yrs and i bought it.

fuel shut of solenoid was fubar so took that off manually put it in the ON position and put a battery in the truck. it essentially fired right up and idled perfect. but any throttle and it would pop and smoke white and not rev above 2k rpms.

so i figured sweet easy fix it slipped timing. i didnt even bother to check where the timing was. i did the drop valve method to find TDC and marked the harmonic balancer. set the timing to 14.5 * and nothing. using a gauge in the #1 delivery valve etc (not my first time doing this)

so tonite i just went through the timing process again, made sure it was on the comp stroke and not the exhaust stroke etc and set it to exactly 14.5 degress and absolutely nothing. wont even try and fire ....

i'm lost i've done timing on a few engine before with no issues.

is it possible the pump is bad internally?? only thing that gets me is that it idled perfectly right after i first got it just wouldnt run correctly off idle.

infidel

Loosen the lines at each injector, crank it and see if you have clear fuel.

mainer

its got fuel at 5 of the 6 lines (didnt crack open the 6th because its real rusty and didnt wanna break the line)

the fuel coming out isnt pretty, its def off road (red) and some of it is murkey...

the truck has not had a bed on it since i got it and didnt when i picked it up, so the filler neck has been open and exposed to the elements.

i'm questioning if its possibly bad fuel. i plugged the truck in and then went back out about an hour later and cracked it and it caught first crank enough to spin faster than the starter but that was it. nothing after that.

some smoke out the exhaust but not much.

atc250r

I know its probably not causing your no-start condition but a couple of years ago mine would crackle, pop, and puff white smoke when it was cold. I had it timed but it didn't make much difference. I did the OFV and it cleared up. Now a couple of years later I noticed the fuel pressure slipping down again and it was doing the same smoking/popping routine. I replaced the fuel lines and lift pump but the pressure was still low (it needed that stuff anyway). I stretched the OFV's spring and got the pressure up in the 25psi range at a cold idle and once again the somking/popping is gone. I don't know why but low lift pump pressure seems to cause it somehow.

If the truck went 200K without the OFV being replaced, I'd bet the fuel pressure is pretty low. Possibly low enough to have the truck fall on its face on the highway.

John

mainer

it may have fell on its face on the highway but it should still free rev with no load over 2k with no problem. it flat out would not rev over 2k, and anything 950rpm's+ it would pop/ pour white smoke.

i've got a spare OFV in the garage off another motor with less miles i'll swap it in just because its a quick thing to do but i'm highly doubting thats the issue.

OFV shouldnt just suddenly fail, it would be progressive over time

atc250r

True. Now that I think about it, when I did something really stupid and left the plug loose that holds the OFV spring in, the truck still ran OK, made about 5psi at idle, and even hit 20psi when I was winding it up before I realized it fell out. Quite a nice little mess it made.

John

infidel

Think you're right.
If it's murky there's probably lots of water in the fuel.
Time for a good fuel system clean out.