97 vortec running rough, need help

[Schurkey]

IS THIS A V-6 ENGINE?
You've called it a "Vortec" without ever saying if it's a Vortec V-6, Vortec 5.0L, Vortec 5.7L, or Vortec 7.4L.


Looking at your two photos, plus the photo supplied by SUBURBAN5:

Your first photo shows you have TDC. You say it's TDC-Compression, which would be correct.

Your second photo shows you have the rotor about a quarter-turn away from the "6" molded into the distributor housing. You need to lift the distributor, re-clock the gear mesh so that when the distributor is bolted down, (seated on the gasket) the rotor tip is within a couple degrees of the "6".

That's why this thing doesn't want to start. The distributor wasn't installed right.

If this was a V-8, the distributor would have an "8" molded into it, for the rotor to point to when it's seated at TDC-Compression. That's shown in SUBURBAN5's picture, along with the rotor tip pointing generally (not exactly) towards the "8".

 

[Jkenney_]

IS THIS A V-6 ENGINE?

Looking at your two photos, plus the photo supplied by SUBURBAN5:

Your first photo shows you have TDC. You say it's TDC-Compression, which would be correct.

Your second photo shows you have the rotor about a quarter-turn away from the "6" molded into the distributor housing. You need to lift the distributor, re-clock the gear mesh so that when the distributor is bolted down, the rotor tip is within a couple degrees of the "6".

That's why this thing doesn't want to start. The distributor wasn't installed right.

If this was a V-8, the distributor would have an "8" molded into it, for the rotor to point to when it's seated at TDC-Compression. That's shown in SUBURBAN5's picture, along with the rotor tip pointing generally towards the "8".

No, 5.7 v-8

 

[Schurkey]

Do you have the wrong distributor, or is the "6" I'm seeing, molded into the distributor in your photo a figment of my imagination?

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[SUBURBAN5]

it is how I installed it, another question someone brought to my attention that it could be a vacuum leak, could that be it? There's what looks like a vacuum line from the drivers side valve cover to something on the intake manifold that is broken. Is that a vacuum line that could cause this?

It sounds like your describing the pcv valve. Yes it will cause rough idling or running like crap, but not starting issues or timing. Soon as you get the distributor set go ahead and fix that vacuum fitting or hose. Rock auto sell ac delco oem

 

[E-gads]

You definitely need to fix that vacuum leak and then set your cam retard. The cheapest way I've found to do that is with An ELM reader (Amazon) and The Dash Command app on Android. Not sure if it works IOS. Need to set Your cam retard to plus or minus 1 degree of zero degrees. Another thing to note is that your truck will not read the Cam sensor until you are at 1000 rpm or higher so the app won't show a value or respond to any change until you reach that RPM. Plenty of tutorials around for that. It is possible to do without a scanner by just incrementally adjusting the distributor until the CEL stays off but remember to rev your engine above 1000rpm every time or the computer won't read it. It's quite frustrating to do it that way and I wouldn't recommend it but I have done it a few times.

 

[Steve A]

it is how I installed it, another question someone brought to my attention that it could be a vacuum leak, could that be it? There's what looks like a vacuum line from the drivers side valve cover to something on the intake manifold that is broken. Is that a vacuum line that could cause this?

That line is the PCV and yes that will create a big vacuum leak.