My 1990 Chevy K1500

[cdwillis]

Went and picked up this 1990 K1500 yesterday. The seller picked it up a few months ago from a farmer, but it was having some issues with the distributor and he’s a ford guy so he didn’t want to mess with it. He even had a new distributor in the box to put in it.


It started right up so my brother and I took it for a short drive. It ran fine. Paid the man and took it home. We stopped at Denny’s on the way and when we came back out it was a pain to get started. It ran a little rough after that, but not too bad.


Today my brother and I went out to put the new distributor in. It’s hard to see the little marks on the timing reference, so my brother held a screwdriver in the hole for the first sparkplug and I cranked the engine a couple times until he felt it grab the screwdriver. We got the distributor pulled out, put in the new one, put in new plugs and wires. All the plugs are wired to the correct spots on the distributor cap, but the engine will only run for a couple seconds and then it dies.


Is it possible we got it 180 degrees out of time? I’m trying to trouble shoot it, but I’m not the most mechanically savvy person. I’m about ready to pull my hair out.

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[skylark]

Went and picked up this 1990 K1500 yesterday. The seller picked it up a few months ago from a farmer, but it was having some issues with the distributor and he’s a ford guy so he didn’t want to mess with it. He even had a new distributor in the box to put in it.


It started right up so my brother and I took it for a short drive. It ran fine. Paid the man and took it home. We stopped at Denny’s on the way and when we came back out it was a pain to get started. It ran a little rough after that, but not too bad.


Today my brother and I went out to put the new distributor in. It’s hard to see the little marks on the timing reference, so my brother held a screwdriver in the hole for the first sparkplug and I cranked the engine a couple times until he felt it grab the screwdriver. We got the distributor pulled out, put in the new one, put in new plugs and wires. All the plugs are wired to the correct spots on the distributor cap, but the engine will only run for a couple seconds and then it dies.


Is it possible we got it 180 degrees out of time? I’m trying to trouble shoot it, but I’m not the most mechanically savvy person. I’m about ready to pull my hair out.

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180 is completely possible.

 

[cdwillis]

We sorted it out. I’m not sure if we had the wrong firing order diagram or what, but I pulled all the wires and put them back one and a time then it fired right up.

I have a few more plans for this. I don’t intend on it becoming a show truck or anything. It needs new tires. Maybe a new paint job down the line but I’m not sure how much I’ll be able I acccomplish myself as far as body work. It’s evident someone fixed some rust with bondo and repainted the truck.