1994 Sierra 1500 stalled in road and won't start

[thinger2]

O

I was hoping someone would have a really good idea of what it was without me needing to check for spark and I could just get the part and fix the problem. Will a OBD 1 let me know the problem if the engine light is on?

Okay, ill bite though I really dont know why.
Geez fer what the...
You need fuel, spark and air.
If you have fuel, and you are unwilling to check for spark,
Stick yer head under the hood and close it.
If you can breathe?
Ya got air.
2 out of three aint bad

 

[Paolo has a K1500]

I had a sudden no start problem on my 93 K1500 5.7. Was sure it was fuel issue. It had me stumped until I was reexamining the distributor cap and rotor again and realized the rotor would spin easily while the distributor shaft itself remained stationary.
Huh?
After pulling the rotor off the shaft and examining it closely I found that tab that engages the slot on the shaft had failed completely, the rotor and shaft no longer moved in unison and ignition timing was completely random, hence no start. It was a weird and random malfunction that I have never before encountered. A complicating factor was that the truck was running okay when I parked it for the night. The problem only presented itself the next morning when I went to start it. I naturally assumed that something had happened overnight and looked for evidence of some kind of event.
It had rained quite hard overnight and I became convinced that substantial rainwater had somehow gotten into the tank and contaminated the fuel. I wasted a lot of time as I drained 25 gallons of gas and replaced the fuel filter twice without solving the problem. I never determined exactly why the rotor broke but conclude that the plastic material of the rotor may have become fatigued with age, or heat and simply failed without warning when I went to start it that morning.
Replacement of the cap and rotor resulted in my truck running much better than before.
Old rule of thumb... quite often problems that seem to be fuel or carburetor problems turn out to be ignition problems. Make sure you troubleshoot your ignition thoroughly before you dig into the fuel system. You can save a lot of time and trouble that way.

 

[Schurkey]

Is this enough information to know what the problem is?

Not
Even
Close.

There's about a hundred things that could cause those symptoms.

I was hoping someone would have a really good idea of what it was without me needing to check for spark and I could just get the part and fix the problem. Will a OBD 1 let me know the problem if the engine light is on?

Connecting a scan tool is a good start.

"I" would be looking for spark, and for fuel spraying from the two injectors when someone else cranks the engine.

No spark = ignition problems including failed timing chain or distributor gear
No fuel spray = fuel pump, filter, injector, wire harness, or ECM problems

No spark AND no fuel spray? Most likely is a failed pickup coil or failed ignition module, but a defective wire harness or ECM are also possibilities.

You're not going to fix this based on Internet Advice. Get your ass under the hood and start inspecting stuff.

 

[RLSULLY]

I hope I'm putting this in the right place...
and hopefully someone can direct me in the right direction.

I was driving my 1994 Sierra 1500 and it started to sputter like it was running
out of gas. This happened for about 3 seconds then it stalled. I tried restarting
but it only cranks strong without any sign of turning over.
I got the truck towed home and over the past 1.5 weeks I replaced the fuel
pump, EGR and less than a year ago I put in a fuel filter. The truck still won't
start.

Is this enough information to know what the problem is? This wasn't a problem
that was building and getting worse. The truck ran fine until It stalled in the
middle of the road and now it won't start.

Look at your rotar and wiring.Same thing happened to me.My rotar was burned through at the top.No spark.

 

[RLSULLY]

I hope I'm putting this in the right place...
and hopefully someone can direct me in the right direction.

I was driving my 1994 Sierra 1500 and it started to sputter like it was running
out of gas. This happened for about 3 seconds then it stalled. I tried restarting
but it only cranks strong without any sign of turning over.
I got the truck towed home and over the past 1.5 weeks I replaced the fuel
pump, EGR and less than a year ago I put in a fuel filter. The truck still won't
start.

Is this enough information to know what the problem is? This wasn't a problem
that was building and getting worse. The truck ran fine until It stalled in the
middle of the road and now it won't start.

Check your rotar.I had the same problem. My rotar cap was burned through, causing no spark.

 

[simonphelps08]

Now that everyone is done getting mad and making fun of the stupid kid I'm back with more info. With as little explaining as possible I tried to checking for spark the other day and didn't get it. Being that I had never checked for spark before I didn't trust myself when I wasn't getting a spark, So I came here to see if I could get more help. It turns out I was expecting too much from the little info I had. If I would have known I wouldn't have asked.

SO here's the deal. I trusted that I was right and I wasn't getting spark and I replaced the ignition coil and ignition control module. The truck still didn't start.

This morning I checked spark in a different location and I found out that I have spark going to the distributor but there is no spark leaving the distributor. (SO spark only gets as far as the distributor) This may be a dumb question but I am guessing this means I need a distributor? (or installing a new distributor would be a good place to start?

Thanks to anyone who can help if this is enough info this time

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Now that everyone is done getting mad and making fun of the stupid kid I'm back with more info. With as little explaining as possible I tried to checking for spark the other day and didn't get it. Being that I had never checked for spark before I didn't trust myself when I wasn't getting a spark, So I came here to see if I could get more help. It turns out I was expecting too much from the little info I had. If I would have known I wouldn't have asked.

SO here's the deal. I trusted that I was right and I wasn't getting spark and I replaced the ignition coil and ignition control module. The truck still didn't start.

This morning I checked spark in a different location and I found out that I have spark going to the distributor but there is no spark leaving the distributor. (SO spark only gets as far as the distributor) This may be a dumb question but I am guessing this means I need a distributor? (or installing a new distributor would be a good place to start?

Thanks to anyone who can help if this is enough info this time

Hey your good these can be a pain to figure and everybody's different and has different approaches on how they test or respond. Heres my input. Btw I'm just now chiming. Havent read the whole thread yet. If you replaced the coil and ignition module and still no spark accept for distributor. Then make sure your wires are good and havent been beat and cracked. Maybe check for continuity if not sure. Your distributor has a wire on the back. Make sure that's good and plugged in.



Now heres where I can be wrong..... I need another opinion. But I would plug the coil wire to the distributor and unplug the rest of the wires at the distributor. Crank the motor and check if spark comes out on each leg. If not replace the distributor.... before doing that GET ANOTHER OPINION. Not trying to have you damage anything

 

[RawbDidIt]

Pull the distributor cap and see what's wrong. If all the contacts look good, have a buddy crank the engine with the cap off and watch the rotor, you may have eaten some teeth on the distributor gear and it may not be spinning. No spin means either all spark on one cylinder, or no spark on any cylinder. Either way, you shouldn't need an entire distributor unless the distributor shaft failed. You either need a new distributor cap, or a new distributor gear.

Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk

 

[Schurkey]

I have spark going to the distributor but there is no spark leaving the distributor. (SO spark only gets as far as the distributor)

You have spark from the coil to the distributor. You don't have spark coming out of the distributor.

Replace the cap and rotor, not the whole distributor.

Most likely, the carbon button at the center of the cap has worn away, and the steel tab on the rotor may be damaged. This often happens due to a faulty plug wire including the coil wire. Excessive spark plug gap can do it, too. But there are other ways for the cap and rotor to fail.

It would be worth your time to verify all the spark plug wires, and the spark plugs as well.

 

[Supercharged111]

Now that everyone is done getting mad and making fun of the stupid kid I'm back with more info. With as little explaining as possible I tried to checking for spark the other day and didn't get it. Being that I had never checked for spark before I didn't trust myself when I wasn't getting a spark, So I came here to see if I could get more help. It turns out I was expecting too much from the little info I had. If I would have known I wouldn't have asked.

SO here's the deal. I trusted that I was right and I wasn't getting spark and I replaced the ignition coil and ignition control module. The truck still didn't start.

This morning I checked spark in a different location and I found out that I have spark going to the distributor but there is no spark leaving the distributor. (SO spark only gets as far as the distributor) This may be a dumb question but I am guessing this means I need a distributor? (or installing a new distributor would be a good place to start?

Thanks to anyone who can help if this is enough info this time

Dude we're here to help you through the troubleshooting process, but you have to be willing to do what's asked to get it figured out. I had an 88 that intermittently died and then one day died and never came back. Ended up being the pickup inside the distributor. @Schurkey likely knows how to identify this without resorting to the parts cannon, but cap and rotor are consumable so always a good place to start.