I had an 87 Olds Cutlass with the Buick v-6 Great engine. It started dying periodically at lights and other bad places. Replaced the ignition modual, wires and plugs and that didn't fix it. It ran pretty good except for that one thing. I had an old mechanic show me a trick. Started it up, tapped on the crank sensor with a long extinsion, it died. After all the stuff I tried it was something that simple. Don't know what kind of set up the 4.3 has but I would think it might be similar. 90% of engine problems are usually ignition (or electronics on todays cars.)
"Simplification is your Best Friend" You're good to go. Keep breaking it all down to simple tasks and walk through it. Ask your dad if he knows the old bull and the young bull story. If not PM me and I'll tell it to you. "Simplification is your Best Friend" Yes. Now live it. Slow down just a little. Just a little. That V6 this one is actually a damn good lil motor and will serve you well for a very long time if you take good care of it and listen to what it needs and wants. I know you want a v-8 and...but it will come. You need good reliable transportation to acomplish a goal. School! Priority one. Get that down first. You are in school, please stay there or you could end up like most of us (shh rest of you clowns go with me on this) and if that doesn't scare you, a bunch of us can just come up there and kick your ass. . Seriously please just keep the priorites straight. Look at what everyone has said here. Pickup Coil very good catch to check. Find all fuel filters and delivery change em if you haven't in a year... go through what everyone has put down on here. Print it all out if you have to. And go to other boards to get answers if you need to it is ok. I know you are young and fustrated right now. That is all good channeled in the right direction and in the right way. Keep the head on straight and work slowly towards the goals with no debt and you will be happy. One person said keep truck for parts running and build something else. Not a bad idea just add school to the first part.
Okay, TexasCherryBomb; seesko has a good point. Along with my earlier suggestion that you check the fuel pressure with a gauge, Here's my last bit of advice. Don't just go out and buy a crankshaft position sensor(if your motor has one for sure but, I really sure it does). This is just the first step in systematically determining what's wrong. First, understand that the following isn't designed to fix your motor, it's suggested as a way to get your mind on the problem at hand and to educate yourself so that someday you'll know more about your motor than the average mechanic.................Then you will understand why a particular person prefers a certain motor, sbc, sbf, Chevy L-6, etc. It's because their experience and their comfort level is in that particular place. What to do is get a Hanyes manual at the library and read up and see what it says about the crankshaft position sensor and the ignition module and the whatchamakallut. Then locate it; . Check that connection. Then check the reading, you'll need a multimeter, of the specification in the manual. If it's your first time using a multimeter, that will be your first challenge, to try to understand that. If at first you don't get it, don't let that stop you. We all had to learn and some of these things aren't easy. But you can try. Another way would be to unplug the wire to the sensor and unscrew the sensor and take it to Autozone or any good parts store. In most of them they will test it for you. Good luck, keep on keepin' on.
Sounds like the ignition module in the distributer. I had the same thing going on with my work truck. It would die and start up and go a day or two, or maybe a minuite or two before it would die again......
this motor doesnt use the crank sensor like the 3.8 total different ignition system, my guess if someone pushed me into a corner would be an ignition module they get hot and quit if you need any help just pm me this system is almost bullet proof and easy to diagnose...r
So if this thing has the computer in it to run the TBI, has anyone thought to check and see if there are any codes set to help diagnose the problem? I like the TBI enough that I'm seriously entertaining installing the whole works into my '50 Chevy - it turns out my daily Suburban probably won't pass another annual inspection, and there's no sense letting the motor go to waste -
Does the truck shut off when you let off of the gas or does it randomly shut off while you are giving it gas? I had an 89 s-10 blazer with the 4.3 liter with over 175,000 miles on it. It started to stall on me after going up big hills which was unfortunate because I lived on top of a gigantic hill. The blazer would run fine all the way to the top of the hill and when I let off of the gas to slow down and brake for my driveway it would stall out on me so I would have to shift it into neutral and rev the motor to keep it from stalling because it wasn’t fun going down my drive way without power anything (My driveway was about 150 years long all downhill with some nice bends in it). Check your EGR valve. It is located right behind the throttle body. Remove your air filter and disconnect the vaccume line that runs to the EGR valve. Remove the 2 bolts that keep it in place and clean the inside of it out. On these motors the EGR valve builds up with carbon and get stuck and cause it car to idle rough and stall when not giving it any gas That is what I did to fix mine and every 3 or 4 months it would do the same thing again so Do yourself a favor and go to your local auto parts store and buy a new gasket with a built in screen for the EGR valve. It will save you from having to keep pulling out the valve and cleaning it. After I installed the gasket with the built in screen I never had any other problems with it. Here is what you should be looking for assuming your motor isnt the 4.3 liter Vortec
If your EGR is bad, it will run better with the line disconnected but will set a check engine light if you run it that way for very long. I replaced mine with an AC Delco I got from Rock Auto online, they're not cheap, but on a 350 it's damned near impossible to get on the bolts short of a ratcheting box-end wrench with special bends in it, so I just bought one and pried the old one out of the way as needed to get on the bolts and get it apart.
X2,what he said. Edelbrock makes a nice 4bbl aluminum intake for the 4.3,get one and get rid of the TBI mess,use a holley 390 cfm vac.sec. carb on it and toss in a non-computer HEI distributor and forget about the all the convoluted FI wiring and plumbing. Year ago I did the same with a chevy 3.8 (229 cid) V-6 and it worked very well,and the car was the epitome of reliabillity (was my grandma's car),heck the car even had a mild crane cam in it,and I rebuilt a th350 with good converter and a HD style shift kit in it to replace the 200 metric POS. Anytime I worked on it,I would use the good performance parts to help get rid of some of the annoying quirks and deficiencies that car had,needed a timing chain,did the cam & lifters too,needed a valve job,did the intake and carb too,that sorta thing. Eventually that car in normal driving was much better all around than the way the factory had built it,and when run hard it had a noticable improvement in performance as well,man that thing would even chirp second when you really got on it. For a V-6,that thing ran pretty good. Got good mileage too,that little 390 cfm holley impressed me. But I digress for now... Just tossing out my thoughts,take 'em or leave 'em.
The way I heard it, there are only three kinds of people in the world: (1) those who are good with numbers, and (2) those who are not.
Come on over to www.67-72chevytrucks.com. You can find people that are very knowledgeable about these trucks. Michael
One other thing to check .... they are VERY important......make sure they are every where.....You can not have too many GROUNDS
well i give the kid credit for keeping a level head with all the flak he's been getting. there are plenty of assholes on here with a decent post count to their name that would have gone completely ballistic with some of these comments. good luck bro.
Pull the 4.3/700r4 out, set them aside. Put in a V8/4spd (whatever you're comfortable with). Get it running to your satisfaction. THEN take that 4.3 and put a carb on it, a 5spd behind it, and build a small, lightweight roadster around it. I guarantee that your opinion of that motor will do an about-face! Some of these guys forget that not all of us were born with vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom, like they were. Never stop learning. Have fun. Don't give up. And above all else-Remain Calm.
Take that buzzy little bastard out. Throw it in a ditch. Find yourself a good running 283/305/307 for cheap. Install it with a 2bbl and a standalone kit on the 700R. Take the 2 mpg penalty and enjoy your extra hundred foot pounds of torque and a level of smoothness you never dreamed with the 4.3 PS you can't imply any badness towards dads around here. Too many dads just waiting to pounce cause their own kids are punks. good luck
Ah, don't worry about my priorities.. they're in order. 1.Church (Working and growing spiritually.. ) 2.School (Getting a BFA in Graphic Design.. might go for a Master's) 3.Cars (BIG PASSION of mine) Anyways.. thanks for all of the advice y'all have given me. You guys have been wonderful. My dad took the truck out to the shop last night while I was at my office doing homework for class, and he fixed the problem. He's the mechanic, and I'm the body mod guy. He scratches my back and I scratch his. I probably should've mentioned that I'm building a '29 Model A Sports Coupe - Roadster .. "Coupster" right? (V8 and a 4-speed, naturally.. ) Anyways, so I'm just trying to focus on that build, but my truck's pretty selfish about that, so then after I finish the A, I'm turning my attention to that truck and I'm going to rebuild that thing through and through. I've got another '68 Chevy Short Wide that's in better shape that I'm going to do the body swap with. Then I'm definitely hitting it up with some body mods. Once again.. Thank you guys! THIS is why I love this site!
As I mentioned before.. My dad's the mechanic, I'm the body mod guy. All he did was replace the IAC (Idle Air Control, i guess?) It makes sense cuz whenever I took my foot off the gas, it'd try and die, or just die. So.. I drove it this morning and it seemed fine.
Glad she's running right for you. Sucks to have your wheels down. You sure got babtisim by fire. Too bad when you just ask for some positive feedback you get negitive BS. Your #1 priority is the right one.
Good deal. Good priorities. Now get that damn homework done so you can go outside and play this weekend. Oh and go get the old man a beer or soda just hand it to him, tell him thanks for all he has done for you, smile and walk off. Sounds like you got a good pops and he's got a good son.
Lol. Thanks. Baptism by fire isn't always a bad thing. Some things are learned better the hard way. And, I do work on my dad's '48 Chevy for him, which includes shaving emblems, rust repair, cab corner repair, rockers, bottom cowl repair, and plenty of body straightening.. so, I'm scratching his back as much as he is mine. Lol. Thanks y'all!
GOSPEL! Ya know, GM EFI even does a reasonable job of telling you what ails it. If you haven't checked the codes, you are wasting your time. Oh wait, no check engine light? Bummer. Spend $2 and put one on it. You know enough about the internet to come and cry on our shoulders, I am sure you can research GM TBI engine swaps and figure out how it's done. My apologies if I overlooked similar advice in my haste to jump on my soapbox..... EDIT: Damn! I missed the fix even. Sorry. Glad you're on the road. Sorry ass, good for nuthin 4.3 V6, @#$%^&......
The TBI setup is a very simple one in my experience. I ran one with almost no sensors on the thing, and it ran like a striped assed ape! In fact, I sold it to Toast on here, and he knows how strong it runs. With all that was missing, it shouldn't have ran the way it did. With that being said, I agree with the simplification of getting rid of the TBI and replacing it with a carb and HEI type distributor. That'll make many things much easier. And, as some others have said, there is no replacement for displacement. I do love the little 4.3 though. It was a little motor that did way more than it should have in a full sized ex-cab half ton truck.
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