Ive just about had it with this truck! 89 5.0. Was running fine, well sorta. Let it sit for about 10 days, now it wont start for crap! No codes at all, I can smell gas after a couple of attempts like its flooding, son says the spark plug wire "kicked" him when I was trying to test for spark. Burned up the dang starter yesterday trying to start it! My question is, when I turn the switch to on, should there be anything else to come on besides the fuel pump? (Which cuts off after a second or two.) IAC, TPS, etc.....so i can check for power there to be on the safe side!

 

Does it sound like it's turning over with its normal cadence? A skipped timing chain usually results in a noticeable uneven lope in the engine rollover. If everything else is working, should at least hear some belching, fahrting, snorting, and possible backfiring.

Fuel, air, spark, timing. Has to be one of these. Since you smell fuel, we'll push that on down the list of possibilities. 'Getting kicked' - OK, push spark on down the list as well. Timing - eh, if nothing has changed or been changed, we'll file this one for future reference, too.

Which brings us to air.

Have you tried nudging the throttle open just a tad to see if anything changes? Going on the guess that the IAC is not opening up as it should, thus not enough air. Wide-Open Throttle (WOT) kills the injectors - a handy feature if you've flooded it. Don't adjust the throttle plate set screw - it's not for setting idle, only meant to keep the butterfly off-seat enough to prevent sticking/wedging in the throat.

If the throttle nudge gets nothing - move on down the list. Spark would be my next choice - but opinions vary. Make sure the spark is strong enough to give a good blue spark in open air. An orange spark is weak - and it takes more voltage under compression to jump the gap - so that an orange spark in free air may not be a spark at all under compression.

IMO, TPS shouldn't keep it from starting - used more for throttle changes. The IAC on our generation is noted for fouling - may have a look at the plunger for free movement. Most notable symptom is erratic idle speeds.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

THIS PILE OFis running now! I got the starter on, hit the switch and it still wouldnt start. Went through my normal routine of checks, everything checked out. Decided I would stop and haul it somewhere toget looked at in the morning. For giggles I used the spare key, it started right up! Put the original key back in, it started, make sence doesnt it! Im still at a loss as to why it wouldnt start. I go back out 10 minutes later and it started again. Beats the out of me!

BTW, I did crack the throttle a little when all of this started! Thanks!

 

if you hate it so much, I'm sure there are a lot of people more than willing to take it off your hands

 

Bring me $1000 and its yours, also bring you trailer. I dont really want to sell it, its just been aggrevating since I bought it back, it was the only truck my Dad ever bought new, and was the last truck he ever bought.