'98 died in the driveway. Won't restart.

[atschirner]

Here's the story, 155k on my '98 K2500. Left it sitting for a week, started it, all was well, idled down the driveway about 15 seconds, truck died. Tried to restart and it sounded like it had no compression. First thought was broken timing chain or cam.

Off to the garage for a teardown and a looksee. Removed enough parts to see the timing chain and intake manifold to watch the valves move. All was well. While cranking the engine in this condition it started to sound like it was building compression again.

Pulled the timing gears and inspected the keyways and keys for shearing or excesive wear. Everything looked ok. Installed new Cloyes gears and chain and a new waterpump while we were there.

Next step was to bolt enough parts back on to try starting the beast again.

With the intake back on but the "hat" off the intake and no pumps in place it did start but has at least one dead hole. I didn't bring it off idle or let it run more than 3 seconds so I can't provide information about quantity or color of smoke from the exahust.

So, here are my questions. Where to look next? Is it worth pulling the heads in the truck or just yanking the whole dang thing out into the light? What most likely let go under these startup conditions? And lastly, what's a clean '98 ext cab 5 speed worth in Kansas City as is?

Thanks in advance for you help and advice.

[Chuck1]

Have you checked the FSD .Thats exactly how my truck acted and I put on a new FSD and it fixed it right up.

[atschirner]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't go there since I replaced it last year and relocated to an external heatsink. The orginal is still on the pump. I'll switch back over and give it a try.

[DChristie]

Make sure you check your connections too. I got to play this exact game about three weeks ago.

Bad connection on my extension harness, it worked for over a year.


DChristie

[tom.mcinerney]

a compression test confirms mechanical integrity of crank/cam/timing chain/cylinders/valves without that much fuss.

'cracking' fuel line union nuts at injectors gives some indication of fuel + electronic pump action.

harness grounds + battery connections help.