'75 Cheyenne Troubleshooting Help

[GotIPA]

Alright, idiot posting here. Driving down the road after about 5 minutes of traffic, my impatience sets in once the right lane opens up so I slam the gas pedal down. 15 seconds later everything dies. Truck has gas and cranks but isn't turning over and smells flooded. On visual inspection nothing is smoking or out of the ordinary. I get it briefly turned over after letting it sit about 5 minutes and then dies almost immediately. I bought this baby to learn on but honestly I'm not sure where to start. Can someone point me in the right direction or link me to some resources.
Many thanks.


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[VileZambonie]

Check for spark first. Common problem for loss of spark is pick up coil and module. You can buy a complete new distributor rather inexpensively if that is the case.

[Irish_Alley]

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=29995.0

to me ive personally had the ignition coil get warm then stop working. ive had the pickup coil go bad and never start back up. the link i posted above you can test the ignition coil at home but the icm needs to be taken to a parts store that can test it. but remember those things might only fail once they warm up.

if the icm test good and the ignition coil seams to test good that leaves you with the pickup coil which you have to remove the whole distributor to replace and theres no testing for it. a duralast coil can cost you 25 and an AC can cost you 59. by that time it may or may not be your issue and the next best option is to order a whole distributor.

but get your parts tested and when the test the icm get them to test it a few times to let it warm up

[VileZambonie]

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=29995.0

to me ive personally had the ignition coil get warm then stop working. ive had the pickup coil go bad and never start back up. the link i posted above you can test the ignition coil at home but the icm needs to be taken to a parts store that can test it. but remember those things might only fail once they warm up.

if the icm test good and the ignition coil seams to test good that leaves you with the pickup coil which you have to remove the whole distributor to replace and theres no testing for it. a duralast coil can cost you 25 and an AC can cost you 59. by that time it may or may not be your issue and the next best option is to order a whole distributor.

but get your parts tested and when the test the icm get them to test it a few times to let it warm up

I think you have that backwards. Pick-up coils tend to fail as they warm up. You can test the pick up coil using an ohm meter. Check resistance across the two terminals and each terminal to ground. Performing the test on a vacuum advance distributor, actuate the mechanism as well and any change in resistance requires replacement.

You do not need to have the ICM tested at an auto parts store and quite frankly I wouldn't trust the goomba working the counter to test it. For the amount of time you spend monkeying around with this it's cheaper to replace the distributor. It's like rebuilding an alternator these days. Time is valuable, by the time you add up the cost of parts you can buy a new unit and be on your merry way.

[Irish_Alley]

from the one i had (could of been the odd ball) i made it about 10 minutes from home she quit on me. let her cool down tried her and still no spark. buddy came and picked me up got a coil and icm still didnt fix it. next day i think i replaced the pickup coil and she fired right up. the reason i would go to a parts store to test the icm is they hook it up to a computer that will turn it on and get her hot and all these pretty lights will come on. its kind of hard to screw that up but i wouldnt put it past most them parts people

[haroldwca]

With due respect to Vile and Irish and the immense amount of info you guys bring to the forum, I would like to look in the other direction (fuel vs. spark). The OP mentioned two facts that seem related: 1) going from light load to instantaneous full throttle, followed by 2) everything dies, with a smell of a flooded carb.  Additionally, he did say that he got it to fire, but it died immediately.  No further info was given as to what happened after letting it sit for a day or a week, but I don't think we can ignore the possibility of some sort of carburetor issue.  I realize that's vague, but I wanted to open the possibility that the problem might be other than electrical.

[VileZambonie]

When you have a crank no start condition you first verify spark> then fuel> then timing> then compression.