Thinking the worst...here's what happened

[frotosride]

Looks like its been longer than I thought! Now to find a ride to get new ones..

[frotosride]

Pulled the rest and no obvious signs of blow by but the truck didn't run much in this condition.#'s 8, 6,4 were really easy to get out. No effort at all on initial torque to losen them. Gonna get new plugs eat and put them in tonight. Hopefully the new knock sensor and plugs fixed it

[frotosride]

[frotosride]

OK so I figured out the hard starting issue in the previoise video. I knew it it just took me a few to remember how temperamental these TBIs are with proper voltage. Offer setting a tool bag on the petal for a while and letting the battery charge a little he started running without needing extra juice. Only died on me twice as soon as the e-fans kicked on and that's when it dawned on me bout the battery being low on juice. Right now he is ideling to get enough juice to do a test drive in the morning. I'd do it now but after the DRI king the base police are sure to stop me and I'd never do anything like that anyway...

Soooo the answer was the knock sensor. The new ones will allow the body to rotate causing mixed signals to be generated. This lead to Tue misfiring and blowing out a few insulators on the plugs ( thanks Vile )... Going to give the old boy a teat in the morning with the lighter of two bikes and pick me up a Yellow Top. These oreily batteries are good for a short time if they have any abuse or stupidity thrown at them. Thanks for the help and I will record the test drive in the morning. Off to my cosy metal tube to get some rest.

[Irish_Alley]

.  No codes or my light doesn't work.

 I have unplugged the IAC and no change at all. I unplugged the coolant temp sensor and idle went up slightly but all symptoms were still there.

when you first turn the key to "accessory" your CEL and battery light should be on till you start the engine

[frotosride]

[frotosride]

.  No codes or my light doesn't work.

 I have unplugged the IAC and no change at all. I unplugged the coolant temp sensor and idle went up slightly but all symptoms were still there.

when you first turn the key to "accessory" your CEL and battery light should be on till you start the engine

So chances are my bulb is blown. Do you know what bulb I need too buy. I just picked up new header gaskets so I will pull the cluster apart to fix that bulb today.

[frotosride]

Test went good. Bought a new header gasket but when I went to replace it I managed to get quite a bit of turns on most of the bolts. Got it fixed at the block. My collector still leaks a little but I'm not that worried about it. Once again thanks for the help!

[frotosride]

So I drove the truck about 60-70 miles yesterday. Mostly at highway speeds of 60-75 and occasional 80 for passing. The truck ran fine except the stupid slight surging at idle when in park. Most days I just turn the truck of wait a sec then start it back up and the old man does just fine. Anyway, at the end of my trip I had slowed to 45-55 and I felt the engine stumble. Gas a little gas and bang. But he kept running. It did it again but this time he completly quit! I put the truck in neutral and coated as close to base as I could. Turned the key and he started right up. Not willing to test the limits I babied the old man to my usual parking spot. Went to an actual dealership and got an acdelco knock sensor instead of whatever brans I was getting from advanced auto. I have driven the truck about 20 miles or so since but I'm wondering if there may be something else causing this. Thankfully I didn't blow an plug insulators! Any thoughtas out there.

2 just in case I need to cover my bases so I have a carb on stand by. Its a little to big for the 350 (750 edelbrock) but it will get me to Maine and that's all I care about!  My biggest question is is there anything I need to do to the factory HEI for it to function with the carb? And, what size are the supply and return line fittings on the back of the TBI so I can get an adapter?
Thanks in advance for the help!

[VileZambonie]

Sounds like it backfired through the intake. Have you replaced the ignition module?

[frotosride]

No not yet. It is the original one so its worth a shot. Gonna pick one up tomorrow hopefully!!

[VileZambonie]

Well you may want to do some pinpoint testing before you just throw parts at it.

[frotosride]

True..and I of all people know better than that. However I got a new one anyway. Replacing this has led me to a question. So I took the cap and rotor button off to replace the module and finished up then went the start it. I still had the hood up and as I turned the key I saw the rotor button sitting on the radiator. Lot of good that's gonna be. Either way I decided to check the clearance between the button and pins on the cap. There is no way that I'm not jumping a huge gap just to get to the pins on The cap. Is there a specific clearance I should have between them? Up until now I always thought that the tip of the button brushed the bottom of the pins or maybe even the inside of the pins but there is no way for that to happen inside my dist. Cap. There are wear marks on the inside of the poles but none on the tip. I'm sure gonna replace the button BC there was a little carbon on the tip and the coil end is worn down.
Comemt think of it this may be causing some of my issues like at idle.. If I'm jumping a gap between the button and cap pins it would make sense that it would stumble. On the other hand it should alos be noticeable at higher rpms!

[VileZambonie]

No the rotor does not brush the cap terminals.

[frotosride]

It amazes me at how little of a backfire..even just once can bust the insulators on the spark plugs. It happened with the second knock sensor incident. I didn't want to believe it at first but eventually checked and sure enough. I just got those acdelcos last week. Now I got new ones. I also replaced the coil because the pack of windings in the center were extremely loose. I have never herd this truck idle so low..its crazy. I still got a bit of a miss at idle but not sure what that could be. Either way I think I get him runninggood enough to get me to Maine!!!hopefully? Only a 650 mile trip will tell.