LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

383 lt1wont start up

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Old Jul 5, 2012 | 09:15 PM
  #1  
skylert's Avatar
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Default 383 lt1wont start up

just picked up this 97 t/a with 383 lt1, t56, 4.10 gears. it was a non running car when i picked it up. the guy said it has 1500miles on the rebuild. said he was driving an radiator blew its side out spewing coolant everywhere in the engine compartment. the electrcal went nuts and he shut it down. he was disabled so decided to sell it. i got it to crank but wont fire. i checked an it has power to the coil and power out of the coil. plugs are getting nothing. cant hear a fuel pump. windows wont go up. have checked all the fuzea an relays. its definately got something electrical going on. sprayed a bit of ether in it when first got it cranking an nada. then i checked the fire to the plug. nada. im figuring this freshly rebuilt motor blew a head gasket to be able to put enough pressure in the radiator to blow the side out. but still gotta try to get it to fire up to check. no water in the oil.
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Old Jul 6, 2012 | 04:43 AM
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First thing that raises a red flag is the lack of hearing a fuel pump. Start there.

Unfortunately it's very difficult for us in cyberland to diagnose a car with electrical gremlins, especially when it deals with a soaked engine bay. I'd familiarize yourself with a multimeter, pick up a FSM, and dive in.
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Old Jul 6, 2012 | 07:48 AM
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Well to start, replace the opti. Sounds like it got wet. Thats about the only thing in there that will completely **** a brick when the engine bay gets wet. Then put a fuel pressure guage on the shrader valve, test your fuel pressure, should be around 40psi, just to verify that the pump is not working.
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Old Jul 6, 2012 | 08:16 AM
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Does it even have a fuel pump installed? I've seen that **** before, people selling a car sans fuel pump.
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Old Jul 7, 2012 | 01:29 AM
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hook up the fuel pump prime and see if you can hear it. Make sure theres a strong spark at the plugs. But the thought of not spark at plugs and no fuel makes me think opti or blown fuses
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Old Jul 7, 2012 | 10:15 AM
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working on this thing. picked up a chilton so i can make sense of all this opti. i have my other t a sitting next to it with the stock lt1 so i can probably get away with robbing parts
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