[Second Series]

I have been posting about this in my build thread in the ’47 to ’59 section, but there are things that are specific to this ’88 to ’98 section.
Progress has been slow and steady. About a year after I brought the truck home from the shop, I got around to repairing the heater hose connection that snapped off on the manifold.

Half a year after that I was ready to start the engine. It wouldn’t start. Tried dumping gas in but no go. I got a new battery but still wouldn’t start. I started looking at the fuel delivery. I put a test light on the fuel pump wire. Turn the key on, light comes on and then goes off after a moment. That part was working, but was the pump running? I disconnected the ground from the fuel tank and placed a current meter in series between the ground and frame. My meter goes up to 2 Amps. I turned the key on and the meter went to OL for a moment. Looks like the fuel pump is drawing current. Lastly I unscrewed the fuel line from the throttle body, it was wet. Awhile ago I was troubleshooting a garden tiller. I needed a way to check for spark. I looked for spark checkers on-line and found two kinds available. I was not impressed with the reviews on either, so I made my own. I took a switch that contains a neon bulb, and wired that to a spark plug. Not for the spark plug itself, but for the terminal of the spark plug. I connected one spark plug wire to my tester and placed the light in the hole for the cowl vent drain so I could see it while cranking. No spark. Look under the distributor cap to find a rusted mess.

The ignition coil ohmed out good, the Pickup coil tested bad. I put in a new distributor and the ’88 k2500 came to life. The truck was in a paint/body shop for awhile. They liked to remove paint with a disk and didn’t cover anything up. I suspect the magnet attracted the metal dust and with some humidity the rusting was accelerated. Ran fine when parked…

I was able to drive the truck a short distance to it’s current location. I have been starting it occasionally just to keep it running. I had hooked up a laptop with WinALDL to the ALDL port and found the battery was not charging and there was a vacuum leak. I had disconnected the gauge cluster, turns out the battery wasn’t charging with the cluster disconnected. I hooked up the cluster and replaced the battery and it started right up and ran o.k. The vacuum leak was a hose to the charcoal cannister was disconnected.

I’m getting closer to finishing the build so I’m looking forward to getting on the road. I tried to start recently, but the battery was dead. Charged it up and the truck started, I let it idle for awhile and then it shut down. It was hard to start after that. Up until this point when I start it the battery light would be on for a moment and then go off. I thought that was normal. Now the battery light stays on. I checked the running voltage and it was close to 12v. I checked for codes and got 33, MAP error.
Took the alternator to the parts store and they confirmed it was not charging. I got a new alternator and saw it had the 6 rib pulley. The parts guy said to swap it over, o.k. I spent half a day trying to figure out how to do that, went to several other parts stores looking for the special tool. In the end I figured it out with the tools that I already have. I have the hex bit set, so hex bit in the alternator shaft, Deep socket over that, 3/8” extension through the 1/2” socket and it was easy. Now the battery light comes on while cranking but turns off while cranking too. I let the truck idle for awhile, it did not die, but the throttle seemed less responsive. It was hard to start, I had to try to start it several times before it ran. I checked for trouble codes again, but nothing was set. I’m not sure if the code 33 was thrown from the no charge, or for the MAP sensor. I tried the MAP sensor from my other truck, but it was still hard to start and the throttle seemed less responsive.

I went to the parts yard and got a handful of obsolete junk for $5.00 including an EGR valve and module, Fuel pressure regulator spring and diaphragm, connectors for the fuel line to throttle body, and the thing I actually need, the Injector connectors. Most of the trucks in the yard were too new and had the top ends removed, or nothing left. It looked like they were low on stock, there was an empty row. There was one TBI truck, and that had some things I was looking for. I thought this other stuff might be useful some day.

I was planning on testing the fuel pressure, so I picked up a gauge. I was about to head to the hardware store to get some fittings to T into the fuel line when I decided to start the truck one more time. I had also purchased a MAP sensor and fuel filter. I installed those and then it would not start. I didn’t know what to do, so I though the most obvious solution was probably the right solution. I put some gas in the tank. It fired right up and runs strong and smooth. I’m happy it’s running good, I’m kicking myself for thinking something was bad when it was just out of gas.