Topic: starting a truck that has been sitin'

[chris672]

When I bought my 81 Toy there wasnt a tranny because it had been pulled to replace the through out bearing.  The guy decided to sell the truck before he got the tranny back in.  He said that the truck ran fine before the tranny was pulled.  The truck hasn't ran in at least six months.  I just put a 5spd in, new battery, new starter. and new plugs.  The truck turns over but doesnt start.  What are some things that I should look for or try?

[brainlessfool]

well cheak for spark, and fuel, in the carb. if you have spark when it truns over try putting a LITTLE gas down the carb and try again. good luck.

[79coyotefrg]

you might pull the plugs and check the compression,might should have done that befor the $$ changed hands but we understand these things
if you have fuel in the carb and spark, and it still doesnt start check plug gap, some people are stupid that way, i had a guy sell me a 79 celica GT for $200 cause he couldnt get it started, i towed it home, pulled the plugs checked the compression, had 180 +/- 5 psi on all the cylinders,  i looked at the plugs, they were new plugs,   apparently he had taken them out of the box and screwed them in, 3 of them were .080 and one was .050, i gapped the plugs started the car laid rubber about 80 feet down the street

sold the car about 3 weeks later for a grand$

[84runner]

Hey Chris it takes 3 things to make a vehicle start fuel,compression, and spark. Once u got those, u have to make sure the truck is timmed. Check the spark at the plug wire and coil wire. make sure your cap and rotor are clean. You should be able to start it with just a can of carb cleaner.

[BigMike]

You guys are overlooking the #1 reason why his truck is not running: Bad Gas. The truck has been sitting for what you believe 6 months, who knows about the gas, maybe its 7 or 8 months old. Gas goes sour in just over 1 month.
When I got my Stage 1 engine in my car, it wouldn't start and I was quite a rookie back then. I tried EVERYTHING a good mechanic could. Fuel pressure, spark, proper timming, great compression, brand new ignition system, ect ect ect.
It would crank crank crank crank and then try to start but couldn't get above like 200 or 300 rpm. Good ol' pops told me to drain out that gas and get some fresh gas in, so it was like 3AM and I was able to find an open Arco, got their best gas 91 oct, poured it in, and then tried it. It cranked a couple of times, then started up (!) and for the first couple of seconds it sounded like it was running on 2 cylinders until it got all that crappy fuel out of the lines and back into the tank, and then it purred like a girl thingy........................   cat.

Try that :thumb:
BigMike

[BigMike]

Oh, I forgot to add that my car had sat around from late Sept to Januaray when I got it running with my new engine. And the gas was maybe a couple of weeks old before I put the car down, so that was about 4 to 5 months old gas.

Cya
BigMike

[BigMike]

I last thing :talking: The gas was 91oct top grade Chevron Techron.

The good stuff

[Installer_Joe]

bigmike

use the modify button. thats what its there for

i could have gotten your car to start on bad gas but your engine is to bad

joe

[95TacoTruck]

I had the same problem, I found out the timing was 180 off and it wouldnt fire for nothing spun the rotor around and boom fired right up.