IndyZman

Yesterday it was about 50 degrees outside so i was getting ready to move the car into the garage and move my 98 Blazer outdoors, I turned the key to my 97Z and it fired right-up strong,... it had sat outdoors without being driven or started for about 2 weeks, so i wanted to let the settled oil do it's thing first, so i shut the engine OFF for a few minutes. I moved the Blazer outdoors to make room for the car and then climbed back into the 97Z, turned the key and it didn't even attempt to fire-up. I tried a few times and nothing but engine being turned by starter, strong and fast as always,.. yet that's all,.... no attempt at firing not even for a micro-second. I pumped the peddle a bunch at this time and tried again but with nothing still. The gas guage was at 1/8 to 1/4 full, so i poured about 1.5 gals. from a gas can into it and tried again,...again nothing. After about 5 of such attempts i figured the batt would go, i hooked up jumper cables to keep on the starting process with a full 12V charge. I tried about 3 more attemps, but nothing. I just finished trying it again today and still nothing. I have made no repairs or adjustments recently and cannot figure-out why after just a few minutes it can go from running to then not even try to start, without even moving it or anything.
Has this happened to anyone else or does anyone have some insight on the problem?

blwnlt4

Try to figure out if your getting fuel pressure or a spark.

MEAN LT1

As the above poster said, check the basics first. When mine did that it was the ICM. Just something to check from experience. Good luck

Injuneer

Check it for codes?

ricehammer

Check for fire. If -

1) There is fire at the plugs then you can rule out the ICM and Coil, but not the opti.

2) No fire at the plug but fire at the coil then it could be the coil wire or opti.

3) No fire from the coil then see if the opti is sending signal to the PCM like this http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#opti_test. If the opti is sending signal then check the coil like this http://shbox.com/1/coil_testing.jpg. If the coil checks out, move on to the ICM. There's no way to test the ICM at home, however Advance can test it for you.

If you have fire, check your fuel pressure. The Schrader valve is located here http://shbox.com/1/fp_reg.jpg.

IndyZman

Thanks to all your help, I'll give these suggestion a try! And i'll
get back to you with the results.
Unfortunately I'm working on about 5 projects at this time. Gotta flush-out my Blazer's heater-core,..seems that dex-cool clogs-up blazer heater -cores. The Blazer is all over the road when driving so i need to investigate it's pitman arm and idler arm, and maybe even the ball joints.
It also has a ticking turnsignal relay that won't stop ticking. I've been told that that is likely a bad multifunction switch. With Winter here, i guess i need to iron the Blazers problems out 1st, since my getting stuck in snow drifts in the Z, twice last winter,...was less than a chearful time.That's the reason i bought a 4x4Blazer (but they have more problems on average than a Z-28)....
Anyway,...Chevy's either you love them or ya hate them.
thanks again,
Mike

IndyZman

Well I climbed in and tried starting it a couple a days ago and really pumped the peddle quite a few times after attempts to start it without pumping gas peddle were unsuccessful. Well pumping didn't help, at the moment, that is. When i got homefromwork today, i tried again,....just turned the key and "bam" ,...fired as soon as the key was turned; but it lasted about 3 seconds then died, without being able to be re-started, even after pumping gas peddle again....without reading codes yet,..i would think that maybe the gas isn't getting to the engine , but that's just a novice guess. With this new development which step should i take?
thanks again!

greenmachinedriver

Qiut pumping the gas pedal. it confuses your pcm. that only works on vehicles with a carborator. you need to check fuel pressure and spark.

SS RRR

Could be a coil or ICM prollem. Check for codes. Get a fuel pressure guage on it as well.

IndyZman

Not into spending money on every possibility, so i chose the least expensive item, 1st so I chose the fuel filter, could'nt easily reach the bleeder fitting, so ended-up with about 3-4 oz. of fuel dripping out at the fuel filter fittings (rags and drip-pan were sufficient). Although after the replacement, was still unable to get it to turn-over,...Until, i read someone else on the board explain the requirement to cycle the ign.key on/off multiple times, to get the pump to force fuel back in the emptied fuel line. It was very rough idling for the 1st 5-10 times of running; I also seemed to have to allow the car to be restarted and then allowed to idle multiple number of times, ...my guess is that the computer needed to be allowed to re-analyze all air-flow/fuel pararmeters, in order to stabalize before idle resumed a normal pattern.

IndyZman

set me back 900 bucks for the shop down the street to replace the fuelpump,after it died on me, right around the corner from that shop. Diagnosis showed either 11 pounds or 17 pounds of pressure at the fuel rail......When it cut-off on me it was 1030 at night and would have been quite a dissaster had it cut-off out on the highway in the middle of no-where. I counted my Blessings for it happenning where it DID.
Thanx for all the suggestions!!!