Need help! Chevy '84 S10 wont start after been running till it cools down.?

Question

My truck wont start if its been running and I try to restart it. Takes like 15-45 min to start again after cooling down. Just recently i'm hearing a clicking noise coming from the distruburtor and wondering if this is causing it or something like a bad coil or electronic modular going out. Any sugggestions/ help is appreciated . Thanx! Greg

Answer 1

I strongly believe you have a problem with fuel vapor lock. Here's the scenario that I think you have: you drive the car for a while and then stop at a gas station or convenience store and shut the engine off. when you come back out 7-15 minutes later the engine cranks and cranks but won't fire. If you shut it off and restart it in under 5 minutes there is no problem; similarly, if you don't try to restart it for more than 20 minutes no problem. Does that sound right?

if so, the problem is with the fuel in the injector rails (or carburetor/fuel lines, whichever you have) evaporating. the heat from the engine actually causes the fuel to boil and turn into vapor. The vapor isn't enough fuel to get the engine started and the condition is called vapor lock. When the engine cools down, the fuel condenses back into a liquid and you can once again start the car.

this condition is very common this time of year. The fuel stations still have a 'winter' blend gasoline in their tanks. The winter blend has additives to help the fuel evaporate in cold weather. The trouble is that if you get a hot day and have a winter blend the fuel evaporates too easily and causes the vapor lock.

the solution is to switch brands of gas until everyone is on the 'summer' blend. You don't need to go up in octane to a premium, just change the brand of gas. April/May are the traditional change-over times so it depends on the refinery and the blend as to when you're truck will fix itself.

hope that answers your question

Answer 2

Had an 86 that did the same thing after I went through some deep water on accident, I tried everything, fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, new distributor cap and rotor, new distributor, timing, checked the fuel lines, tried additives for vapor lock... etc... etc... etc... the only thing I could do is keep a can of starting fluid with me and spray it into the carb when it happened... not the best news, sorry...

Hope you have better luck, I loved that truck!

Answer 3

i think your rite in assumeing the coil;,stick with that ,.
the clicking coming from dist.is most likely rotery bug,,or crack in cap ,i would sugest replaceing both,coil and dist.cap..

Answer 4

DUDE YOUR TRUCK IS OUT OF TIME. MEANING THE THE TIMING IS OFF MOST LIKELY A CRACKED DISTRIBUTOR CAP