Hi all! I'm new here and have a problem.

Just picked up an 1988 IROC with the 350 TPI, all stock. This car has not been run or started for the last 3 or 4 years. When it was parked it ran just fine and it started as soon as you turned the key over.

So I put a battery in and some fresh gas. Turned the key on, heard the fuel pump hum, and turned it over for several seconds, smelt gas under the hood but no start. Checked for spark at one of the plugs but saw nothing. Put in a new coil, nothing. Removed the dist cap and saw that the rotor and the contacts to the wires where very carboned, so I cleaned them up with some emery cloth. Nothing. Checked the module, found that the hard wire pigtail coming out from the module to the distributor did not look good. The bottom half of the connector was all gooey, almost looked like electrical corrosion. The rest of the connector was brittle and I could easily remove the wires from the connector. The wires themselves looked just fine.

I put a new module in and reconnected the wires (I put electrical tape around one of them). Still nothing. Checked the battery leads and cleaned them up to make sure there is good connection. Also had a look at the MAF sensor and it looked ok. I recall a buddy of mine had a truck that would not start due to a MAFS that had a tiny hair stuck to one of the sensor wires. Also checked the fuses under the dash and they looked good. Is there any fuses anywhere else that I need to check? I don't have a manual.

Not sure what to do next. I need to get ahold of a voltage tester to see what kind of power is going where. Can anyone tell what I am looking for when I test the coil and distributor wires? I don't have a ton of cash so I can't go about buying parts and trying them on in a troubleshooting fashion. I need to isolate the problem to a certain part and then replace that part. I do have access to a good running 1989 305 TPI Camaro that I can possibly borrow a part or two for troubleshooting purposes.

A little help please? Thank you!!

 

Fuel pumps are known to quit or have rust build up in the tank when sitting for a long time. Take the cap off the schrader valve located on the pass side fuel rail and push the valve in and see if the gas squirts out. There is a oil pressure safety switch located near the distributor base on the driver side that shuts the fuel pump off if there is no oil pressure, (check the cap on this. you may have to use a test jumper wire). Try a code reader to see if you have an existing fault.

These are just a few of the many possibilities it could be.

 

Ok, got fuel at the schrader valve coming out when testing. Pulled a plug with a wire and saw no spark. Got a multimeter and tested wires going into distributor with key on......13+ volts at both wires at the two wire connector....at the 4 wire connector got about 1/4 volt on one, 1/2 volt on another, no volt on third, and 1 volt at 4th. Don't know what that means though. Car does not have VATS.

 

pull the dist. cap and check pick up coil,and the ignition coil to make sure you got spark,i had a similar problem and replaced the distributor after checks failed