Hi all! I’ve been pouring over the content here and learning a lot about TPI. I think I’m narrowing it down, I have a specific question though. I have a small block Chevy 400 with TPI, it is in a 1952 *****’s Jeep that I inherited from my dad after his passing and I’m just trying to get it going. I’m stuck at a crank, no fire situation. I tested the spark and it’s got a strong spark, and I’m getting fuel to my fuel rails, and the fuel pressure is good. Just not getting a single fire whatsoever so I’m assuming the injectors aren’t opening. It has a new 925 cca lithium battery, and fresh fuel.

question:
could my pick up coil be producing a strong spark but not be telling the ecm that it is producing spark, therefore the ecm not allowing injectors to open?

The motor has been sitting for about 6 years without running, could the injectors be damaged by the old fuel and just need to be cleaned?

or maybe the ecm is bad? As far as I know I t is a “ran when parked” situation but unfortunately there isn’t anyone I can ask about what it was like when it was last parked.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

 

Spark, fuel pressure, injector pulse , fresh fuel what’s missing ?

 

Sounds like I should test for injector pulse?

 

Grab a noid light , does it fire off with starting fluid ? That distributor looks impossible to work on .

 

Will do, thank you, and yes the distributor is crammed back there.

 

Your right very possible injectors are varnished shut

 

Noid light test kit just ordered!

After reading all of the posts here I figured it had to be either that or the ecm or pickup coil just figured it was worth asking if it could be something simple that I was missing since I have no experience at all dealing with TPI. Thank you for the reply’s I’ll update as soon as I find something

 

Probably not the ecm, if pulse with noid I’d try to match injectors with what’s in there but who knows if it was ever tuned properly . If mild 400 might have 24#hrs in it.

 

for sure! I have no idea if it was ever tuned.

 

THANK YOU Tuned Performance for the helpt!

Well got it running today.

Last week when it was cranking over not one single cylinder fired one time. Today I cranked it over while testing the injector pulse with noid light and one cylinder was consistently firing. Then after a few cycles of cranking over 2 cylinders were consistently firing.

So here’s the order of what I did:

Tested injector pulse with noid light, tested all 8 injectors individually, all injectors getting pulse.

Since one cylinder was firing and all 8 injectors had positive pulse with noid light test, that told me that the ignition was telling the ecm to fire the injectors. So I decided to start with starting fluid. It fired right up with starting fluid but would not continue to run without starting fluid.

Went to parts store for fuel pressure test kit. Tested fuel pressure at the schrader valve on the passenger side fuel rail, getting 40psi with ignition in on position, 50psi while cranking over.

When testing fuel pressure a second cylinder started to fire consistently.

Started with starting fluid again and after the starting fluid burned off it continued to idle on its own. I brought it up to operating temperature and it smoked like crazy, then the smoke dissipated and the idle smoothed out a little.

I added a can of royal purple fuel injector cleaner to the 10 gallons of fresh 91 octane fuel in my tank. Started it a couple more times and let it idle and revved it a few times. Then took it on a couple laps around the neighborhood to try to just let everything run for a few minutes.

im going to run the 10 gallons of fresh fuel and the injector cleaner through it before I pull the intake apart. Also going to test ohm resistance of all 8 injectors tomorrow.

it seemed to just be gummed up injectors from sitting for so long. I’ll update as I get it running better and once I test injectors ohm resistance.


***I borrowed a fuel pressure tester kit for free from my local O’Reiley’s, came with an ohm meter also, so stoked***

 

Glad you get to enjoy it now