90 Won't Start????????

[DHOUGHTON]

I was having the usual crank it a couple of times when cold problem on my 90 Yesterday When I shut it off I thought I heard a clunk? I came out 8 hours later and it would not start. Lots of Battery Juice and I ran a quick fuel pressure test today and that seems fine. Tomorrow I will run a fuel injector test with the gauge left on to see if it will hold pressure for 30 minutes. It just won't spark I guess? So it was working just fine and then suddenly wont kick in when I turn it over. SUGGESTIONS PLEASE. Oh these things never happen in your driveway! Its sitting in a health club parking lot 30 minutes from home. What do I do?

Marathoner

 

[cntrhub]

".... and then suddenly wont kick in when I turn it over. " What won't "kick in".....the starter motor, or the engine to fire up?
Bring a timing light with you. Put it on any spark plug and crank the engine over. Do you see the light flash for that cylinder? No flash at the timing light means, no spark from the distributor... usually.
My guess will be the spark module in the HEI distributor.
You said the fuel pressure....."seems fine." My guess would be a spark problem then.
But clear up your "kick in" verbiage. When I hear kick in, I think of the starter motor not "kicking in" the solenoid. Or, is that what you meant? "Light up" would clear up your meaning for "kick in"... (well, for me that is).

 

[DHOUGHTON]

Kick me

The starter is working fine. It must be something to do with the SPARK MODULE at the distributer so I will dig into that in the morning. Looking forward to the fix lighting up my life and my vette. Thanks for the direction. Looking forward to 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 IGNITION
and Takeoff.

Marathoner

 

[DHOUGHTON]

All Better and more....

I pulled the Distributor Cap, coil, rotor and spark module out and had them tested. The coil was split in half which explains the clunk noise I heard. This probably blew out the module also. Relaced the Cap, Coil Rotar and Spark module. It used to take 2-3
attempts before it would start. Now zooom on first crank. Love it.

I also got two big benefits from this repair. The digital cluster does not blink and go weird anymore. Also the heat and air control unit works fine again. Another example of the chain reaction or domino effect of something faulty.

Love it,

Marathoner

 

[cntrhub]

Hello, that's the ticket. Well, I learned something too. Cracked coil! I'll make sure I add that visual check with the next question... if it comes up again. Cool.