Starting the S10

Ok, I pulled off the plastic intake box thing and it was full of gas. It will idle now (no oil pressure according to gauge) but still not super smooth.

Oil kind of smells like gas too.

Pulled the spark plugs and #4 was dry, #3 was soaking wet, and #2 & #1 were kinda wet. Plugs in pic are left to right, 1-4

Any ideas?

View attachment 55285
View attachment 55286
View attachment 55287
Strange that the plastic before the throttle body would be wet. Where does the PCV enter in?

Are you sure it somehow collected water from sitting so long? I can’t immediately understand how, but since the liquid that came out the exhaust was not entirely fuel, and it obviously was not combusting well/properly to make the case that it’s from combustion... then what??? Unless I’m not understanding the “where” correctly, it’s way before any point with fuel, so even if an FPR was dumping fuel, how would it get there?

Wet plugs are a clue, but from fuel? Water? Etc?

Only thing I know is that it sounds like what I encountered on my old 91 bmw when one of the breather hoses had fallen off. That engine would stall easily with a vac leak. Before I knew what it was I had to give lots of throttle to give lots of extra fuel (the excess air past the throttle was immaterial) to run.
 
A little off what is likely happening here but thought good to share.

Son's 1998 S10 (V6). Would not start on a intermittent basis- it would turn over. Replaced fuel pump, same problem. Ignition switch, you name it- replaced.

Read a post on a S10 forum about the fuel pump ground on the S10. GM ran the tiniest wire ever for the fuel pump ground, and ran it all the way to the left rear tailight ground point near the rear bumper. Sure enough, found the ground, it had corrosion. Cleaned up the ground and never had a starting issue again.

Still blows my mind GM used such a tiny ground wire for such a critical feature (fuel pump), and the connection point was about as far from the fuel pump it could be.
 
Disconnect the vac hose. If theres fuel in it....replace it.
I disconnected the vacuum line and it was wet with gas. I cranked the engine with it disconnected and fuel didn’t come out though.


Strange that the plastic before the throttle body would be wet. Where does the PCV enter in?

Are you sure it somehow collected water from sitting so long? I can’t immediately understand how, but since the liquid that came out the exhaust was not entirely fuel, and it obviously was not combusting well/properly to make the case that it’s from combustion... then what??? Unless I’m not understanding the “where” correctly, it’s way before any point with fuel, so even if an FPR was dumping fuel, how would it get there?

Wet plugs are a clue, but from fuel? Water? Etc?

Only thing I know is that it sounds like what I encountered on my old 91 bmw when one of the breather hoses had fallen off. That engine would stall easily with a vac leak. Before I knew what it was I had to give lots of throttle to give lots of extra fuel (the excess air past the throttle was immaterial) to run.
I’ve been having trouble with getting it to crank. Have been thinking it was the starter. But now I’m wondering if it was hydrolocked with gas? Cranks fine now.

I think I’m done for now. It will probably sit until later this year and it can get to a real mechanic to do some work. Everything is just so crammed in there it’s hard to work on. Thank you guys for the input. Keep it coming, I’ll tally a list for the mechanic.
 
Everything is just so crammed in there it’s hard to work on. Thank you guys for the input. Keep it coming, I’ll tally a list for the mechanic.

It is tight, I was just messing with a vacuum hose on my 98 S-10 tonight, and could barely contort my hand by the ABS unit to get the hose on. I’d think that the 4 cyl would be easier, especially since its front to back, but it’s still a pretty small vehicle...
 
Once again....The Injectors need to be pulled, Cleaned, & Flowed.
Yes thank you. If it were my car, I'd do that. But since it isn't, I think it'll just get new ones. Probably will wait until the end of summer or so.
 
Yes thank you. If it were my car, I'd do that. But since it isn't, I think it'll just get new ones. Probably will wait until the end of summer or so.
Since you have more time, going the path recommended is actually easier/better!
 
Since you have more time, going the path recommended is actually easier/better!
Oh but you see, I won't be doing the work, so they'd have to get out first somehow :ROFLMAO:.

With the 2.2L, I can't even see the fuel injectors AT ALL. They must be under the intake manifold somewhere. Also can't even see a single intake manifold bolt at all. Had to use channel locks to pull off the spark plug wires because 2 are buried behind the A/C compressor. The fuel pressure regulator is tucked behind the intake too, my previous picture earlier today is my phone stuck down in there for the pic. I had to pull that hose off blind. When I initially thought it needed a starter, I crawled underneath and looked at the top and it looks like a PITA to replace. Everything is so crammed behind something with this engine.
 
FWIW I had to replace the starter on my 2.2 1996 S-10 and had to remove the exhaust manifold to do it because I couldn't get my hand in there. Those are hard to work on.
 
If it has a poppet valve MPFI, the regulator and injector will be inside the manifold. A new fuel pump can blitz either of those as it pumps up strong and hard into brittle plastic tubes causing raw fuel to dump inside the upper intake.

But I'm speaking from experience on the 4L Vortec V-6 versions of the S&T series pick ups and SUVs. (Old, pre-MPFI MAXI injector spider setups)
 
Back
Top