1991 Chieftain wont start

[otis315]

Hello and thanks in advance....I have a 91 Chieftain with a 454 fi. I had it stored indoors at work all winter and started it every month with no problems starting at all, had a full tank of fuel before I put it away.
Went to pick it up to bring home a month ago and it started right up. As I was rolling up the cover after it was running for about 15 minutes it stalled, sounded like it ran out of fuel. Would not restart or even sound like it wanted to fire up. I'm getting spark and its getting plenty of fuel from the injectors, watching them spray while cranking and tried a couple shots of starting fluid but nothing. Plugs seemed dry even though lots of fuel thru it and I changed them just in case. It's turning over fast and the spark is strong
What am I missing, this thing has never done this before and normally runs great. Don't want to bring in a mechanic yet and thing is an hour from my house so trying to troubleshoot myself

[Morich]

Just top of the head but if there is spark and fuel, it should light!
But there may be a case where you have done something that got those two going but by the time you did, there was TOO much fuel!
Just a thought but consider if the engine is flooded with fuel?
The plugs looking dry seems to conflict with there being lots of fuel from the injectors?

Maybe give it some time to dry/clear any excess and try it again?

[otis315]

thats what I thought too and why I swapped out the plugs but still nothing. Just wondering if something with computer module could do something. Thought possibly timing jumped but when it stalled just sounded like it ran out of gas

[otis315]

I did let it sit for a couple days and try it again before I swapped plugs too in case it was flooded and made no difference

[Morich]

Moving on to things that don't often happen on cars but RV may be more prone to doing?
Waht about bad gas? Do you have good new gas or old gas which may not be the best?
Any chance the gas is full of water?
Changes in temp over the time RV are stored can do weird things to gas??
when power equipment cranks but won't start, it can be worth the time to dump the gas and KNOW that you have good?
But you may be getting down to needing the pro equipment for computer readout.

[Eagle5]

The 1991 GMC was unique. You might need to buy a year & manufacturer specific code reader; something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/INNOVA-3123-O...dp/B000EVU8C0/
Eagle5

[dickb46]

I hit Quick Reply but this isn't quick at all.

I had the same problem 8 or 10 years ago with our 94 Vectra 454 TBFI and I've been thinking about this for hours. Spark, fuel, sounded good turning over. It just died in the driveway.
I just can't remember exactly what the problem was but it was so simple I was kicking myself. It took a half hour to get to the problem and 30 seconds to fix it.
I do know I had the dog house off and was sitting in the driver's seat when I fixed it without any tools.
I'm real inclined to think it was spark timing, the advance system or something of the sort.
I'll probably loose sleep tonight thinking about it but my problem was something simple, it just took a while to see it.
dickb.

[Eagle5]

Hi dickb,
I know exactly what you mean with <Quick Reply>. Sometimes, a reply takes longer than one might think.
As to the motor, could it have been a detached vacuum line? If it didn't take any tools to fix it, then it must have been something visible. I guess a really strong bright flashlight and just scan over the engine to find something out-of-place.
Thanks, Eagle5

[Bo Walker]

otis315, I think you may have a bad Ignition Control Module. It is an AC Delco GM OE Ignition Control Module 19179578. It is located at your ignition distributor. It is easy to replace. There are likely two wire connections plugged into it.

[NormD]

How many miles do you have on your Chieftain? I had a failure that sounds like yours when my timing belt quit moving.