O/T Does anyone have different ideas?

Here's the scene. An '89 Chevy 1/2 ton, extended cab, long box pickup with a 5.7 engine. I busted a few snow banks with it on Saturday, then parked it by my shop while I went in and worked for a few hours.

I left the shop and it started right up. It ran for about 5 minutes and quit. When I attempted to start it, it would kick back into the starter, and wouldn't start. I figured it's a typical symtom of something wet in the ignition, probably moisture in the distributor. The roads were plowed by then, so I didn't need to use it. I figured if I just let it sit for a day or two it would dry out.

After work this afternoon, I tried it and it started right up. I let it idle till the temp came up to normal, then tried to drive it and it quit again. Same thing. I've a couple of other partially disassembled vehicles in my shop so it would take some doing to get that lunker inside the shop. I'm still thinking it acts like moisture in the distributor, so I pushed it down by the shop and took the distributor cap loose. At that point, the engine was still warm, so I'm thinking if it is moisture in the distributor, air getting into the cap plus the engine heat will dry it out. Guess I'll find out when I get home from work tomorrow.

I've seen arcing inside a distributor cap leave a permanent trail, but that's constant, not intermittent. And a fuel problem wouldn't cause it to kick back into the starter. From experiencing it before, it still acts simply like moisture in the distributor.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

yeah,sounds like moisture to me...take cap off and hose it down good with WD40 inside and let dry...then reinstall.
if cap has any miles on it,mite be good time to change it...could have a minute crack or just getting porous.

FIL just had the same thing happen to his '93 Dodge Ram with 3.9 V-6. It kicked back against the starter so bad I figured it would break the bendix right off the starter motor. I figured it had jumped time. The severe change in temp from outside air [20] to warmed engine [190?] can condensate more than the heat of a warm engine can dry in a short order. His just did it all of a sudden while it was sitting idling warming up while he was scraping the windows. After a new dist. cap was installed it is Ok

I'd bet you have a classic cracked cap and as it heats up it lets the humid air short it out. One way to see if that is true is take the cap off and spray the inside with starting fluid, let it air dry and if it is cracked you will see lines in the cap. Each line it s small crack. Of course you could do it old school and just grab the cap with the engine running if you jump a foot when you do that then the cap is bad if you don't jump then your problem is not the cap. I learned that on the hard way many years ago when my dad had a truck that no one could find the problem with. I found it when I grabbed the cap with it running learned not to do that any more LOL

I have a pretty much identical pickup, '89 GMC 3/4 ton, that will do the exact same thing, if I bust snow drifts with it. And the GM pickups with the distributors on the back of the engine are really pretty notorious for that. I remember having the same problem with pickups from the '60's and 70's, though I don't remember those engines loading up, and kicking back like this '89 does. Must have something to do with the throttle body FI, vs. a carburetor? Those older engines would just quit, but would still turn over, this '89 acts like its hydro-locked. The older ones were much easier to get running again too, wipe the inside of the cap dry, a little WD40 if you had it, and you were good to go, if you hadn't cranked the battery dead. The last time it happened with my '89, I used a blow dryer to get it dried out, and warmed up to where it would run again. At any rate, mine has about 300,000 miles on it, and doesn't get used for much besides being a fuel hauling field pickup, and for fencing. The easiest and best solution I've found, is to just not be busting drifts with it. :wink:

It's time to change the distributor cap.

It's got metal oxide from the terminals and carbon from the "brush" spattered about and the addition of moisture makes it act as you describe.

Replace the rotor, as well. And have a look at the magnet that triggers the pickup coil. They are prone to crack.

I had a 72 Plymouth v8 that would shut down while running.It was moisture .I finally put an oven baking bag over the distributor.That cured it.

I was at a local garage when a Pontiac v8 was towed in .It would not start, cranked fine but no fire.Mechanic put on a new distributor cap, started right up.I looked the old cap over,it looked fine.

Could you have sucked some snow into the air flow and the air filter? I did that on a F150 one winter and it wouldn't run for chit until I got it all dried out. After that it ran fine.

Thanks for all the responses. For no more than they cost, I think I'll just put a new cap and rotor on it. Then see what happens.

In the past, I've seen distributor caps act up when you swore there was nothing wrong with them.

After all the other things mentioned below, look at the hall effect?? coil below the rotor.
The thing that takes the place of points around the lobes on the cam. It's hooked to the advance mechanism, and the constant flexing will eventually break the wires causing an intermittant hairpull situaashun..

Spark plug wires.

The pickup coil in the distributor is also a common failure point with these engines, but when that happens they generally won't start at all.

Dad had a 65 FORD 352 V 8pickup with a load of wood in the back , that he rammed way too many snow drifts to get home ,, I was too Young to recall exactly what repairs were needed , motor missed something terrible , by the time we got home ,, But it seems to Me the exhaust Manifolds cracked from the ice and snow , both sides were in the srap pile for a few years ,, might have been the Heads Too ,, But thats unlikely ,, besides He and his Cuzn' made repairs in one afternoon...

Kinda hard to find a guy to hold a coil wire too when checking spark problems --LOL

Those cracks can be fixed temporarily by being nice to the little woman and borrow her fingernail polish and fill them in by painting over them too

does it only die when trying to move or when still stationary if the wheels start to turn and then dies I think your snow drift busting may have made your O2 sensor wire or another wire rub on the drive shaft or exhaust causing a short that when put into motion it grounds out causing it to stall.Let us know what you find.