What's new
By:
Filters

Strange random shutoff problem 92 chevy 3500 gasser

Drummer79

Drummer79

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 22, 2020
Member Number
1208
Messages
428
Loc
Washington, NC
As the title says, I have a old crew cab 3500 SRW Chevy with over 400,000 miles on it. It will randomly out of nowhere just shut off going down the highway..shift into neutral and recrank it no problem. One really rainy day I drove through a big puddle and it wet the distributor cap and shut off til it dried, so i replaced coil, Dist. cap, plugs, wires, etc.. Several years ago the ignition cylinder stopped working and couldn't shut the truck off, so that's replaced as well..Any ideas on where to start in trying to fix this? New distributor was suggested, and I know on older fords there's a block further down the column from the actual ignition cylinder that can go bad, does that exist as well on a 92 chevy?
 
There is an ignition switch on the steering column near the neutral safety switch. I had a thread about a similar issue with my c3500 on the old site and we (pbb/gcc) narrowed the problem down to the magnetic pickup in the distributor.
 
Thank you, I'll start with the distributor then. Makes sense. it was the issue on my old sailboat too.
 
I read your thread and your issue was it wouldn't start at all. Mine will run and drive fine, it will just at random shut off as if i turned the key off, then while coasting put it in neutral and fire it up again and no issues. It might do it once per trip, it might go a few days and not do it, it's random as hell. I hate those types of problems. So distributor might not be my issue.
 
Drummer79 said:
I read your thread and your issue was it wouldn't start at all. Mine will run and drive fine, it will just at random shut off as if i turned the key off, then while coasting put it in neutral and fire it up again and no issues. It might do it once per trip, it might go a few days and not do it, it's random as hell. I hate those types of problems. So distributor might not be my issue.
Click to expand...

Before the death of the distributor it would randomly die but re-start it's only been driven a couple of times since then but I believe all of the problems are fixed. I also believe that there are some troubleshooting diagrams in the thread if you need more I could take a picture of the page in the book and post it for you.
 
yeah i saw the diagrams. I'll start there and see where it leads me. Thank you for responding so quick and all
 
Drummer79 said:
No, no codes, it shuts down as if i turned the key off on purpose and go to coasting..once in a blue moon it'll backfire and go back to running before i turn the key off and recrank it.
Click to expand...

did you actually replace the distributor or just the cap, rotor and ignition coil, like in your first post?. There’s still an ignition module and pickup coil in the distributor that can cause the same condition, plus the loose shaft due to worn out bushings, like others said.

there’s also a power distribution center on the passenger side Firewall that one terminal would burn. You’ll need to “wiggle” all of those bolted connections to see if one is loose (unless I’m thinking of the newer ones of that era). Also, I think those older ones, there were several connections on the main terminal on the starter. That could be loose or a wire could be bad. I remember replacing those wires fairly often. And while you are back there, check the ground on the back of the head.

I also remember way back in the day, the ecm would take a shit and do whacky things like that. We would pull the glove box and tap it with a screwdriver to see if the truck would die.
 
Rttoys said:
did you actually replace the distributor or just the cap, rotor and ignition coil, like in your first post?. There’s still an ignition module and pickup coil in the distributor that can cause the same condition, plus the loose shaft due to worn out bushings, like others said.

there’s also a power distribution center on the passenger side Firewall that one terminal would burn. You’ll need to “wiggle” all of those bolted connections to see if one is loose (unless I’m thinking of the newer ones of that era). Also, I think those older ones, there were several connections on the main terminal on the starter. That could be loose or a wire could be bad. I remember replacing those wires fairly often. And while you are back there, check the ground on the back of the head.

I also remember way back in the day, the ecm would take a shit and do whacky things like that. We would pull the glove box and tap it with a screwdriver to see if the truck would die.
Click to expand...

I just replaced cap, coil, rotor, wires, etc..as said before. I'll look into the other things you mentioned when the opportunity arises..it's on the list of stuff to fix, for sentimental value to me if nothing else just to keep it running, but dump truck issues and now a front end loader problem are all taking precedence at the moment. I'll be back with updates when i have them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh