Hello! First time square body owner here!

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Bullittben

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1986
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C1500
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That electronic box above the glove box is the ESC - electronic spark control. Mine went bad once about 15 years ago and I managed to find an NOS leftover at a dealer. Mine went out again about 4-5 years ago and I had no luck finding one. Somewhere online (possibly even this website) I found a wiring diagram to bypass it. I did that and mine has been fine since. If yours is bad you will know it. My engine would shut off and restart occasionally. One time it caused a backfire that blew my muffler apart.:whymewhyme:
 

Bman

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GMC sierra classic 1500
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5.0/ 305 LE9
okay so i today was out messing with the truck and found the wire to the trucks temp gauge. where does it hook up?

also the oil pressure still there and hooked up. so im guessing the wire is grounding out somewhere.

and theres a third wire/ hook up. its just a little rubber boot on the end of a wire, its hanging down back by the oil filter. any ideas?
 

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That electronic box above the glove box is the ESC - electronic spark control. Mine went bad once about 15 years ago and I managed to find an NOS leftover at a dealer. Mine went out again about 4-5 years ago and I had no luck finding one. Somewhere online (possibly even this website) I found a wiring diagram to bypass it. I did that and mine has been fine since. If yours is bad you will know it. My engine would shut off and restart occasionally. One time it caused a backfire that blew my muffler apart.:whymewhyme:

Yes that ecm would control I believe both the carb and the timing on the distributor. I by-passed mine in a late 85 with the 4.3 by installing the non ecm controlled ignition module in the distributor and running a non electronic carb.

The only problem is that when I did that it left a hole in the side of the distributor for moisture and dirt to enter through so I ended up switching out the whole distributor.
 

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okay so i today was out messing with the truck and found the wire to the trucks temp gauge. where does it hook up?

also the oil pressure still there and hooked up. so im guessing the wire is grounding out somewhere.

and theres a third wire/ hook up. its just a little rubber boot on the end of a wire, its hanging down back by the oil filter. any ideas?

The temp sensor is on the drivers side below the #1 plug more or less.

What color is the hanging wire with the boot ?
 

Old77

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:welcome:
 

Bullittben

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Sorry. Didn't think about electronic carb. Mine doesn't have that because its a manual trans I think. Anyway I didn't change module in distributor. My module has 5 pins (3 on one end 2 on the other) and the diagram to bypass ESC just involved a jumper wire between two pins or something.
 

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That would have been good to know. wasn't a big deal though as I had 3 or 4 kicking around at the time.
 

Bman

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i thinks its red or orange. cant tell now.
 

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i thinks its red or orange. cant tell now.

What transmission do you have ? could it possibly be for the kick down on the transmission. I know all th400 transmissions use that. not sure about the th350 although I think it does too.

The 700r4 4speed automatic overdrive for sure does not.
 

Bman

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5.0/ 305 LE9
Yes i do have a thn400
 

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there will be a single wire connection down on the drivers side by the gear shifter on the transmission just above the pan somewhere. If there is no wire connected to it I would bet that the wire hanging is for it
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Bman

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I already have a wire hooked up there.
 

Bman

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Ive ran into a problem. my trucks not wanting to start. and i mean actually engage the starter. if you put the key in and turn it turns power on. but when you turn to start it nothing happens.

Now if you shake the lock cylinder alot and wiggle and work it. it will catch and engage the starter and itll fire up. and then itll work fine for a few trys. come back 5 mins later. same problem.

things ive done that could be the problem? Ive started it without the key in the cylinder. I usaully leave it between run and lock. but the past few times( before problem occurred) Id put it back into lock position and itd click out when i start it.

also repaired a wire to the starter (which we thought was the problem at first.)
 

lusktommy

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Ive ran into a problem. my trucks not wanting to start. and i mean actually engage the starter. if you put the key in and turn it turns power on. but when you turn to start it nothing happens.

Now if you shake the lock cylinder alot and wiggle and work it. it will catch and engage the starter and itll fire up. and then itll work fine for a few trys. come back 5 mins later. same problem.

things ive done that could be the problem? Ive started it without the key in the cylinder. I usaully leave it between run and lock. but the past few times( before problem occurred) Id put it back into lock position and itd click out when i start it.

also repaired a wire to the starter (which we thought was the problem at first.)

sounds like to me you have a wore out lock cylinder..do you have any flop in the steering console?
 

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Ive ran into a problem. my trucks not wanting to start. and i mean actually engage the starter. if you put the key in and turn it turns power on. but when you turn to start it nothing happens.

Now if you shake the lock cylinder alot and wiggle and work it. it will catch and engage the starter and itll fire up. and then itll work fine for a few trys. come back 5 mins later. same problem.

things ive done that could be the problem? Ive started it without the key in the cylinder. I usaully leave it between run and lock. but the past few times( before problem occurred) Id put it back into lock position and itd click out when i start it.

also repaired a wire to the starter (which we thought was the problem at first.)

This is probably why buddy was eager to swap you trucks. Its a bit of a process to get to that tumbler to change it.

On the flip side all of these trucks at some point need to have their steering columns gone through especially if you have a tilt column.

Options

Go to the junk yard and find a column that is in good shape that fits your application----You may spend years doing this or you might luck out.

Have a professional rebuild your column. If it is tilt there are 2 bolts that need to be locktited into place at the bottom of column.

Buy a rebuilt one and install it your self. Really not the most difficult thing to do.

I dunno probably looking at the $500-$1000 range to have a rebuilt column either way at the end of the day.

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=12525.0
 

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