Ole' Jimmy wont start

[pacojdog_kic]

This problem started awhile ago and just keeps getting worse. At first it would die at random times when driving and would start right back up and continue down the road. If i was going slow in town i would have to shift to N and start it back up. I can live with that, to a point.

Last week I started the car, ran fine... drove about 3 miles and forgot something at the house... turned around, shut the car off and ran inside, 2 minutes later I went out and it just cranks over. Some smoke is coming out the tailpipe and after about 6-7 minutes of trying to get it started it tries one time and acts like it is running on 1 cylinder and really lugging and rockin pretty hard, squealed and some smoke came out the airtake then died. After a few more times it starts up and tachs at 3500. My guess is that it was pumping gas and not sparking. After that I shut it off and it started right back up.

Yesterday I jumped in drove to the store, same thing, but this time after I got it running and put it in reverse it died... about 3 more times of that and finally got home and happily flipped it off as i went inside.

Sorry for the long post but I dont know who else to ask. Thanks in advance.

[s10xtremist]

What year and engine does this Jimmy have? Any modifications?

[pacojdog_kic]

Sorry bout that.

1997 Jimmy SLS
4.3L Vortec

[s10xtremist]

Is the CHECK ENGINE light on? What color is the smoke from the tailpipe? My guess right now is a leaky regulator.

[pacojdog_kic]

I have never had any luck with the dash lights working. The daytime running light, service engine soon, air bag, and one other light that I cannot think of do not work at all. They dont even come on when you turn the key. But I do have a code reader and the only codes that I get are for the oxygen sensor which is new.

The smoke that came out the tailpipe and out the intake were white.

Hope this helps... and there were no other modifications to the engine, forgot to answer that earlier.

Thanks again!!!

[slipshod]

Check your oil level to see if it has water in it, and when the truck is cool take a look in the radiator and see it you have any oil in there. This sounds like you may have a blown intake gasket or worse yet a head gasket gone.

[s10tuner86]

i would check your gaskets or at very least coolant and oil levels, sounds to me like there may be a possible fluid leak in the engine if there is smoke coming out of the intake. Another thing you may wanna look for is oil in the intake, hpwever i feel if this really were the issue the smoke would be blue but it's a possibility ( it would be passing through a filter element it may dilute the color) I'ld also check the wiring an check to see if thier is a short somewhere ( you mentioned non functional dash lights) My s10 used to die randomly due to electrical problems and it was a 97 and it hasn't done it sence and it was from a short. also outta curiosity does it smell heavily of gas when it dies, this would be a sign of non combustion which could be it's flooding the engine ( you mentioned the o2 sensor) idk if any of this will help but this is what i would look @ first and this is from my experiences with my 97 with a 4.3 though it's the 2wd version.

[pacojdog_kic]

Thank you all for your replies... and yes it does smell heavily of gas after it dies and I try to restart the motor. i will check everything that you have suggested and hopefully it will be nothing major.

[Hicks84s10]

whie smoke = Coolant. Maybe powr or ground is bing lost ot the ign or pcm.