yeah, mine has the upside down U (omega symbol) for Ohms. the meter moves from left to right with the higher numbers at the left...zero at the far right.
i did just a quick check of the pos side at the solenoid. everything there reads 12V.
any more ideas what I should be checking for?
plus, I pulled plug #5 to see what it looked like and i could smell gas on it. and I checked the power to the injectors at the wire harness. the red wire was hot. so I guess Im getting gas. unless theres supposed to be more than one hot wire. but i cant see where that would make sense.
gotta get this thing up and running today or by the morning at the absolute latest. so any more ideas would be VERY much appreciated.
hukd

 

It sounds like the ohm measurement says the ground is ok, but if it still won't crank why not?....

Did you try the jumper cable to the block and neg terminal yet?
It might sound redundant, but sometimes that's what does it.

Ideally, we'll get you back to the way it used to crank.

If you want, you could try taking the volt reading on the starter solenoid wire, the small one, while you use the start/ign rod.. ,to the Engine block. It should be 12v when cranking. If it is and the thing still won't start, try the taking the one from the old engine.

---

To try thinking in parallel, what else would cause it not to crank from the ign switch:
bad ground in the cab, (since the eec relay wouldntn/t work,), but I'm pretty sure the starter solenoid only gets a pos.
Low battery (been charged)
timing really far off? That's about all I got. Any other ideas?

 

im about to try the jumper cable thing and see what happens. Im going to add one more ground from the block to the body just to make sure since I have one from the neg. cable to the frame and to the block. but that will be later.
i cant see why it would turn fine when i had my prior problem and now it wont. its got to be an electrical thing. i was thinking maybe a bad solenoid but that cant be it due to what i just said about my prior problem. as far as a bad cab ground, what/where could it be? related to the computer area i was just in maybe?
thoughts...
hukd

 

take what from the old engine? wouldnt matter anyway since i dont have anything left from the old engine. (everything that was junk got scrapped. everything else has been bought as needed)

hukd

 

Does it crank at all, very slow, or what? I'm thinking that you have it fixed now but your timing is too far advanced. How about pulling your plugs and see if it cranks.

 

ok guys. this is really becoming a pain in the @$$

tried the j. cables. nothing doing.

removed the cap to see the rotor turn and watch for smoke. its definitely smoking in the distributor at some point within. and when i removed the cap, it rolled over somewhat easier, but still not great. thought: the wires (not the plugs) are from my 86. could the wires for an 86 and an 89 be different for some unknown reason and be causing too much resistance? i'll check the online parts page for part #'s and see. can anyone think of why its smoking? and why when the cap was removed it rolled easier?
thanks again!
hukd

 

Don't know about the smoke yet. That's coming from inside the dist? The reason it rolled easier I believe is that it wasn't firing at that time. (indicating toooooo much timing) The wires shouldn't matter.

 

tooo much timing?!?!? i mean i know you can be 180* out, advanced or retarded a bit but way too much timing? how does that happen? For the record, I know Im not 180* out b/c we fixed that problem a long time ago. I did try turning the dist. a little bit each way but i dont think it made that much of a difference.
if i have way tooooo much timing as you put it, whats the solution?
part interchange info:
86 302 FI plugs = autolite 25
89 (linc t/c) 302 FI = autolite 2545 [longer neck as a 25 will not catch the threads]
86 302 FI wires = autolite 96260
89 (linc t/c) 302 FI = autolite 96261 [not sure what the diff. is]

 

10-15 degrees will make a big difference. Turn the distributor in ther direction that the rotor travels to retard. Make a reference on it and turn it about an inch and see what happens.

 

will do. however, whats the possibility of burning something up in the process of this?
hukd

 

Slim to none actually. Turn the dist a little and try and crank. This smoke thing still has me wondering though. Does it smoke with the key just "on" or does it only appear when cranking? I'm starting to wonder if something is binding but, can't understand why that would happen all of the sudden.

 

it only happens when i try to crank it.
im thinking i might try pulling the dist. completely and see what happens. maybe that will tell me something. i'll do that first thing in the morning and post the results before 10am. maybe that will give us a direction to move in.
hukd

 

ok, curiosity killed my cat.
i just pulled my dist., turned the motor over and there was a little smoke (not a whole lot) coming from the hole. white smoke like oil burning. (i did notice that the oil press. gauge was on the extreme high end of the "normal" range. could too much oil be causing some unnecessary pressure thus my problem?). I put the dist back in and left the ign. mod. wiring off just to see what would happen. not as much smoke and it turned with little to no hesitation.
what does this tell ya?
hukd

 

Like Stepman asked....Does it crank at all, very slow, or what?
Is your truck an automatic or standard? If it's an automatic when you installed the engine was the torque converter bolted to the engine or was it in the transmission?

 

automatic amd the t/c was left on the tranny.
actually combust and crank, no. if by crank you mean turn over and spurt fuel, etc. then yes. its a little slow (and i think my battery may be just a little on the weak side but not too bad). before i pulled the dist., it was real slow and would turn over then stop, turn over then stop ... all in fast succession. once i pulled the dist., it just turned over ok with nothing out of the ordinary. then i put it back in [minus wiring & cap] and it turned a little slow but still smooth ... not the choppy turn and stop, turn and stop. still a little smoke coming from the dist. hole but not near like it was...or at least not as far as I could tell in the middle of the night holding a work light.