So I went out and bought an 86 4x4 with an inline six, and on the way home kaboom, the antifreeze/coolant reservoir blew out right where the top hose (driver side) attaches to the reservoir, which would have been real cool if I were in a Bond movie and wanted to leave a cloud of white smoke behind me on the highway. Anyway, we coast onto the offramp and head up to the local hardware store to buy some epoxy to fill in the half dollar size hole. We accomplish said task and fire her up, she starts up well and we think the world is good place, well for about five minutes, she started to sputter and spit and kick and then died, so back to the offramp. A little white smoke started to come off where the epoxy was and it was getting late so we called a friend to tote the new girl home. Now at my friends house she only cranked a couple of times, then would not crank at all, only click, then eventually no click at all. So we went shopping.
Checked the battery with a voltmeter ~12.4 – 12.5
New Starter
New Solenoid
New plugs
New wires
New distributor cap
New rotor
New alternator – not installed yet

I think everything is hooked up correctly, I turn the key and she cranks but she will not start. The truck is away at a friends house and I have limited time to work on it but a lot of time to think about how I might have my wires crossed.

From reading similar posts the next steps should go something along the lines of:

Check battery terminals
Check fusible links
Fix the epoxy situation
Check wiring to solenoid
Check wiring from solenoid
BTW – could anyone explain the wiring to and from the solenoid? pictures help


Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Matt

 

I would question why the reservoir blew up first ... To much pressure in the cooling system???
Why ...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

I am assuming that there wasnt much coolent/water in the reservoir and I wasnt paying attention to the temperature gauge because i was too excited about a new toy, and it simply got to hot. I agree that the blowout problem needs to be solved but I would like to get it started and off my friends lot.

 

Hopefully thats the cause of the reservoir explosion ... And not something like a head gasket!

There are others that would be better assisting you then I with the 80's up gasser electronics ... Not my thing.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

I had the same problem with my truck, as far as the reservoir blowing open. Check the thermostat. It is probably stuck shut.

 

Hopefully you didn't gaul the rings from it getting too hot.

You could have blown a head gasket and that is why there was explosive pressure to the cooling system reservoir like festus hagen mentioned.

Do a compression check to the engine would be my next test.

 

Is the distributor turning? The 300's of that era have a phenolic cam gear in the timing set that can fail and leave you dead in the water.

 

Did you refill the radiator or just the reservoir? All that steam was the coolant boiling out of your overheating engine, if you didnt fill the radiator and drove it you probably cooked it.

 

That's what I'm afraid of too.