Question Hi Van,
Yesterday I was driving my 93 Chevy s-10 blazer 4x4 home and it started running VERY rough. Strong gas smell, no power, black smoke out the tailpipe. Thought it was the EGR valve again and the SES codes were a 32 and a 43. It stalled at a stop sign and when I went to start it up, it turned over and went clunk. I tried it again and it just clicked with each turn of the key. I could see the pulleys turning about a 1/2 an inch with each try of the key and then it would hit a spot and turn over 1 or 2 times without starting and go clunk again. We thought it might be the battery. Not the battery. Thought it might be the starter. Not the starter. Maybe it jumped time? Or is the engine shot? It has been running fine before this other than the fact that every once in a while it would start hard, like the battery wasn't charged. PLEASE HELP!
AnswerHi Kris,
The black smoke is gas. It seems that for some reason you got a very very large slug of liquid gasoline dumped into the engine.
If it had a carburetor, I would say the float stuck, and the float bowl just ran over.
But I believe you have fuel injection, probably throttle body injection.
I would guess that a gasket in the throttle body sprung a leak, and just dumped gas into the intake manifold.
Another possibility is the fuel pressure regulator, which is operated by manifold vacuum broke, and again, the gas was sucked and pumped into the manifold.
A third way is an injector stuck wide open, and again...dumped gas into the manifold.
Some Chevy engines about that age had a start injector down inside the intake manifold, and if a fuel line to it broke...you guessed it. Dumped gas into the manifold.
The gasoline, as a liquid, is like water, and can't be compressed. Get a big slug of it into a cylinder, and it will hydrostatically lock it up.
To get it out, first remove the fuel pump fuse.
Then remove the spark plugs.
Then either blow into the spark plug holes with compressed air, or turn the engine over by hand.
Be careful rotating the engine with the starter, as gasoline will be forced out all over the engine compartment, and any spark, such as the loose spark plug wires, could ignite all that gas, bursting the area into fire.
Next, find out where the gas is getting in there, and fix it.
I doubt that any serious damage has happened yet, but with liquid gasoline in the cylinders, some is bound to have leaked past the piston rings, and diluted the oil in the crankcase, so at least check the oil level, and see if it is diluted, and if so, change the oil.
Good luck,
Van
