I was in my 1994 Chevy 1500 350 TBI going up a pretty step road and there was a car in front of me that finally took a right turn and i gas it a little quick not punching it I was at 30-40 MPH in Drive not over Drive and the truck stumbled real quick and shut off. It didn't chug but I think it felt like an electrical,fuel filter, or fuel pump problem. I started it back up and it took about 5 seconds for it to start and went fine. I revved it in Neutral and it revved good later that day I punched it going on the highway and redlined it and it hit 70MPH very quick and oddly. Truck is mint inside and out. Motor has 167,000 miles and a rebuilt transmission. I was so surprised that it happend so quick. I didn't punch it when it died but it was like it wanted to kick down a gear and just stoped. My gas pedal was half way down and I gas it about an inch so it will downshift to pass the guy out. Fuel pump is the original one. I had a quarter tank of gas if not a little less. I use 89 somtimes 93. I used high octane and I didn't have a problem for the rest of the day. I had my little 5x6 trailer with a 48 inch Exmark mower its a walker. I never had this problem with the truck or any problems. I trust it way more then my LT1. I bought the truck last summer and this guy nursed the truck he was the second owner. Could the spark plugs do that?

Everytime I run the truck kinda low on gas the engine light goes on and I would have to shut it off or fill it with gas and it will go away. I use castrol 10-30 with Lucas like the other owners. It has a flow master and off roading tires and a 1" lift kit. And a throttle spacer I think. It just shut off!!

 

If you run it low on fuel and its causing your CEL to come on, try to pull the codes. It sounds possibly emissions control related or fuel pump like you thought. If you havnt done a tune up in a while Id suggest pulling things apart and checking everything. If you've got the $$$ give it a good full tuneup, all filters, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, pcv valve, etc. a quick look at a couple plugs should be a good indication of if they need replaced. Pull your cap off and see if its tracking or corroded or burnt, etc. Start it up at night in a dark place and see if any plug wires are arcing out anywhere. Let us know what ya find. being a 94 on the original pump, that wouldnt suprise me if its fixin to crap out or if the strainer is plugged up.


edit - even if the CEL goes out, check it for codes anyway, there might be a pending code in memory that it will spit out for ya.

 

I will do a tune up. I just don't want to break down because I got expensive equipment. Is it worth putting a vortec motor in it some came with it for that style but I would like a 6.0L my mechanic said he trust TBI. My shop that I used to work at had a truck like mine with original 317,000 miles on motor!!

 

Its not gettin fuel. It takes longer to start and it bogged when I was leaving a busy road. It just bucked.I shut it off and start it again and it stuggles to start alittle. I did it like 5 time in a row. Truck has no power sometimes and doesnt rev fast under load only when I put it in Neautral and rev it it revs good.

My boss had this problem and it was from someone pouring crap in the gas tank. I will change the filter tonight.

 

Sounds like it was low on gas to me. Older trucks like that the gas gauge goes wack and doesnt read 100% correct. Try not running the truck down below before a 1/4 tank.

Take a paper clip and bend it in a U shape. Stick it into the TOP 2 terminals on the RIGHT SIDE in the ALDL connector under the steering column and turn the key to the run position. It was flash the code (using the SES light) out to you if there are any in there.

It will flash code 12 first which means that what your doing is working...X XX, X XX, X XX...then it will flash whatever code is in there.

 

I pulled the iar filter off this morning and it was good but it ran okay without a filter for an hour driving. Didn't buck I changed oil, use stp and 93 gas and changed the gas fuel filter it wasn't that bad really. I put a PCV valve in the motor and the truck idles alittle better. It just doesn't really rev that fast. Feels alittle slow. My mechanic said its the cap and rotor and leave the plug and wires because they still look good. Truck feels slow. I hope its not the fuel pump. Thanks guys for the advise I will update you on the 350 TBI truck.

 

Put new PCV valve in the 350 TBI and Fuel filter and some fuel cleaner. Doesn't surge or buck from a fast start. I thought it was cap and rotor. I will find out when I hook the trailer to it.

Was the 1994 350 TBI a good motor? What usually fails on those motors?

 

Those motors are bulletproof. My '91 350tbi/5spd has 283k on the original engine/clutch/trans/rearend. Sounds like a fuel pump acting up or maybe a clogged filter.

 

Ive seen quite a few tbi trucks over 300k running strong, I guess its hard to blow something up if it wont turn over 4k haha. Dont rule out the little things. A burnt/arcing coil wire would give the exact same symptoms (high load low rpm strain= high cylinder pressures thus snuffing spark and flooding the indestructable 305) Check the resistance thru the coil wire and do the "light show" (pull the air cleaner off, open the throttle as fast as you can from dead slow idle) check. I bet youll find a couple of weak wires. It may not be the route problem, but anything that wastes gas will now be economical to take care of.

 

i would say it would be a fuel issue. as for the TBI motors, they are incredibly strong, all you have to do is take care of them.

 

I used seafoam poured it in my tank with 93 octane and its been good for the last 3 months.