83 c10 truck won't start.. why?

Question

Ok i have an 83 c10 chevy but it has a 87 350 motor under the hood. Whoever had the truck before me tried to rig sort of two different trucks together.. so that the engine would fit the truck so there's all sorts of weird parts in my truck. I have had this truck for two years now and just started running into trouble. First off let me give you some background.. ever since i've had the truck when i try to start it.. it kinda chugs as if it were trying to start.. then i usually have to try again and it starts right up. But it only did this say like first thing in the morning when i start her up ( i drive her daily) Now most recelntly my battery has died out and im sure its an old battery because it was in there when i got the truck but come to find out my alternator needed to be replaced and it had actually killed my battery so i replaced BOTH. now about 2 weeks later (today) im at work and was going to leave to pick up lunch and it wont even turn over. What is up? My dad seems to think it may be something with the transmission.. he instructed me to try to shift the gears a bit saying they might be out of place and try to start her up or put it into neutral and try to start maybe try rocking the truck back and forth... nothing.. so im going to try and get a jump so i can take her home to work on her tonight but does anyone have any ideas what it could be if i have a new alternator and new battey?My uncle is the best mechanic in town and said he'd have to take a look at it but he is out of town in disney world on vaca so im going to attepmt it myself ( im pretty good with vehicles ) but im stunned for now...

Answer 1

personally I would look at the neutral safety switch and the ignition switch. The alternator wiring runs through the ignition switch, so if it won't start because of a dead or low battery again I would start their, it's not easy to get to sets on top of steering colum behind dash.

Answer 2

Well when the battery and alternator is good you said that it chugs on the start. So it's neither of those parts. But for now it kinda is because you said the battery just died on you. So back to when the battery was still good. I'm assuming it's has a carb on it?  If you know anything about carburetors you would want to investigate that. You want to make sure the gas is coming out and nothing is clogged. Remember this is the impression on it chugging. If it's fuel injection check your injectors to make sure that they are not clogged, throw some fuel injection cleaner in the tank. It's cheap and you never know it could be as simple as that.

Answer 3

I had a friend that was having the kind of trouble you are having. He had replaced a number of alternators but you are going to be surprised what the real problem was. It was his starter. We took it to a auto parts house to have it checked and you will not believe this. The parts house man hooked it up and tried it. Ok,it turned it over. I asked him to try it again. YOU KNOW WHAT. It hung up. It didn't do it every time,but because it was hanging up every now and then,my buddy went ahead and bought another starter and he hasn't had any trouble since. Take your starter and have it checked,and make them start it a few times on their machine. It too,might be hanging up every now and then. If it is,buy you another one. Hope this helps.  

Answer 4

you have a short somewhere. charge battery. make sure every thing is turnen off. connect a voltmeter from neg.pole to ground wire. if you get a reading you something drawing voltage draining the battery. start disconnecting wire untilthe voltage drops to zero. good l;uck..