B2600i stalling, bucking

My b2600 has an intermittent stalling problem. It seems to be connected to wet weather but not always. Sometimes the truck will surge, or buck. Sometimes it just wont start. It will turn over, but die. Sometimes it will drive fine all day, but I'll be turning a corner and it will stall. One day it stalled every time it idled--every stop light I had to rev it in neutral to keep it from stalling.

I tried looking for a vacuum leak by spraying carb cleaner when it was running. I didn't notice anything, although I could have missed something. I replaced the fuel filter. I also replaced the fuel sender/pump assembly, and some rusted out gas lines. The plugs and wires and distributor have been recently replaced, before I bought the truck. A friend of mine pointed out that where distributor cap is attached, it's not joined flush, there was about a 1/16" gap, and maybe moisture was getting in there. Whoever installed the cap stripped and damaged the one of the screws and didn't get it in all the way in. I replaced the screw and tightened it, but there is still maybe a 1/32" gap at the connection (it's not a direct opening, it's just that it's not flush. When I had opened it, the rotor and the contacts on the dist cap looked fine.

Any other thoughts on the problem would be greatly appreciated.

I've been reading threads on here about stalling issues, and want to check the EGR valve, but can't find it. Can anyone give me a description of where it is? What landmarks it's near?

I would first check the ECU, see if the caps have leaked.

Then check the MAF as per:



For that matter, check all the items listed.

Fortunately, there is no EGR on your B2600i. So you can check that one off.

As far as the gap in the distributor, check out this post.... the distributor cap gasket at the end of the initial post.

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Your bigger problem was probably the screw, but I'd be willing to bet the gasket is gone or broken. So check that out.

Since your problems are so varied, it sounds a lot like a bad ECM. It's located in the right hand kick panel. Take it out, open it up, and see if you see any signs of corrosion or leakage around the two capacitors. Search this forum and you will find some pictures of what a leaking cap / leaked on board will look like. That is the first thing to check and it's easy.

Maybe your coil is getting flaky. You can test for flashover by idling the truck at night, and spraying windex at the wires and watching for spark trails. Maybe that will provide some clue if Mr. Arcky_sparky shows up.

Angus, Scotch, Tweaker, thank you very much for the help. I haven't had that much time to do anything with the truck lately. It actually was driving fine for a week or so after I tightened the dist cap. I will look in to getting a new gasket. I tried to get the truck going the last few days and could barely get down the driveway.

The truck had this issue with the previous owner and the computer was repaired about a year and a half ago, the problem continued.

I will look into the other suggestions too.

I checked the air filter today and changed it. The filter looked pretty full, and it seems there was a mouse hanging out in the air box, he left a bunch of acorns and fluff. I wonder if all that contributed to the problem. I have to test it some more in the daytime, but it didn't stall while test driving around the property a little, and I et it idle for a while and it didn't die.

I was trying to undo the electrical connector to the MAF, but couldn't figure out how to do it. I didn't want to damage it by forcing it. How do I get it apart?

You need to remove this clip to unplug the MAF connecter.

Ah! Thank you!