Trade it in on a Ford F250.
Fuel pump?
is there gas in the tank? is there spark in the plugs? is your fuel pump going on? Verify voltage on a volt meter? Check for gas smell on spark plug after cranking.
It sounds like it may be a crankshaft position sensor or a cam position sensor or connections to the sensor. Was it cold out when you first tried to start the truck? Did the temperature get a lot warmer later in the day when it started?
If the “Check Engine” light didn’t come on, then I doubt that putting it on a computer will explain anything. It’s a ‘96. The electronics weren’t nearly as sophisticated then as now. Perhaps, more experienced FR motorheads will disagree with me, but this may have to be diagnosed the old-fashioned way: electic or fuel?
Possibly water in the tank, or a plugged fuel filter - both will do this sort of thing.
First things first, a $2 bottle of HEET will take care of the water by mixing it with alcohol and letting the engine run ‘roughly’ on this mixture - it will get the water out.
The fuel filter could certainly be a contributing factor as well.
I would NOT advise putting the various additives that dissolve the ‘gunk’ sitting in your fuel tank. That ‘gunk’ is sticking to the sides of your tank and ain’t bothering nuthin. If you add the ‘gunk’ disolver; prepare to have all that gunk hit your fuel lines and make your life a living hell. Don’t kick a sleeping dog; m’kay?
The HEET and fuel filter would be my first plans of attack.
fuel pump...and its probably in the fuel tank..
Yikes!
Sounds like it could be the fuel pump. When you turn the key to the “on” position, you should be able to hear the fuel pump run for a short time. The fuel pump is inside the fuel tank. If no sound, the fuel pump may be bad.
FWIW, the Astro with that engine had a problem with the fuel pump which is in the fuel tank. The fuel filter would be worth checking if it has a separate fuel filter.
Does your truck have an anti theft security system? If it does, there will be a yellow “security” lamp on the instrument panel while you are starting it.
Even with no check engine light I would still see If you get a DTC thru the OBD II port. It’s usually a persistant problem that lights up the check engine lamp. Try Autozone, they used to do this for free.
Classic symptom of a starter that is on its last legs...
Google. Join an on-line group.
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f11c4c3
Here’s “S10 starting problems.”
Has it been raining?
It apparently does have a separate fuel filter: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_fuel_filter_located_and_how_do_you_replace_it_on_a_1998_Chevy_S-10
Has it ever been replaced?
Fuel injector computer.
I had a 90s model S10 that started bucking like a mad mule when I got over a certain speed.
Managed to make the thirty or forty miles in, thinking fuel filter or fuel pump...what it turned out to be was a ‘module,” you know the catch-all term, a kind of stop-watch sized black unit attached up near the top of the engine block...at any rate there was a 50K warranty on that particular piece and my hometown dealer stuck on a new one for free even though I had just barely passed 50,000....few months later my clutch went out & they got my money anyway...
Oh yes btw...they had to hook it up to the computer to confirm that it was the module....
First of all, you are confused. You said it would crank but not turn over. When it cranks, it turns over.
Since it cranks, the battery is good.
Was it damp or wet last night? If so, you probably need new plugs and wires. This is a common problem when they get old.
That thing is haunted !! Sell it NOW!!
Take a rubber mallet and hit the bottom of the fuel tank. If it’s the fuel pump, that will often get it running. That won’t work too many times.
That engine has a fuel delivery spider that sometimes leaks. That’s probably not your problem but keep an eye on that too. Check your oil and the engine compartment for a gasoline smell.