I have a 1988 b2200 se-5 that has been treating me pretty well for about a year but a few weeks ago it stopped working and I'm not sure why. I drove it to a friends place and it worked just fine and then drove it to get food and it worked just fine and then when we finished eating and went to leave it would start but only when the key was in start and would die when I let go. A day or two later I went back to try to figure it out and at that point it wouldn't even fire when the starter was going it would just crank over. since then I've replaced the spark plugs and wires, the ignition coil, the mechanical fuel pump, and the ignition switch. I used a spark tester and it says it has spark in all 4 cylinders, took the outlet line off of the fuel pump and plugged the return, and when I cranked it I saw fuel come out so it has fuel and spark. I tried using starter fluid and that didn't work, I even tried using a leaf blower to give it air along with starter fluid and it still wouldn't start. Ever since I did the ignition switch which is the last thing I did it has intermittent combustion while cranking but it still won't fully fire up. I'm a pretty new mechanic and this is my first project and I've tried everything I can think of and I just need some insight on what I should do next. thanks

attached is a video of the intermittent combustion

 

Run a wire from the positive on the battery, to the positive on the coil, then try to start the truck. If the truck starts and runs, you may need to disconnect the positive wire to the coil for it to shut back off again.......and this also means that the coil is NOT getting power when the ignition switch is in the "RUN" position.

Give us some more info on your truck also:

Does it still have the stock carburetor? Or a Weber carb? Or is it an EFI truck (No Carb)?
Is it an Automatic Transmission or a Manual Trans?

Another thing to check BEFORE you run the positive coil wire......would be that all of your spark plug wires are in the correct locations on the distributor cap. If these are not correct, that may be your issue currently. Your initial issue may have been the electrical portion of the ignition switch.....this is a known issue with these trucks......the contacts inside the electrical portion of the ignition switch become corroded and worn, and then the switch will not provide power to the ignition coil, when it is in the "RUN" position. From how you described the issue (holding it in "START" it would run) originally, the ignition switch sounded like it was bad.

Can you post a few pictures of the distributor cap and wires, from the Driver's side of the truck......so we can see that side of the engine? That would help to see if your spark plug wires are landed correctly.

And welcome to the forum!

 

Sounds to me like the electrical part of the ignition switch, aligns with the exact symptoms when the one on my '88 B2200 went bad: engine would essentially start with key in "Start" position but would die when key was released to the "Run" position.

So try what was posted below to test/confirm. Pretty much this is the same test as turning key to the "Run" position and checking for 12 volts positive at the coil positive terminal.

 

my truck has a manual transmission and the stock carb, I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the truck before I left today but I set the firing order off a diagram from my repair manual so it should be right

 

so it turns out that my original problem was the ignition switch, but when I replaced the spark plugs and wires I used the factory firing order that I found in my Chilton manual and it turns out that whoever owned this truck before had replaced the distributor at some point and that changed the firing order. the videos I posted were after I had replaced the ignition switch so if your truck sounds like that then it could be as simple as just looking up some generic firing orders for these trucks and trying them out.