350 tbi just quit this morning

[Tiger Joe]

So since it finally quit snowing in PA, I decided to pull my 87 K10 out of winter storage and drive it to work. I've had it running in the last month, but just moving it around, only maybe drove a mile max.

start it up and head out, everything is fine. I get about a mile or 2 down the road and truck has a "studder" if I step on the gas too hard. gently accelerate and its fine, but when it hits about 2k rpm it shudders. well I only drive 5 miles to work, so thought ok I'll limp it in and then limp home. NOPE. make it maybe another mile, coast up to a stop sign truck dies. Try to restart and nothing. was able to coast in a parking lot. Truck turns over strong, but really makes no attempt to fire. I got it to start one time, but it just sorta chugged for a few seconds and died. Ended up having to tow it home (thank god I own a rollback).

So here's what I know:

1- truck is converted to edelbrock multiport EFI. has run flawlessly since 2004.
2- typing that I realize all the "tune up" parts are probably 15 years old. truck was frame off restored from 2000-2004. this is a show truck and rarely driven, so they have probably less than 1,000 miles on them, but they are aged.
3- my quick side of the road diagnosis i thought I could hear the fuel pump running, but there was traffic so I'm not 100%. So I'm thinking ignition.

I've read online that these tbi distributors are only good for 100k, is that true? I know everything inside the cap was new years ago, but the distributor itself is original to 1987 and probably had roughly 150k miles on it.

assuming I'm correct and could hear the fuel pump running, I'm thinking of just doing a full tune of on it since everything is so old. should I just order a new distributor?

looking for any ideas while I sit at work waiting to go home and work on it

[Mattchu60]

Check the Distributor cap/rotor. I put a brand new one on my truck and only a year and a half later I had to replace it - same issue - shuddering engine, no power. The button in the cap was toast on mine when I removed it, it had ground all the way off. The first one was a house brand from summit, the 2nd one (which has lasted a lot longer so far) was an Accel brand.

[SunSoaked]

Which FI system do you have? Pro-flo? I just pulled a complete good running pro-flo off one of my builds. Because of it's age, it's basically good for spare parts.

[57NAPCO]

The pump in the tank can work fine but the short rubber hose can fail.

[Dead Parrot]

Dribble a teaspoon or so of gas into the throttle body and try to start it. If it fires up for a few seconds, you have a fuel flow problem. If after a couple of tries with the added gas it still has no fire, probably an ignition problem.

[Tiger Joe]

Welp figured it out. Problem with my in tank pump.

My truck had dual tanks, has an in tank low pressure tbi pump in each tank and a high pressure pump on the frame. After thinking on it all day I said oh **** I shoulda tried switching tanks. Walked it flipped the switch and truck started right up.

Too bad I didn’t think to flip the switch this morning on the side of the road.