New to the forum with a wealth of tbi problems and need help. Sorry for the long first post.

Brief history: 95 tahoe tbi 350 4l60 4x4 185k. Has been sitting for ~3 years and driven hard and not well maintained for 3 years prior to that (not by me). I was laid off back in October so I am basically trying to bring this thing back from a woods beater hunting truck to a dd. Im no noob when it comes to working on auto's but I cant seem to pinpoint what is going on with this rig. Now, Ive replaced a lot of parts not because of this one particular problem but because it was a POS before I got a hold of it. Not just "shotgunning" parts at it.

It was throwing a 32 when I finally got it to start which is something related to EGR so I replaced it as well as the solenoid. Didnt fix. I did a full tune up with plugs/wires/cap/rotor. Also replaced the ignition module while it there. Checked base timing and it was right on. Ran great for about a month. Started fine all was well. I let it sit for a couple weeks and it wouldn't start. Battery was bad, so I replaced it. While I was in there I put a new A/C compressor and accumulator etc to get the air working. Now it struggles very much to start and basically wont start hot a/c or not. WTF? Starter tested good, alt tested good. Replaced engine and chassis grounds as well as the batt to starter wire. Batt sits at 13V off and when I get it started the alt is pumping it up to 14.5V No new codes. Timing is still the same. Fuel pump sounds when key is on and fuel filter has been replaced. Some days it was so bad it couldn't even get out of the driveway, some days it wasn't there at all. Its been getting terrible gas mileage and overall road worthiness is way worse than I remember it being a few years ago. Like around 7-8mpg. I know that the cat needs replacing but I have a hard time linking this problem to that.

Where do I go from here? Could it be a fuel pressure issue? I have a 25 mile interstate commute one way and I cant even maintain the speed limit. I knew this truck wasnt a powerhouse but my old cummins pulling it on a trailer is faster than it by itself. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Nobody has any ideas?

 

As far as code 32 goes, check the solenoid that controls the EGR vacuum (bolted to the back of your ESC on the passenger side of the engine). Make sure the electrical connection is good, and that there are no vacuum leaks. If the connections are good, the solenoid may be bad.

As for the rest of it, check the fuel pressure. Should be between 9-14PSI. Check that the injectors aren't leaking, and have good flow.

You said the base timing was "Right on" what was it right on at? Was it at 0' (TDC) with the brown wire unplugged?

A plugged cat can cause those problems as well, so if you know it's bad, and needs to be replaced, it should be replaced anyway.

Checking compression wouldn't be a bad idea either.