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Intermittent No Start

splat10

By splat10
in Ask A GM Technician

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splat10 Enthusiast

splat10

Posted
Posted

8/5/09

99 silverado z71

 

So i've had this issue a few time now. The first time i spent hours trying to figure out what was going on until i disconnected the battery and it was fine. Now that I know it is just annoying because I have to wait 10 minutes for the ECU to reset.

 

I do have a compustar remote starter also. (99 NBS silverado LS, Z71)

 

What it's doing is this. I put the key in to start it and turn, the dinger dings once, and i get nothing. The gague may jump all over the place for a few seconds, and i can hear all my relays clicking like crazy. The security light in the info center is very dimmed and all the lights are light it's dumping power somewhere since they are all very dim.

 

It's never happened to me at a time when i didn't need to be somewhere or at home so i haven't been able to dig into it. Twice it's happened while sitting all day at work, and one after a five minute trip into a store so not a hot/cold interior/engine issue that i can tell.

 

 

Sounds like ECU or remote start to me but don't know where to start.

 

Please help

 

update 8/28/09

ok so it happened again yesterday and i couldn't get it to come back for a long time. I tore the whole dash apart looking for frayed or disconnected wires and didn't find anything. I unplugged the remote start module and it didn't change anything.

 

There's a plastic delco box under the dash with three harnesses going into it (brown connector, blue, and purple) that seems to be the in area when i'm successful wiggling wires (is that the bcm?)

 

I did the negative battery cable (which has worked before) and no improvement after 15 minutes. But when i did the positive cable (it was hot to the touch) it fired right up.

 

I'm starting to think it's my ECU. Is there a way to test the ecu? How much is a new one? Once it starts it's fine.

 

Another (possibly related) issue is that i went to pass someone yesterday and stopped on the gas. I'm now hitting the rev limiter at 4,000 RPM. At first i though it was the tranny slipping but it's not, Then i thought it was the fuel pump starving (since it went bad earlier this week), Then i was able to recreate it yesterday and it was definately a rev limit type action.

 

I'm stumped here and the truck might end up in the crusher soon if i can't figure this out.

 

I posted this in full size forum too but minimal views so hoping this will help me out.

bill190 Enthusiast

bill190

Posted
Posted

When this happens, check the battery voltage with a multimeter.

 

The battery should read 12 something volts with just the ignition on (not started).

 

Then start it and it should then read 13/14 volts at the battery. This is the alternator kicking in and charging the battery.

 

Then measure the voltage inside the vehicle as well. Check from the center of the cigarette lighter to ground and you should get about the same voltage as at the battery. Check with just the ignition on and also with the vehicle running like above.

Norseman Senior Enthusiast

Norseman

Posted
Posted
8/5/09

99 silverado z71

 

So i've had this issue a few time now. The first time i spent hours trying to figure out what was going on until i disconnected the battery and it was fine. Now that I know it is just annoying because I have to wait 10 minutes for the ECU to reset.

 

I do have a compustar remote starter also. (99 NBS silverado LS, Z71)

 

What it's doing is this. I put the key in to start it and turn, the dinger dings once, and i get nothing. The gague may jump all over the place for a few seconds, and i can hear all my relays clicking like crazy. The security light in the info center is very dimmed and all the lights are light it's dumping power somewhere since they are all very dim.

 

It's never happened to me at a time when i didn't need to be somewhere or at home so i haven't been able to dig into it. Twice it's happened while sitting all day at work, and one after a five minute trip into a store so not a hot/cold interior/engine issue that i can tell.

 

 

Sounds like ECU or remote start to me but don't know where to start.

 

Please help

 

update 8/28/09

ok so it happened again yesterday and i couldn't get it to come back for a long time. I tore the whole dash apart looking for frayed or disconnected wires and didn't find anything. I unplugged the remote start module and it didn't change anything.

 

There's a plastic delco box under the dash with three harnesses going into it (brown connector, blue, and purple) that seems to be the in area when i'm successful wiggling wires (is that the bcm?)

 

I did the negative battery cable (which has worked before) and no improvement after 15 minutes. But when i did the positive cable (it was hot to the touch) it fired right up.

 

I'm starting to think it's my ECU. Is there a way to test the ecu? How much is a new one? Once it starts it's fine.

 

Another (possibly related) issue is that i went to pass someone yesterday and stopped on the gas. I'm now hitting the rev limiter at 4,000 RPM. At first i though it was the tranny slipping but it's not, Then i thought it was the fuel pump starving (since it went bad earlier this week), Then i was able to recreate it yesterday and it was definately a rev limit type action.

 

I'm stumped here and the truck might end up in the crusher soon if i can't figure this out.

 

I posted this in full size forum too but minimal views so hoping this will help me out.

 

Had the exact thing happen to my 99 Z71. Turned out to be the positive battery terminal was bad. So, new battery and problem gone.

splat10 Enthusiast

splat10

Posted
  • Author
Posted

:cheers: Just what i wanted to hear.

 

I cleaned my battery up after the last time (lots of white corrosion) and it's gone more than a week without a problem now. I'll probably look in to a new positive cable soon too just to make sure that's not bad.

 

Now if i can just figure out the "rev limiter" action at 4000 rpm i'll be happy (other than the large rusty areas)

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