Electrical Problems- Stereo Issue?

[dstaley]

Hi guys,

I'm sorry to trouble you gentlemen with my issues, but I'm having a bit of trouble with my truck.

 

It is a 2001 Silverado K2500. I ordered it new in 2001 so I know its full history. I don't drive it often, but yesterday it was the best vehicle I had to drive through the snow to work after the huge blizzard we were hit with this week. I noticed on my drive to work that the radio wasn't working- there was no sound and I noticed that when I attempted to seek for a station it was unable to find any at all in AM or FM mode, and the CD icon was on- but no CD was in the deck. When I press the EJECT button the icon went off, but in a few minutes it came back on. Annoying, but it's just a radio. I did note that the display stayed on when I turned off the key until the door was opened (as usual).l

 

This morning, the truck wouldn't start- no crank, and connecting a high output battery charger didn't help. Finding that the battery was fully charged I put the charger away and was about to give up assuming that the solenoid was frozen due to the subzero temperatures we had last night, but when I went out to retrieve my keys I tried one more time and it started easily. I had left the ignition on while I put the charger away.

 

I drove it to work, and after work I went to the lot to start it and again it would not turn over. I let it sit for five minutes with the key in the ON position, and after five minutes it would turn over and start.

 

Is this all related, or do I have a broken radio and another unrelated issue? I checked the radio fuse in the dash and it's OK.

 

The truck is not equipped with OnStar. The stereo is the basic AM/FM/CD model with no CD changer and the CD is internal to the stereo- not the auxiliary style. There are no volume controls or any such thing on the steering wheel. The door chimes still seem to work normally.

 

Where should I go from here?