2008 Silverado 2500hd intermittently not starting

[greatjay]

Hello,

 

I have a 2008 Chevy Silverado 2500hd. Recently, I've been having a problem intermittently with getting it started (no start no crank). It has happened 3 times, and each time I have had to call AAA. I'm hoping maybe someone out there knows how to fix this. Any advice would be great...

 

The first time it ever happened, you turned the key and nothing would happen. No crank. It had full electrical power, but I thought I'd jump it anyway. The jump pack had absolutely no effect. Then I thought maybe it was the anti theft. So I locked and unlocked the doors 3 times with the fob. Nothing. Next I thought maybe either the sensor in the gearshift or in the brake pedal. Played with both to no avail. Then I thought maybe it was a contact in the starter. So I had someone tap the starter while I tried the key. Nothing. Finally I ended up having it towed to the Chevy dealer I bought it from. First they said they believed it was a communication problem with the computers, but wasn't exactly sure what was wrong. Later in the day they called and said the fuse box was the culprit, and I needed a new one. I had them put it in, and everything seemed ok.

 

About a week and a half later, stopped at the store. Went to start the truck to go home, nothing. No crank. Had it towed to my Chevy dealer. They looked at it and said my ignition switch was bad, and replaced it. Everything again seemed fine.

 

About two weeks later, I went to leave work, turned the key, and once again nothing. I was determined to figure it out this time. So, I played with the gearshift and brake pedal, nothing. I went to the fuse box and pulled each fuse and relay, checked for debris and put them back in. Nothing. So I pulled the fuse box out, cleaned the connectors with contact cleaner, made sure everything was nice and shiny, and popped the fuse box back in. Nothing. Then I thought that maybe if there was a problem with the computers, they needed reset. So I disconnected the battery for two minutes, and then hooked it back up. Nothing. You can hear the relays clicking softly, but it just isn't activating the starter. I tried shaking some wires to try to find bad connections, even tried pushing it a little in neutral. Nothing. When the AAA driver got there, he took a look. He yanked on the wires coming from the battery going towards the starter, and I was able to start the truck right up. I drove it to the dealer anyway, cause I thought maybe the wire needed replaced or tightened.

 

They told me that the wire was fine. They checked the starter and said it was ok. And they said they really didn't know what the problem was. They checked everything they possibly could think of. They said to bring it back again when it won't start and maybe they can find the problem.

 

Does anyone have any idea what this is? If it helps, usually when this happens, the first time you try to start it, it will start for like a split second and stall out. From there on it just makes a soft clicking at the relays and won't crank.

 

I usually do not do a lot of repairs to my truck myself. I like to have the Chevy dealer do it for a few reasons. It's my only car and I can't chance screwing something up and not being able to get to work. And, if something simple ever ended up being a major problem, they could probably handle it way better than I can. They're trained, I'm not. But at this point if anyone has any ideas I'd be willing to try/check them. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Jay