Jump to content

Truck Gremlins

Brad McEwen

Recommended Posts

Brad McEwen New Member

Brad McEwen

Posted
Posted

I'm new to this site and I hope I'm doing this right. Here's the deal:

A few weeks back my 2004 Chevy Silverado started acting funny. I'd be driving it around town then stop for something, like running into convenience store, and then when I'd get back in it wouldn't crank up back up. when I say wouldn't crank I'm talking no noise at all, no struggling engine, nothing save the gauges coming on. The first couple of times I got nice folks in the vicinity to let me hook my jumper cable to their batteries and after a few tries the truck would crank. After the second time of it happening, in the middle of the work day, I went to see my battery guy (about an 8 mile drive from my office) and he tested current battery and said it checked out just fine. While there I tried to crank truck and it wouldn't crank. We hung out talking for a few minutes and tried truck again and it started. So, I quickly took truck to the shop since I was also having trouble with the air conditioning not always blowing. Figured I'd get both issues handled.

 

The mechanic had the truck a week and, a couple hundred, later told me he had fixed the AC problem and that the truck always cranked for his guys even after driving it around. The next day I leave work to drive to the neighboring community (about a 25 mile drive) and when I got back to my house to pick up lunch, the truck won't crank. I call mechanic he says to bring it back so I wait about 30 minutes and finally the truck cranks right up. But this time the air isn't blowing cold. Mechanic looks at it, figures out he can manually trip the compressor on, which is baffling to him and tells me he needs the truck for a while longer. I explain that I can't leave it that day due to availability of another car to use for work. I leave, and go back to office.

 

Later that day I get ready to head home from work and what do you know, the thing cranks right up and air blows cold. For about a week everything is fine. I'm able to get to the office, run quick errands, whatever and the truck cranks and the air blows cold. All short trips though. Then one day I have to take a longer drive, like 30 miles and when I get where I'm going I'm only there about 10 minutes and when I come back out the truck won't crank. I wait 40 minutes and it cranks but now the air won't blow cold. So now I'm in a pattern. Short drives, it cranks up and air blows cold; longer drives, it won't crank, wait 40 minutes, it cranks but air won't blow cold; park it for a few hours, it cranks fine and air works fine. Rinse and repeat.

 

Now I'm in constant state of paranoia that I'll get called to an assignment (I'm a reporter) and will get stuck and can't get back to office to write story by deadline. I trust the guy that looked at the car the first time who said he checked that thing stem to stern (everything except the truck's main computer module because he doesn't work on those) so I feel certain it's not something like starter or solenoid or battery or loose wires. It just doesn't make any sense. I can add that sometimes my radio will be dead and other times it works fine. Also, I'll get weird stuff where the interior dash lights go dim and I have to turn on the dome light and then turn it off to get the lights to brighten back up. The truck has less than 100,000 miles on it and otherwise has been a good vehicle.

 

As a reporter, who's already out a few hundred bucks, I'm really fearful of spending more money needlessly. So, I'm trying to find out on my own what my happening to get a handle on how much money I'm likely to spend because if I'm looking at something really expensive, like $800 plus, I'll have to just deal with the uncertainty of whether it will run from day to day for a while longer. Any thoughts?

Andy Seibel Enthusiast

Andy Seibel

Posted
Posted

I endured almost that exact same thing with my '98. Truck would randomly not start and then a half hour later it would fire up. I took it in several times. They thought it was an issue with fuel pressure, etc. new fuel pump, same problem.

 

Finally someone tried to take the steering column apart and look at the ignition wires. They found a loose wire on the passlock system. Which I understand is some sort of security feature to prevent the ignition from starting the truck without the GM key. anyway, they repaired the wire, and no problems anymore.

 

So my advice if it keeps happening is to tell them to inspect the passlock system. let me know if you get it resolved. good luck.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Chuck FB
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I had skimmed through that article when you posted the link and honestly I felt rather defeated in a sense and realized that all these years in changing oil that in fact putting in what I was told was a good quality oil was probably not filtered as well as it should be although the filter put on the engine would be what ( as long as it never went into bypass mode ) would be the final filtering of the new oil that the engine components would first see, but then the filtering media itself is not up to par to what is ideal because a full flow filter would be too restrictive to filter fine enough for the engines best outcome in the long run. Only one of our tractors over the years which was a Versatile with a 855 Cummins had a separate bypass filter, some engine manufacturers did spec a partial bypass system within the main oil filter but I don't believe any other trucks or equipment I was servicing used such a filter. No doubt a product like the Amsoil bypass system is of benefit as long as nothing goes sideways with the extra plumbing and filter such as a rupture/leak that could cause the oil to pump out of the engine ( yes that Versatile had a remote canister with hoses routed to it as well ). With the idiot egr system on a diesel and as a result forcing a lot more soot into the oil, that certainly isn't helping the diesel engines cause or as you pointed out the GDI engine issue with creating more soot and aside from having a fancy secondary filtering system, changing the oil more often helping lower the total soot load.     So oil manufacturing and the end product is not something one can control and I wonder if there are specs on what various oil packaging companies produce in particle count or size. As to the filtering, if the OEM is not designing a filter size and spec that is really what it could be, they too are short changing the end user and so what is the answer. Of course as you say the oil side can only do so much if the air side isn't keeping up its end of the picture and air filters are only so efficient and if in a dusty environment such as farm or construction or driving gravel roads there is a lot of dirt to filter out and some of that ends up into the air stream.    Of course the irony in places like where I am where they dump the salt on the highways but also will mix in some calcium or outright pure calcium for problem road area's, or using calcium as dust control on gravel roads, the vehicle that gets used in that environment may rust out before a properly engineered engine and maintenance finally wears out so one has to face that reality in the rust belt. 
    • GAMark
      Road Master Active Suspension

      By GAMark · Posted

      Has anyone run these on their 2500?
    • Erfar
      Oil Change

      By Erfar · Posted

      have you stuck with dealer oil changes since then? I made the same switch after getting tired of crawling around under the truck, but I’ve found some dealers are way better than others about getting you in quickly. Curious if yours has been good about scheduling or if you’ve had to look elsewhere for quicker turnaround.
    • cherryred21duramax
      Can anyone decode a VIN to determine if this truck has had emissions issues or a recall?

      By cherryred21duramax · Posted

      Thank you.   I am set on a 3.0 Duramax as my previous truck with a Ford Ecoboost had just as many, if not more, "common" issues.  Cam phasers, timing chain issues, 10-speed valve body and CDF drum, emissions issues, etc.  So I figured, why not get 2x the fuel mileage (these things got 27+mpg on every mixed city/highway test drive I put them through) and better towing capability with resale value to boot?   My minimum, shortest trip will be 50 miles 1-way and I regularly go out of state with a travel trailer.  I'm planning on using this for a marketing/event promotion business also, which would require regular towing of trailers for bands, DJs, sound and lighting gear, along with my personal camera gear for filming events.   Looked at other trucks in the $30k+ price range but the issues seem to be everywhere, plus too many with gaudy mods.  I'm literally sticking with RWD trucks because they tend to be actually used as trucks, vs. the 4x4 models I've seen with unsafe lifts, huge tires, and general mods that would affect reliability (I'm wondering if some of them were tuned, hence the aggressive throttle response and hard shifting).   So my goal is to find a stock, 3.0 with 1 or 2 owners, in good physical condition, and decently well maintained.  Can't seem to find that up here, everything in the $27-30k range has had multiple owners, smoke smell, issues, or body damage.  Or the ridiculously modified trucks with 80k miles for under $27k but lots of problems...
    • KARNUT
      OCI, not when but why?

      By KARNUT · Posted

      That’s pretty tough Grumpy. I reread the previous few posts. They all reference oil changes. Much like your last thread. In my humble opinion it keeps things interesting.

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...