Intermittent electrical cut out

[Dave Johnson]

I inherited my '99 stepside Silverado 4x4 from my Dad.  It was impeccably maintained.  Recently, when starting, it would either start great, or on other random occasions, turn over weakly, and then start.  Completely random.  Then today I tried to start it, it caught but then failed, and upon retrying, it went completely dead.  No electrical at all.  I checked the battery connections, which seemed secure, but I could wiggle the neg a bit, so I tightened it up.  The truck started right up, so I thought I'd fixed it.  To confirm, I shut it down, and then tried to restart it, it caught and failed, and then again, dead electric.  I gave the negative cable another wiggle, and got power back, but as soon as I turned the key this time, the power went dead.  In looking at forums for help, I saw that it can be negative battery cable fault.  I also wondered if there is anything else I should consider.  Grounds?  The battery itself?  Thanks for any guidance.

[diyer2]

IMO

Remove battery cables and clean the cable ends and battery posts. There is a tool to do this and and makes it easy.

Make sure both cables are tight on the battery. Can't move them.

Check battery voltage with a volt meter or take truck to auto store and have them check it.

Check battery cables and replace if needed.

Replace battery if needed.

 

 

[BlancoSilverado]

Check the grounding strap from the motor to the firewall. these are prone to fail over the years.

[diyer2]

2 minutes ago, BlancoSilverado said:

Check the grounding strap from the motor to the firewall. these are prone to fail over the years.

Agree.

 

[14Silverado14]

If that year Silverado WIRING is the same or similar to the 99 Suburban ....under the hood on drivers side is a fuse box. Pull out all the fuses one by one and put them back in. My Suburban had same problem. If your fuse blades look a little white they could maybe have intermittent connections. Put some dielectric grease on them.

 

Reason I say this is you mentioned the truck was well kept as was mine. I used to pressure wash the engine bay once a year....I think that is what caused my problem.

[William Christopher Speight]

Check/clean your cables

 

Also I believe your 99 and my 04 have the same starter.  The negative cable runs to the starter and take a look at it down there.  My be the entire cable itself.  Might have to shoot it and see if there is a fault in the cable somewhere.  Good luck.