Gauges going crazy and not starting, Battery Good, Starter? Ignition?

Cohen · April 21, 2022

Past couple weeks gauges have been going crazy and giving error messages for service trailer brake, service 4WD. Truck drives fine when this is going on radio and lights still work and had never cut off on me when driving. Then last weekend and today it wouldn’t start at all, just acted completely dead with no turn over or clicking but battery was at 12.4v. Took battery to AutoZone Twice now and their tool said battery/alternator are good.

I checked the grounds and cleaned the 4 on the frame. They looked fine but wire brushed them anyway.

Anyone else had this issue? Wondering if starter or ignition switch?

Edited April 21, 2022 by Cohen

rav3 · April 21, 2022

I will assume this is on your '15 Silverado you have listed in your sig. Have you checked the grounds up by the A pillar? Thet are a common issue.

Capt Bob · April 22, 2022

Similar problem on my 2018.

Had the battery ground wire replaced. Been good ever since.

Cohen · April 26, 2022

@Capt Bob @rav3 I checked that ground and it’s all clear of insulation. I checked and cleaned up all the chassis grounds including both negative battery cable grounds.

I ended up replacing my starter and that made it start normally BUT I’ve driven it twice now and both times the gauges went wonky and got service messages for about 45 seconds one time each drive and then doesn’t happen again. My battery is 4yrs old so I’m thinking I’ll just replace it also.

Also I read some old posts about ECM getting some smoked circuits on it and causing weird issues. Read anything on that before?

Capt Bob · April 26, 2022

So there's no confusion, I had the cable replaced. The problem appeared to reside within the cable itself rather than the contact points. Still, the actual connection of the cable to the battery post clamp (it is one piece) might have been the culprit. Whether it was that connection point or the cable itself, it solved my problem. I have since replaced my battery and made sure all the connections were clean. As for the ECM,I would bet there are some references here on the Forum but there are a few sighting the negative cable replacement also. Much cheaper than the ECM for troubleshooting.

Good luck.