2000 Tahoe, starts up then dies right away...

tenfour · March 15, 2005

Hi there, I have a 00 Tahoe 5.3. Every once in a while I'll go out to the Tahoe, get in, it turns over fine and fires, but then dies right away. You can pump the gas, hold it to the floor it doesn't matter. Then I swear just about everytime I wait about 10 minutes after cranking it every so often and it just starts right up? I don't want to jump to conclusions and replace the fuel pump because it's spendy and it's a bitch. A buddy and I replaced the fuel filter and checked the fuel pressure, it was a little low but not enough to make me wonder. Now, when my gas tank gets low to about 1/4 of a tank the pump screams pretty good...is this normal or is it telling me it's on its last leg?

I've been a Honda guy for years so I'm not used to this problem...

Thanks in advance!

GM-Tech · March 15, 2005

Sounds like it might be a Passlock (security system) problem. What's the "security" light doing when this happens?

tenfour · March 15, 2005

Sounds like it might be a Passlock (security system) problem. What's the "security" light doing when this happens?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You know thats a good point, actually well I don't think it's on, but I mean the truck only runs for a second and dies so I'm not sure if it would be on yet or not. But one thing I have noticed is that I'll be driving down the road and all of the sudden that security light comes on, have no idea why. It happens quite a bit and I've been ignoring it, but why would it all of the sudden come on while driving and does this have something to do with it not starting?

Thanks!

GM-Tech · March 15, 2005

If the security light is coming on while driving, you definitely have a problem. And, it's highly likely this is the cause of your starting problem.

I'm willing to bet you have at least one DTC set, maybe two. Go somewhere to have them check the PCM and the BCM for codes and see what you come up with.

I can't remember if this affected the 2000, but we had big problems with the passlock sensor harness on the older trucks. That might not have been in 2000. On the problem harnesses, there's a capacitor heatshrinked into the passlock harness and it would go open sporadically. The only fix was to replace that harness which only comes with the ignition switch. Again, I don't remember if the 2000 had this capacitor.