sub wouldn't restart

I turned my 99 K1500 sub off in traffic yesterday and it wouldn't restart. The dash lights would come on when you turned the key but when I turned the key the starter wouldn't turn as if the tranny was in drive. I reinserted all the relays and checked all the fuses related to the car starting and something worked. Any ideas what the culprit could be? I don't want to get stranded somewhere with the kids but I don't want to pay someone $65 an hour to go on a fishing expedition under my hood either. I imagine this is one of those things that has to be broken at the time to find what is broken. Yesterday I was at the first tunnel on I-40 East in the mountains of North Carolina. I got lucky that it started because is in the middle of nowhere.

Bobby

Reply to
Bob Muse
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Just yesterday I had a similar problem. 99 Yukon.

For me it ended up being crud buildup on the pos battery cable. It was similar to your situation my wife drove it to church and when we went to leave it wouldn't turn over at all. Anyway try tapping on the pos battery cable and wiggling the cables a bit you may see whitish crud drop out of them. I'll bet that is what you are dealing with. I ended up getting a little tube of grease they sell for batteries and after cleaning the cable ends with baking soda and water and rincing them well I gooked them up with the grease. I assume it is just dielectric grease but it didn't say the tube was $1.00 . Anyway check the voltage meter on the dash while the engine is running I would bet it is around 12 volts. While you are running it should be right up at 14 though. If you clean the cable it will jump back up there.

Corey

Reply to
Corey Scheich

I had a similar problem. I took off wires at started and sanded of the rust. That was 2 months ago. No problem since.

Reply to
Tj

Well, I would've thought the same thing but I got a new AutoZone battery under warranty just last Monday. I wiggled that while I was under the hood and it felt tight. I will put a wrench on it to make sure it is really snug though.

Reply to
Bob Muse

But did you put it in yourself? Did you clean the cable ends? It is a double cable connection and crud can build up between the two making just badenough of a connection to cause you not to get enough cranking amps to turn the starter. It can also cause the battery to not get quite enough charge from the alternator.

Corey

Reply to
Corey Scheich

I watched the guy put it in and he did a good job scrubbing the bolts with a wire brush and he put the grease stuff on it too. I will take the terminals off and look between the cables. Maybe the problem will show itself at a convenient time.

Reply to
Bob Muse

I used to have an '88 Silverado that when the engine was hot the starter wouldn't crank at all. I kept a pop bottle of water with me and when I accidentally shut it off at the wrong time I would squirt the water in there to cool off the starter. It looks like the starter in these is different than that one though so I don't know if they would still do that. ( I don't recall if that was before or after I replaced it.) How long did you sit before you were able to restart the engine. What you could do to test this theory is drive for 1/2 hour or so and then shut the engine off and immediately try to start it. If it doesn't start let it sit or squirt the starter and then try again without doing anything else. Though your description of the problem was exactly what I delt with, if you leave everything the way it is I am certain you will have trouble again.

Corey

Reply to
Corey Scheich

I pulled the red cables off the battery and the bolt and blades were pretty nasty. I wire brushed everything and put it back together. That was probably the problem.

Reply to
Bob Muse

I will chime in late here. I have an '00 Silverado that did the same thing. When you try to restart, do you still have dash lights? Mine would fade off when the key was in the start position like they didn't have enough power to stay on even though the battery was brand new. I installed the new battery myself, scrubbed all the cables, used dielectric grease on all the fittings and still had the problem. I then cut the rubber protective piece off the positive cable and it was heavily corroded. I got a new side mount post from Autozone ($6 IIRC) and cut off the corroded part of the cable. I put the new terminal on the end of the cable and it has been good for 8 months now. Hope that helps.

Derek

Reply to
derek

Was there a problem before you put a new battery in?

Reply to
RHinNC

I have always been suspicious. This is the 4th battery this vehicle has had. The original Delco went bad. Its' warranty replacement went bad which prompted me to buy the AutoZone battery. Now it went bad after 2.5 years. All replacements were made after a test determined the battery was the culprit. I have usually gotten 4-5 years out of a battery. This is 4 batteries in under 5 years so I wonder if there is a gremlin hiding in there that the diagnostics can't find. This battery I just replaced really got drained at the first of the year. We went on a week long flight out of town and came back to the airport to find that a map light had been on for the whole week. I had forgotten that you can open the door with a key but had to that day. That might have done permanent damage to it to go so low for so long. But that doesn't explain the other 3.

Reply to
Bob Muse

Try checking the alternator for "OVERCHARGING"

It causes the electrolyte to boil and the plates to sulfate, rendering the battery useless!

Anything more than 15 volts at a no load: ie. no lights on or radio or heater/A/C fan on means you are cooking the batteries to death.

That would have been what I checked for after the second battery, because the law of averages that you can get a bad battery. Can not possibly be as bad for you as my dad's and mine were!

Refinish King

Reply to
Refinish King

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