Turner11

I’m having trouble with starting my 04 1500. For about a 2 months when you try to start nothing happens. I can keep moving key on and off and it will finally start. I have replaced the ignition switch, Ignition switch housing and key tumbler and it made no difference. This week it has gotten worse and sometimes it will crank over and not start. I can keep working the key and then it will finally start. I don’t think it’s the neutral safety switch because moving the gear shift doesn’t seem to matter. It’s going to be something simple electrical I’m sure but not sure where to start. I did clean the ground to the frame below the drivers side headlight. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

jw11432

Sorry, but this is unclear to me.
I can keep moving key on and off and it will finally start. - Is this to mean you cycle the key between ON and OFF (as opposed to ON and START positions), then after a few cycles you go to START position and it starts up?

Turner11

That’s correct. Cycle from run to start.

chem_man

Try starting your engine with the headlights on such that you can see the brightness of the headlights (like vehicle pointed towards a garage door). Do the headlights dim when the engine does not crank? If they do dim, how much do they dim - a little or a whole bunch?

Please report your results.

Also, have you had your battery load tested?

jw11432

I agree with chem_man, let's rule out the battery first and foremost. The mere presence of adequate voltage is not enough. Take it into Autozone/Oreillys or wherever and they can do a load test, usually they can do it while it's still in the car I believe with their handheld tool.

chem_man

Actually, what the auto parts stores prefer to use to test batteries in the vehicle is a conductivity tester. Not all bad in and of itself, but it is not a load test. A load test is where the battery is attached to what is best described as a big @$$ resister that can handle up to a couple of hundred amps of current as well as the heat that is generated.

The voltage of the battery is monitored while 100 - 200 (or more) amps is drawn from the battery. If the voltage drops below a certain minimum voltage (something like 10.5 VDC) is so many seconds (15 seconds comes to mind), then the battery is bad.

So ask if the auto parts store can actually do a real load test using a carbon pile and not just a conductivity test.