I recently purchased a 2001 Z71, 4wd, 5.7 auto, 2 year old battery with 63k on the clock about. I've put 800- uneventful miles on the truck. Other than sluggish 1-2 shifts, there have been no issues until today. Today, I'm out in the middle of God forsaken nowhere, with my wife in the passenger seat, and the truck won't start. 15 volts on the voltmeter, stong lights and chimes, connections all clean and tight, green light on the battery, but the starter justs spins uselessly. Bear in mind, we are 6-7 miles from a paved road. Started to walk out and found a good Samariatan. He put jumper cables on my truck-just spins again. we left the two vehicles hooked together for ten minutes and the Chevy fired right up! I'm new to Chevy trucks-spent the last 15 years with Toyotas. I think the starter Solenoid or Bendix is bad. What say you? Any and all input would be appreciated.

 

My vote is for the starter solenoid being out, sometimes you can beat/hammer on them to get them to engage, just be careful no to beat it to the point of damage( thou you might want to) and careful not to smack the wires and short it out....
that said its probably the starter and you could just replace it and it will come as a whole unit starter and solenoid.....

 

sounds like a stuck solenoid to me.

 

Called my Chevy (st)dealer today to see if the starter and or starter solenoid was covered under my one year powertrain warranty. It seems the starter is NOT part of the drive train. I stopped at Autozone and they load tested the 2 year old Delco battery. It was shot-11 volts under load. The AutoZone tech told me that Delco batteries are an absolute POS. I'm out a $100 bill to replace the battery, but such is life. My Chevy dealer lost all of my service work. Before September, I will be changing the truck over to all synthetics, Engine, Tranny, pumpkins and transfer case. The guys that sold me this truck will never put a wrench on it.-penny wise and pound foolish.