My husband is a mechanic also my brothers gmc did the same thing an it was the starter. The starter would lock up. He took his to the dealer several times an got the same answer you got untill it left him stranded. They replaced starter an no problem since. Just fyi.

 

Thanks for the input Kim. The starter was the first thing I replaced back a few months ago when this started. I figured it was bad since if I jumped the solenoid terminals I would get sparks but no cranking. Now I'm beginning to think ignition parts.... or I suppose a bad Autozone starter.

 

Um i hate to say this but autozone starters are garbage, my husband has had to replace them a lot...

 

Really? Maybe I will pull it out and bench test it. Thanks Kim.

 

Hi All, Same problem. New battery, sometimes it starts, sometimes it wont. Banged on starter nothing, tightened cables, nothing. It happened yesterday 5opm would not start, moved car manually (pushed it). Sat for 3 hours, tried to start, nothing. Got jumper cables out of other car, opened hood, then tried to start it befoire opening hood and it started. It's been doing this for 3 months. My guess is starter, but not 100 % sure. 2 months ago mechanc said battery- Not it. Can anyone tell me where the Neutral safety switch and Ignition switch are? I will change them all assuming they are less than a hundred bucks each.

Thanks

VF

 

When you say won't start, reading this I assume won't crank? Is the shifter loose, play? Try this if you suspect nuetral saftey switch, either try to crank it in nuetral, or hold pressure on the shifter towards park.

 

Are you able to get a meter to the starter solonoid and see if you are getting power when you turn the key? I am assuming when you say no start you mean it doesn't turn over or anything. You can change parts out if you like but that can get expensive fast if you just start changing things without narrowing it down. Is pretty time consuming too.

 

Imposter, that sounds like a good idea, something I haven't tried yet. with the key on what should I have at the solenoid? 12v or should I be looking for amps?

 

I may have said this before but might not have been clear so I will post it again since we have had a few others with this problem.....There are many on here more knowledgeable than I and they may have a better answer, but this is what worked for me.

I went and bought one of these..

Search: remote start | Remote Starter Switch | AutoZone.com

I got the one with the trigger handle but probably any one will do.

My starter was hard to get to so I ran an extra wire from my starter solonoid ( the post that that is supposed to get power when you turn the key). I think I did it when I had the starter out for testing but you may be able to get to it from inside the wheel well if you take the little heat shield off the solonoid. ( remember to disconnect your battery first or you will probblay be seeing your 4th of July fireworks early). I found a nut that was the correct size and just added the wire without disconnecting the original wire. The post was long enough that both fit no problem. I ran the extra ( red so it was easy to spot and I would remember it was for power) wire Up into the top of the engine bay, zip tied it so it was out of the way and easy to access. Then I put a blade connector on it so I had something that I could easily clip to and I could cap it off when I was done or not using it.

Now when the burb wouldn't start I just popped the hood and hooked my little remote switch from my extra wire to my batt. Car in park, key in "ON" position, hit button. You are pretty much bypassing everything so if it starts then it is probably not starter or solonoid.

I admit that this is a bit inconvenient but it helped me because it bought me some time to do more in depth troubleshooting without worrying about being stranded. In my case mine had already been to the dealer at least 3x with the prev owner for this issue but because it was so intermittant they were not able to figure it out. Every time I go to the dealer it is a couple hundred bucks and I sure can't afford to ( and wasn't going to) throw out hundreds of $$ without trying some things. If you decide to try this and it does start with the switch then at least you know you can start that way and not be stuck, then work on isolating other components as you have time.

Good Luck!

Babs : I just checked for 12v when cranking and that was enough in my case to give me the info I needed. Course I had to have 2 ppl to do that.

Unrelated to this...... I added a pic of the car in my user profile.

 

Hey guys and gals,
I am new here and I was reading this portion of the forum, A lot of good information. I have experienced the same problem. Put key in, turn gauges all work but will not engage starter. I went under the hood and took the cover of the electrical box and took out the starter relay, I used a wire form those flags you see stuck in the ground and put rubber tap on it and bent it. I had to use my grinder to flatten the end down enough to stick into the relay receptacle. I use it to jump the relay on terminal 87 and 30, make sure the key is in the on position. Your truck should start so remove the jumper and put the relay back in and close it all up. Keep the wire in your console so you will have it next time. This happened to me a long time ago and then nothing for about a year, then today every single time I turned it off I had to use the jumper to start it. Still looking for a solution.

Anyhow hope this helps some of you.