Typerod

Hi all, I have a 2007 Tahoe LTZ 4WD w/ 5.3L, has about 305K miles on it. I have been having this intermittent starting issue. So when I turn the key to start the engine and release the key I get a quick partial crank and then nothing happens. Then I turn and hold the key to the start position, and it may either give another quick partial crank or it will give a slow crank and then will eventually start.
I have dual batteries in the car, both batteries are only 10 months old. I checked the voltage on them and they usually have about 12.4V - 12.6V. I'm pretty sure its not a battery issue. I'm leaning towards the starter relay or the starter itself going bad.

The weird thing is the day before this issue started, I had trickle charged the batteries all day. No issues during the charging that I noticed. And then all of a sudden next day this issue pops up. I'm hoping something didn't get partially fried somehow. And yes, I did hook up the terminal correctly, lol.

I will try to get a video of the issue.

Has anyone experienced this odd issue?

I am wanting to say its the starter....but can a starter that is going bad have symptoms of a partial crank or slow crank?! I'm not a technician at all, but my past life experiences have taught me that the starter will either work or it won't work, no middle ground. From my experience in the past a bad starter will just click loudly and not crank at all, but this is not the symptom I have in my Tahoe.

I will probably start with replacing the starter relay in the engine bay fuse box, just need to find the right part number, which can be a pain. But it should be only $10 or so, maybe less, so no biggie if it doesn't fix the issue.

Thanks in advance!

tech2

its been a while!
if the starter draw is excessive it can cause a slow crank....so yes...the problem can be a starter, battery, battery cables/connections
sorry to do this to you....first part of starting diag is to rule out the batteries. Since you have 2....they must be isolated from each other and tested individually. One bad battery will suck of the power from the good battery.
-loose/poor battery connections can also cause this issue. voltage drop test is how to rule this out.
-if the starter solenoid is engaging the relay is fine. they is probably another similar relay in the fuse box...swap them

Typerod

Hey tech2! Yes it has been a while since I posted on an issue, lol! So this issue is very intermittent. I have not figured out the rhyme or reason to make this symptom show up. So I checked all the battery terminal connections, those were good and tight. I checked the positive connections to the starter and the ground, those we nice and tight. I just did a quick test on the old solenoid, I tested resistance between the control circuit pins, got about 80 ohms, which I believe is in spec. I did jump pins 85 and 86 to power and ground to test for the "click" in the solenoid, and I did get a click (although I know that is not the sole test to determine if the solenoid is good). But I also just went ahead and put in a new starter relay anyway, it was less than $20 at the dealer.

Next I will test the batteries individually when time permits. I have a battery tester I got on Amazon, I don't trust it 100% but if I get odd results, I'll go to advance auto or autozone, I believe they test for free. I will look up the starter draw test on youtube and will try to see if I'm handy enough to get a result or not, lol.

But Thank you so much for your input, not just today, but from pretty much the past decade plus some! You are one of the folks who really make this site my go-to for help with troubleshooting the many plethora of issues with my Tahoe! lol!

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

LarryE

Did I miss anything but is that the original starter?

repairman54

At 305k miles I would replace the starter with a new one. Remans aren't that great.

Typerod

The bad starter was the 2nd starter ever for my Tahoe.

I wasn't able to find a brand new one. My original one lasted about 9 years. The 2nd started which was AC Delco, lasted 7 years, so not too bad IMO.

Just to give an update. It only took 3 shots from the parts cannon to fix this one, lol. I replaced the starter relay. Then came the batteries (I have dual batteries), batteries are from Costco and were still under warranty, so they gave me a full refund and I just upgraded to some AGM batts from Costco. The car still was having the starting issue. So yesterday I picked up a starter and installed it, engine starts up with excitement now, lol. Before the starter was so weak that it barely got the engine going, and it had been like that for years, I just never realized how weak it has gotten, never really occurred to me there was an issue until as of late where it was doing that half crank start, followed by a delayed slow start. Never even had a starter symptom like that before. Its just always been the typical "click" for me.

2022 is still young, I wonder what's next to fail on my beloved Tahoe.