2004 Tahoe Cranks- No Start, No fuel gauge

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04TahoeKS

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I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this issue. I have a 2004 Tahoe Z71 FFV that becomes a crank-no start and when this occurs it has no fuel gauge. Some of the time it will crank two or three times before it will finally start, other times it will be ten or more times. Each time the fuel gauge will not come up and the gauge will read dead E. Also the pump will not come on. This seems to only occur when the temperatures are below 65 degrees. It went the whole summer being fine and now that the temperatures are starting to dip, it is acting up again. This has been going on for about two years with now resolution. The first thing I tried was the ignition switch, because I noticed that I could tap on the column some of the time and it would suddenly start. This seemed to work for a couple of days and then it went right back to doing it again. Then, I noticed that if I heated up the key with my breath (when it was cold out) it would sometimes start. So, I decided to replace the lock housing/passlock sensor. Again, this worked for a couple of days and then it started doing it again. Most of the time it would go all day starting fine, even after a 10-12 hour work shift, but in the morning be a crank no start again. I have checked fuel pressure and see no issue there. There are no warning lights on and no passlock light on. I have seen elsewhere on the web that people have had similar problems, but no real solution. Please HELP!
 

OR VietVet

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He is trying to reset your dash gauges. I believe you can do the same by just removing the negative cable for 30 minutes but any saved radio or other settings will need to be reset. An inexpensive repair attempt would be the fuel pump relay. Intermittent problems like this are a *****. May have to have a complete shut down to pin point the problem unless someone on here has run across the same problem before.
 
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04TahoeKS

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Yeah, I figured someone has been thru this same symptom before, as I have found various other places that reference this problem on the web, but no one ever follows up with the solution.
 

OR VietVet

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If it wasn't intermittent then it would be way easier. Relay is not expensive and reset the dash by undoing the battery.
 

inmypassatlife

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#1, make sure the ignition switch is indexed correctly. I figured this out over the weekend. Replace the switch and the ignition switch housing. The housimg is where the Passlock sensor is actually located.

#2, I ordered a new BCM from Amazon. It was $117, but they can be had for $72 after you return the core. I didn't want to wait 5 days for delivery so I went Amazon.

#3, get BCM reflashed with tech2.

#4, unplug cluster, wait 10mins, and plug back in.

#5, go through Passlock relearn procedure. Search for Cardone Passlock procedure PDF. Best one there is. Although our keys look like Passkey3 we have a Passlock2.

Mine fired up tonight and is working as it was intended.
 

inmypassatlife

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I really do not believe my OEM BCM had an issue, but since the reflashed BCM was used to actually get the truck restarted after working on it for several hours a day for 6 days I went ahead and decided not to try the oem one to find out the hard way. I had the same issue, gauges that did not work, or gauges that had misaligned needles etc. even after the reflash none of the dash lights were working and the gauge needles were stupid, so I unplugged, plugged back in the cluster and all came on as normal. Then i did a key relearn and has been fine ever since.
 
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04TahoeKS

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I did the passlock relearn after changing out the lock housing/passlock sensor. The ignition switch is indexed correctly. I know this for sure, because when it wasn't, a dash light would stay on. The thing I am really stumped on is why it is such a temperature sensitive issue. All summer long, it was fine. Now that temperatures are dipping into the sixty's to forty's overnight, it will act up and then later that same day, it will act up even though the temps are in the 70's.
 

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