Intermittent no power issue-HELP!

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Infamous Ike

TYF Newbie
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Posts
9
Reaction score
18
Hey all,

The vehicle in question is a 2005 Silverado extended cab Z71 with LM7/4L60E. Truck has ~193k miles on it, all factory aside from CAI, aftermarket muffler and Vette servo (all installed at or before 120k miles). General maintenance including new water pump, plugs, wires, oil pressure sending unit, etc. Vehicle has never given me any issue before that I couldn't figure out on my own, I'm the second owner and have owned the vehicle since 100k miles.

The problem:

Last December (2017), I purchased a new daily driver (2009 Tahoe PPV). I anticipated to keep the Silverado awhile longer and then sell it once the winter months came along so I could earn a little "winter" tax. Even though I began driving my Tahoe regularly, I still periodically drove the Silverado around to haul stuff to storage or help friends move. Fast forward to July-September, the Silverado sat for probably 2 months. Not a big deal right? I went out and tried to start it one day and it was completely dead. Characteristics were slow crank followed by the starter clicking, and attempting to jump start the truck proved unsuccessful. I then swapped the battery from my Camaro and it started right up. Swapped the old dead battery back in (while engine was running) and drove it around for ~45 minutes thinking the old battery would charge up. Wrong. Once I shut the truck off, battery was still dead. Pulled the battery out and took it to O'Reilly's, which tested bad and I ended up getting a new one under warranty. This should have fixed my simple "no start" issue right?

Installed the new battery, and soon after (not immediate, but in a matter of days) began to open up a can of "weird" problems. I will try and note them as best as I can.

  1. *Random issue*: When starting vehicle, the electronics seem to all reset. This includes the radio clock, power folding mirrors, power down windows. Windows and mirrors seem to need to re-learn their power assisting settings. Along with the radio clock resetting, the factory Bose 6 disc changer will cycle through all of the CD's as if it's trying to figure out which CD slots have CD's in them.
  2. *Random issue*: When starting the Silverado, it will fire right up. Idles high at start, idles down and purrs as it should. Completely normal. Drive the truck, it drives fine. If I turn the truck off, say after a short run to the store, and come back out to restart it, I run into the following problem: When I turn the key forward to start, the gauges *begin* to sweep as if it's about to start, but quickly all fall back to the standard off position, along with the vehicle losing ALL power. This includes interior lights turning off, all window and door lock buttons inop, radio inop, etc. This also renders the key fob inop if I try and lock or unlock the vehicle. If I let the vehicle sit, usually a day because I'm pissed at it, the problem goes away and it starts the next time I try to start it. This causes problem 1 to happen which I would expect to happen if the vehicle exhibits losing all power.

More information related to issue 2: As I was explaining this issue to my wife upon picking up our Christmas tree, we got home and I shut the truck off. Out of wanting to satisfy my own mechanical curiosity (and wanting her to be a witness and confirm I wasn't crazy), when I went to restart it, problem 2 occurred... loss of interior lights, dash lights, head lights, radio, everything electrical. It's basically like someone installed a 1990's style kill switch on their Monte Carlo because they live in a bad neighborhood and they don't want anyone stealing the car. As my wife rolled her eyes at my overboard outburst of frustration and shut the passenger door, the truck magically regained all electrical power. Radio came back on. Headlights came on. Interior dome and dash lights came on. The key at that moment was in the accessory position as I had been trying to restart it at the time of her shutting the door. After the lights and all that jazz started working again, I turned the key and the truck fired right up.

This is an intermittent issue, but occurs more often than I like. Or, as I should put it, it shouldn't happen at all. Due to this issue, I have been unable to list the truck for sale as I'm afraid this issue will pop up during a test drive and I don't want to be left stranded with a stranger who thinks I might be a serial killer. I've also been afraid to drive it more regularly as I don't want to be stranded at work or elsewhere. If I could give a rough estimate, issue 2 happens about 50%-75% of the time I drive it. Issue 1 isn't really a "big" deal to me, but I'm assuming it is a direct result of issue 2.

Sooo my question is, has anyone else had this issue? Heard of this issue? Has your uncles dads second cousins nephew had this problem? Does anyone know what could be causing it? Any advice on where to begin looking or what I could replace/test? Also, the truck throws no check engine codes what so ever, so I haven't been able to look up any codes that may or may not be related.

If this post is posted in the incorrect section, please feel free to move it. Hopefully to an area that will receive the most views/replies :haha:

Any help or tips would be appreciated!

-Ike
 

kbuskill

***CAUTION*** I do my own stunts!
Joined
Mar 11, 2017
Posts
5,213
Reaction score
8,068
Location
NE. FL.
Check/clean all your grounds and replace your battery cables. Also check/clean the mega/**** fuse connections.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
128,781
Posts
1,805,301
Members
91,760
Latest member
MyCleftNut

Latest posts

Top