I have a 2015 Yukon. I went to start it and the engine will on start. All interior lights, radio, and headlights do work, but the engine will not crank. When I disconnect the battery and reconnect, it starts will no issues. Any ideas what could be causing this?
Starting issue
- Thread starter Vweckle
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What does it mean that the "engine will on start?"
What does it mean that the "engine will on start?"
mrathell
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Make sure I heard this correctly, the battery is fully charged and all lights and other electrical items work (windows, horn, sunroof, radio, etc) but the car makes absolutely no noise when the key is turned. The engine does not turn over. The starter makes no clicking noise at all when you turn the key. You are using the key to attempt to turn the car on, not the push start.
If this is all true, first make sure the key is not damaged. The key has a chip in the head of the key. If that is missing or damaged, it will not allow your car to start.
If the key appears to be intact, my next suspect would be the battery connections. It is possible to have enough of a connection to get basic electrical items to turn on but not enough to start the car. So I would make sure my battery connections are clean and tight.
If that looks good, I would next check my ground connections, especially the one to the starter. I would check to make sure they are clean, not damaged and tightly secured to their mounting points. Any signs of corrosion should be clean/removed and reattach.
If all of those are good, I would next look at the starter. Before replacing the starter, I would clean the connection points and make sure the wires are tightly secured to the starter. If that doesn't fix it, I would remove the starter and take it to your local parts store for them to test it.
If it fail their test, replace the starter.
If it passes their test, you may need to have a shop look at it because it could be a host of different things including the ignition switch, ignition module, etc.
If this is all true, first make sure the key is not damaged. The key has a chip in the head of the key. If that is missing or damaged, it will not allow your car to start.
If the key appears to be intact, my next suspect would be the battery connections. It is possible to have enough of a connection to get basic electrical items to turn on but not enough to start the car. So I would make sure my battery connections are clean and tight.
If that looks good, I would next check my ground connections, especially the one to the starter. I would check to make sure they are clean, not damaged and tightly secured to their mounting points. Any signs of corrosion should be clean/removed and reattach.
If all of those are good, I would next look at the starter. Before replacing the starter, I would clean the connection points and make sure the wires are tightly secured to the starter. If that doesn't fix it, I would remove the starter and take it to your local parts store for them to test it.
If it fail their test, replace the starter.
If it passes their test, you may need to have a shop look at it because it could be a host of different things including the ignition switch, ignition module, etc.
Last edited:
How old is battery? Did you check the battery state of charge? Did you load test the existing battery after making sure is fully charged?
Thank you for your reply! It is a push start button, sorry I did not mention.
So, we charged the battery, disconnected, reconnected and it has been starting fine.
Worked all day, then coming home from work today, as I’m driving, the gauges all fell to zero and failed. The instrument cluster went to nothing, and my blinkers decided not to work either. Then within a few minutes came back on, and then when out again.
The car was fine though, as far as running. It never hesitated, and kept going.
we will take a look at all the connections you mentioned and see what we find. We contacted our local shop today to try to get it in, but haven’t dropped it off yet.
We are just dumbfounded on what could be going on.
So, we charged the battery, disconnected, reconnected and it has been starting fine.
Worked all day, then coming home from work today, as I’m driving, the gauges all fell to zero and failed. The instrument cluster went to nothing, and my blinkers decided not to work either. Then within a few minutes came back on, and then when out again.
The car was fine though, as far as running. It never hesitated, and kept going.
we will take a look at all the connections you mentioned and see what we find. We contacted our local shop today to try to get it in, but haven’t dropped it off yet.
We are just dumbfounded on what could be going on.
The battery is just a couple of years old. The terminals look clean. We took it to auto zone to have them test it and according to them, it is fine.
Good, now basics have been addressed but after what you experienced driving, sounds like a ground problem.
Datruckdriver
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I’m glad to see this question asked already. I am currently experiencing the same difficulties with my 2017 Yukon, XL SLT. Mine is very intermittent though. It may go to months and not have an issue. Usually when it will not start, I disconnect the positive battery cable let it sit for 15 minutes, reconnect, edit fires, right up and charges fine. Occasionally, I will notice that the truck is not charging, this usually happens once every month or two. Again, I disconnect the battery, wait 15 min, reconnect, and it fires up and charges. Well today that little treat didn’t work and I had to get a jumpstart when I got home, I left the truck running to check charging system. At the battery, multimeter read 13.5 to 14.2, but was fluctuating back-and-forth pretty quickly. When I saw the truck off and measured battery voltage, it was at 12.5. When I went to start the mtruck again, nothing, only a click. So I sat here looking through the forum trying to see if anyone else had similar issues. After about five minutes, I tried to start it for the hell of it and it fired right up. Turned it off, wouldn’t start back up. This truck has a six month old alternator, six month old battery and has been the only issues I’ve had with it since last January, when I bought it. Any additional help here it would be greatly appreciated. Starters start out around 300 bucks around here and I really don’t want to spend that. If not absolutely necessary. Thank you guys, look forward to hearing your suggestions
mrathell
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My Dodge Ram 1500 had the same issue as you are describing.
The battery was good, the started was good, the starter solenoid was good, the key was good, the ignition switch was good, the ignition module was good. the ground cables were good.
The car would be running perfectly and then just die out of the blue.
In that situation it was the associated with the fuse panel under the hood. There are there big plugs that plug into the bottom of the fuse panel with each of the three big plugs powering different aspects of the car. One of the plugs locking mechanisms failed and allowed for the plug to slightly slide out of the connection when driving and sometimes while idling. It would slide out just enough to loose connection, resulting in the car dyeing. Sometimes just the vibrations from the running engine was enough to make it loose connection and other times it may of been a bump in the road that made it loose connection.
When it lost connection and the car died, sometimes (due to the connection slightly moving to and from the connection point) it would start right back up and other times it wouldn't start again.
In this case, a simple ziptie resolved the issue.
This may not be your issue, but overall your issue sounds like something is loosing contact when the unknown connection gets warm or hot. When that connection cools off enough, it allows for the car to start again until it gets warm or hot again.
