Silverado Crank Issue

Any Chevy owners ever try to start their truck and nothing happens? Not a battery issue...brand new battery, but you have to turn the ignition key on and off a few times before it cranks. Also, it rarely does this but maybe once or twice a week. Thanks for clues.

Could be anything... Starter, ignition switch, pass lock problem... What year model is it?

It is a 2003 model....not engaging starter....no click, no sound at all...as though I'm not trying to start it. Might be the ignition switch because if I continue to turn key to start and off and back to start repeatedly, it will crank.

If I was a betting man, I lean toward a starter! If it was mine and I had to guess, I would put a starter on it!! Its one of those things that when it acts up, it would be good to test the starter circuit to see if its getting power....If you decide to put a starter on it, put a good one on.. JMO!

ignition switch. easy to replace. around $100

After researching the internet, this has been a common Silverado issue for years. Lots of folks still trying to figure it out. I'm going to check my starter connections and starter relay. When it happens, it is like you never turned the key, no clicking, nothing. But if you keep turning the key, it will eventually turn engine over and crank. Might be the ignition switch patriot07, but I'm checking the easy stuff first before spending a dime.

Good luck. I had a 99 with the same issue and an ignition switch fixed it. Definitely possible it's a starter issue though. But starters usually aren't intermittent like that.

I believe there is also a neutral switch or something that was a common problem where the truck doesn't recognize that it is in park and wont let you crank it even though it is in park.

One thing you can try and eliminate is to swap the starter relay with the headlamp relay just to make sure its not a relay issue!

Yes, I did read about trying that....will do this week.





Also saw something about that issue also....will probably get a chance to do this stuff starting tomorrow....will give update.

Thanks for your help!

My brother's Honda Passport had that issue. Very intermittent like the OP's issue. His wasn't too difficult to fix once you got the steering column panels off and figured out how it worked. The cable that went to the shift lever was just loose and not engaging the switch every time. But I have no idea if the Chevy works the same way.

Yesterday I swapped the starter relay as suggested and so far it has been starting fine....should know by the weekend if this is the fix. Will post updates.

Drove the truck a few times this week and it cranked normal 100% of the time. Only thing I did was swap the starter relay with the headlamp relay....we'll see if it last through next week. If no more issues, I'm buying a new relay.