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Suburban slow starts.... acts dead(ish), then fires up.

P

proth1975

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Vancouver, WA
After making my morning drive in, and getting my morning coffee at the local AM-PM, I hop in and crank the Burb over. She lugs and lugs and sounds like the batteries are dead. Weird... this is new. I mean, she starts slower recently, but I'd checked that off as the weather. I give her a second or two, and try again, and she fires right back up.

Odd.

I've done the battery mod recently, she had (according to the PO), newish batteries. I just recently cleaned all the corrosion off of the terminals. Is this a case of the battery dropping a cell? or are the cables shot?

Have to admit... it's a lot disconcerting.

-P

'94 GMC C2500 Suburban 6.5l HD
 
My 95 was doing the same as yours turned out to be a bad battery, it trashed my alternator just trying to keep the bad battery charged up though. Have you went through your ground's recently?

Mark
 
Haven't done the grounds... other than the battery terminals. Right now I'm trying to source some cables... (Should help, right?)

-P
 
See if you can hunt down some "real" cables from an auto electric shop.

I'm running 1/0 gauge crossover and ground cables and 2/0 gauge starter cable on my blazer. Is it overkill, probably. Does it help, you'd better believe it. Truck spins over like i can't believe.

If you have any swap meet's up there, go hunting for cable. I found ~40 or so feet of super fine strand 1/0 gauge cable for $35 last year. 20 feet in red, 20 feet in black. Just to give you an idea of how much that cable costs, the 100% copper lugs i used on the ends of my custom cables were close to $5 each. That cable was probably $10 a foot if not more.

If you build custom cables, or have some made for you, make sure that the "weatherproof" heatshrink is used around the connection of cable to end. The "weatherproof" heatshink has a glue inside it that when heated the tubing not only shrinks tight around the connection, but glues itself to the connection, so water/dirt cannot get in and form corrosion. Pricey stuff, but well worth it IMO.

Also have your batteries load tested. Make sure it's done with the batteries disconnected from eachother. I had one guy insist his tester was "smart" enough to know that 2 batteries were connected together when i went to have mine checked. Needless to save i've never been back there since. The batteries were rated at 770 CCA, and the result was close to 1,000 CCA on his tester. Seems like a lot, but that means there was only ~500 per battery if they were both equal. If they weren't one could have 300 and the other 700. the lower output one wouldn't be pulling it's weight and harming the "healthy" battery over time, and you wouldn't know until you've come to the issue you are now having.

Fact is, batteries go bad. Lots of times it's either right at the start of colder temps, sometimes at the first big temp change for the year, and other times they can die from a simple jumpstart of another vehicle. One of the batteries in my truck shorted internally when i jump started a friend who had a dying alternator. That now bad battery killed the good one overnight, and left me stuck with 2 dead batts.
 
Something else to check after the easier/cheaper checks, if they don't resolve your issue, is the starter solinoid. A solinoid with internal contacts going bad/burnt will intermittently pass low voltage on to the starter motor.

Don
 
X2 on what bison said.

Do the easy and cheap stuff first. Go back a few days to my thread "Why You Check Your Battery Cables" and look at the pics. The cable that I peeled the exterior coating off of didn't look very bad, yet there was a lot of corrosion inside that had started creeping up the cable. You can get by with a lot worse corrosion problems with gassers and still be able to start it. But diesels take a heavy draw from the batteries and if there is very much corrosion you can still have 12v, but not have the amps to handle the glow plugs AND the starter.

From your description (sometimes cranks slow, sometimes fast) I am leaning towards starter problems, but eliminate the easy and cheaper stuff first. It is possible you may find an easier, cheaper fix than a starter.

Don
 
Whelp... no start this morning at all.... I mean... it was like the starter was hooked up to a dead battery. I've got 3 of the 4 cables coming in today (just missing the "bridge" cable). I'll update with what I find out. Only pain about owning an older rig, you're fixing what someone else neglected. It'll be nice once everything get sorted out, but for now it's frustrating (and expensive!).

-P
 
Got the three cables... I think I got ones that were similar applications... Not exact (I guess). The starter one matched up exactly. The parts guy I got the parts from made me wait 1/2hr while he slowly looked up a part for a Saturn (I'd prepaid the parts). Slowest. Dealer. Ever. If I ever got a new GMC, they'd be the last place I shopped. Wonder why GM ended up bankruptcy in the first place?

Peh.

-P
 
It *was* the starter! I replaced the 3 cables I could get my hands on (FYI: CompNines catalog was 100% dead on, even though dealer thought I was on crack with the PNs I used). Have to admit, the new cable from battery to starter (88860073) was noticeably thicker than the old one, being 0/2 and all. While I was under there, and with the starter off, I took it to a local parts house and had them test it. Results? Tested out as "slow", and then failed to engage at all. New starter cost? $100 from Cost Less Auto, with a lifetime warranty.

Put it all back together, and when I tested it out, it was like a whole new truck. Gone are the "Rrr, rrr,rrrrrrrrrr,rrrrr, rrr, rrr, rrrrrrrr, voom" starts, now it's all of one second after I turn the key.

Frustrating? Yes. Rewarding? Very much so.

I love this place.

-P
 
proth1975 said:
It *was* the starter! I replaced the 3 cables I could get my hands on (FYI: CompNines catalog was 100% dead on, even though dealer thought I was on crack with the PNs I used). Have to admit, the new cable from battery to starter (88860073) was noticeably thicker than the old one, being 0/2 and all. While I was under there, and with the starter off, I took it to a local parts house and had them test it. Results? Tested out as "slow", and then failed to engage at all. New starter cost? $100 from Cost Less Auto, with a lifetime warranty.

Put it all back together, and when I tested it out, it was like a whole new truck. Gone are the "Rrr, rrr,rrrrrrrrrr,rrrrr, rrr, rrr, rrrrrrrr, voom" starts, now it's all of one second after I turn the key.

Frustrating? Yes. Rewarding? Very much so.

I love this place.

-P
Click to expand...
Yea, this site ain't too bad;)
 
Glad to hear you got it fixed.

I know how you feel. Iv'e had my pickup less than a year and I don't think mine has ever started so good since I got it. New starter sure made a difference.

Don
 
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