Truck left me stranded tonight :/

[willsmysticcobra]

Man it was a bad night ! Around 8:30 , I dropped off some stuff to goodwill ( chubbies car show parking lot) and my 2000 GMC Sierra wouldn't start back up. No crank , noise etc . Dumbfounded I started to research troubleshooting. It wasn't the passkey issue / security not allowing the truck to start . The battery is good and cables are tight ... I have zero tools so I decide to walk the 2.8 miles home and prep a bag to return. It's now 10 pm and I return with tools to find out what is going on .... with some searching I come up with a crusty , green separated wire .... I disconnect the battery and come to the conclusion my no start is this broken cable .


What can I do to get my truck home tomorrow ? I was having crazy difficulty removing the starter with what I had .. I was able to remove the two 13 mm bolts to
Semi free up the starter , but there is no good angle to get to the cable nuts . I tried through the frame and loosened the 8 mm solenoid cable a decent amount but no way can I free up the 13 mm battery positive with that angle .

I am trying my hardest to avoid a tow and shop bills . But even if I get this starter out tomorrow , how can I fix the broken cable ? The starter very well may be good

ANY help , advice , Zanex would be appreciated !

It has the 5.3 so I know this has to be a semi familiar issue.

Click to read more...

 

[willsmysticcobra]

Also please tell me this would be the reason the truck won't even crank. Cause its just sitting there dead as a doornail and I don't know what else to look for if its not that ground cable breakage.

Ignition is good, test light went off, starter relay is good in fuse box its clicking, etc

Thanks for the help guys, its 3:25 am and I can't sleep well with this hanging over my head.

 

[Unitsn4]

Have someone turn the key to the crank position and see if the small wire has power to it.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

I’m guessing replacing that wire would get you back on the road. I’d flat tow with a friend 3 miles if it was me.


I’d also replace the rest of the battery cables with that much corrosion.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Have Kat crank and hold Those wires together

 

[DEEZUZ]

Just have to have those wire Touch for a second

 

[DEEZUZ]

While key is forward cranking . Or jump 12v to Small terminal if by yourself

 

[RICH17]

I've used jumper cables as a temporary starter cable before.

 

[cap42]

Make yourself a jumper wire with alligator clips, all you need is to get it running to get you home.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Get under the truck, whack the starter with a mallet or something. NOT a hammer or sledge though. You just want to give it a good solid blow, not a full swing.

GM starters, particularly trucks, as they age, the bearings/bushings at each end of the armature wears causing up/down movement of the armature, which then gets hung up on the brushes of the starter wall.

So by giving it a couple solid whacks (nothing like full on hard swings, just enough to deliver a jarring blow to the wall), it knocks it off the brushes.

I've had this happen on countless GM trucks that came in, as well as my own.

 

[willsmysticcobra]

Sorry I am a bit foggy on 4 hours of sleep. So the thing is the starter is just sitting loose in the engine bay at this point with only the battery post on and a bit of the solenoid wire on it. With that ground wire being broken, I dont see how it could be repaired well even when removed from the truck , so I am just going to pop for a new starter on rock auto and just swap it in the lot.

The truck is safe under a streetlight and I called the police and they dont care since its a private lot. Its so damn tight under there that I couldnt jump that broken wire if my life depended on it. I watched a few more videos and I guess removing the bellhousing shield frees up space so the terminals on the starter are accessible.

 

[DEEZUZ]

 

[willsmysticcobra]

Damn living in the salt belt.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

One benefit to placing it in the valley under the intake like on N*'s... It's not exposed to the harsh elements... 15 years later, they still look brand new. Which would be ok, if they didn't fail either, which occasionally they do, and then you gotta R&R the intake to change it.

 

[Eagle]

Uhm, maybe I didn't read it yet, but that wire is the starter's solenoid wire. It gets powered when you turn the key to engage the solenoid which moves the starter gear to the flexplate and spins the starter motor. If its broken, your starter won't do shit. Fix that wire and you're good to go.

 

[Eagle]

PS - GM starters do not get "ground wires" sent to them, they're grounded through the engine block itself.

 

[EmersonHart13]

One benefit to placing it in the valley under the intake like on N*'s... It's not exposed to the harsh elements... 15 years later, they still look brand new. Which would be ok, if they didn't fail either, which occasionally they do, and then you gotta R&R the intake to change it.

Oh fuck that. Thats a thing? geez

 

[boostedguy05]

Get under the truck, whack the starter with a mallet or something. NOT a hammer or sledge though. You just want to give it a good solid blow, not a full swing.

GM starters, particularly trucks, as they age, the bearings/bushings at each end of the armature wears causing up/down movement of the armature, which then gets hung up on the brushes of the starter wall.

So by giving it a couple solid whacks (nothing like full on hard swings, just enough to deliver a jarring blow to the wall), it knocks it off the brushes.

I've had this happen on countless GM trucks that came in, as well as my own.

hitting it with a malet wont do shit if the power cable is broken.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Oh fuck that. Thats a thing? geez

BMW and Toyota do it as well. Probably a handful of other companies as well.

 

[EmersonHart13]

BMW and Toyota do it as well. Probably a handful of other companies as well.

Note to self, fuck that too

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Oh fuck that. Thats a thing? geez

In all due fairness though. The quantity of starter failures on them is substantially less than other GM vehicles though because of the fact they are hidden and well protected. They still fail, just in much smaller numbers. It's kinda which poison is your preferred poison.

hitting it with a malet wont do shit if the power cable is broken.

1) Pics didn't show up for me. So if there is one in there that has it, I didn't see it.

2) I only read through the first part. I didn't see that he had diagnosed it.

 

[DEEZUZ]

That wire is the positive that goes into the winding. The small wire switches the big lug to other big lug

 

[willsmysticcobra]

I'm going to attempt to remove , fix the wire , and reinstall

 

[willsmysticcobra]

All in a TCG famous car meet lot .

 

[Eagle]

Need any help or tools? I might be able to swing by for a bit.