Cranks over and starts, once you turn it off no power on the inside

Asked by Corey Jul 02, 2017 at 01:47 AM about the 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LS Extended Cab LB 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

So I would go to start my 1998 Chevy
Silverado 1500 4x4 Z71 and would have no
power on the inside of the truck, would go
and put a jump pack on it and I would have
all my power back on the inside, I would
take off the pack and let it run for 5-10 min
and drove it around to recharge up the
battery, came back home and turned it off,
went to go start it again to see if it would,
same thing again, had no power on the
inside of the truck but I went to autozone
and got them to do a test on the battery,
alternater and starter, all three of them
passed the test, any ideas,

3 Answers

70

Check relays, if i have a multimeter and a little knowledge kn wirkng you check the relay AND the termknals where the relay sits for: ignition relay, power relay and fuses... also there is a commonality with gm trucks in that era with the tow haul wiring to break in the column probably due to the tilt steering and moving the gear shifter and placement of holdown clamps making the wire too short and it pops apart... could the same thing happen to one of the wires in the column for the ignition? Where you would turn the key to "acc" (accessory power) before turning the key further to start? There are multiple wires in the column just for the key ignition cylinder itself let alone the myriad of other functions. Also check the interior dash light dial maybe on too low and also the dome light button has multiple settings too.

I had autozone run a diagnostic test on it and it came back with no codes and I checked all the fuses none of them are blown

70

You wont get any codes from a wire break... just like when the tow/haul wire breaks in the steering column, it just ceases to function. The cpu does not monitor those wire breaks nor does it monitor the fuses or relays... now relays are different from fuses you cannot test them with a diagnostic reading from autozone, this is different from using a multimeter to to check voltage and resistance with relay because there is no 'window' to see through like the fuses... you will need a minimum of two wires to help with inserting into the block where a relay sits (because a probe does fit properly) to connect it with the black and red probe wires to the multimeter. Test with ignition on what the voltage is (first test battery voltage, if 12.5 volts that is what to base it on or 13 volts etc) so with four slots for the relay you will probably try 12 times to find the right two that give the reading. NOW match the two that you have found on the block to the two pins of the relay and test the resistance this will tell you if the relay is functioning 'open' or 'closed'... try this precedure with another working relay to get the idea at first... hope this helps, otherwise will have to break open the column and start tracing for broken wires...

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