Tahoe won’t turn over

10

Asked by Chevybonez Mar 06, 2018 at 10:15 AM about the 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe LT 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2003 Tahoe that won’t turn over. It has been
sitting for a little while. It will start when jumped but it
takes awhile. But will not start with battery fully charged.
Pulled another battery from my 78 Chevy to see if it was
the battery. It does the same thing. When I turn the key to
start everything cuts out but the starter will not turn motor.
While jumping the car it will do this for awhile then all the
sudden it just fires up with no problem. Am I overthinking
this and the battery is trash or do I have other problems. It
ran fine before I parked it. All wires seem to be fine. I
haven’t checked the infamous ground wire on the
passenger side at the back of the block yet but will shortly

3 Answers

475

Do you know if the starter or ground wires was ever replaced in the past? It sounds like those two could be the top culprits from what you're describing, since you're seeing that the starter engages only after multiple "turns" with a full jump. The ground wires could be rusted out as well and providing a poor electrical connection, so give those a check to see if they need to be swapped; my 2011 Jeep had rusted ground wires and was a factor in not starting for me as well (despite having a new battery and perfect starter). Finally, once you've tried those two things (starter, ground wires), give your ignition coils and spark plugs a check. Bad ignition coils will have a white and/or brown color on the bottom tip that sits on top of the spark plug. Bad spark plugs will be black and/or orange colored right above the threads or near the top where it sits into the ignition coil. If possible, plug an OBD2 scanner to see if you are having any cylinder misfire codes (which will be related to your ignition coils and spark plugs anyway) or anything else that you can reply back with that will help pinpoint exactly what it is!

10

I’m going to give the wires a more thorough check tonight but the car runs fine once it starts. The starter doesn’t try to turn over at all when I have this problem. The battery reads it has 12.59 volts. Once I’ve jumped it and it’s running I can shut it off and start it right back up. I’ve even had it go a couple days and it will fire up.

1 people found this helpful.
475

Okay great! Interested to see how those wires are looking, and don't rule out looking at your ignition coils either. Looking forward to helping!

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