1995 350 TBI no crank when cold

[XDmToter]

I am having an intermittent issue with my 95 Tahoe. It has done this Twice now this winter. Both times the temperatures were around 0 F / -18 C.

When I try to start, I get no crank. I can hear the starter engage, but the engine just won't turn over. The first time it did this, I tried to start it 3 times and it finally cranked over on the third. This morning, I tried 5 times. Gave up. Went back 20 minutes later, tried about 6 or 7 times, and it finally cranked over.

Once it starts to crank, it fires up like normal.

It has a newer battery (Interstate, about 6 months), and when I put the charger on it, it goes to Float mode after a few seconds, so the battery is fully charged.
The starter was replaced last year around this time (Remy Gold).
All the battery cables and grounds are solid.
It has been a while since I changed the oil (about 9 months), but we rarely drive the Tahoe, so the oil only has 2,700 miles on it.

It seems like the starter doesn't have the torque to get the motor turning. What do you think? Could I have gotten a weak starter? Could older but low mileage oil cause this? What other questions am I not asking myself?

 

[Komet]

Starter and battery are newer and known operational, anything could be faulty but I wouldn't start there. Almost guaranteed it's not the oil.

Side post battery cables can be heavily corroded internally, but appear fine. My hypothesis is there's too much corrosion resistance to let enough juice flow when it's cold, and I'd consider fresh battery cables.

One thing you could do is confirm whether or not you're getting +12v on PPL at the starter when the issue is reproducing. This could help you decide if the problem is the signal from the switch or juice flow from the battery.

 

[GoToGuy]

Your not driving it often , really cold temperature. The grounds are clean and tight, especially at the block? The negative from battery to block , both ends. For starting it's the path of least resistance. Providing if there is good clean contact.
Have you done a load test on your battery? You can have volts but won't carry a load. It's like the saying goes, trust but verify. Just a thought.

 

[XDmToter]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention; The side terminal bolt was stripped out so I converted it to a top post. I did have to cut away an inch or so of the cable to get back to clean copper. I'm 90% sure my battery cables are good, but I will definitely check the voltage at the starter the next time this happens.

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention; The side terminal bolt was stripped out so I converted it to a top post. I did have to cut away an inch or so of the cable to get back to clean copper. I'm 90% sure my battery cables are good, but I will definitely check the voltage at the starter the next time this happens.

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Those are nice top post battery terminals, look substantial and I like the plastic covers on the posts. Side terminals will pull the threads out like that, if you get them started wonky or over tighten them. The threads are in lead and therefore very soft. Good job heat shrinking the cable connectors too.

 

[XDmToter]

10F this morning…. Fired right up.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

If I had to guess, I'd say you have a dead spot in the starter armature. Once you're past that, it'll spin right over.

 

[Road Trip]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention; The side terminal bolt was stripped out so I converted it to a top post. I did have to cut away an inch or so of the cable to get back to clean copper. I'm 90% sure my battery cables are good, but I will definitely check the voltage at the starter the next time this happens.

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That's a super tidy installation/connector upgrade. And I also like the engraved 'placed in service date' too --
indelible breadcrumbs like this eliminates a lot of 'missing info guesswork' by a troubleshooter down the
road after the fact.

****

If I had to guess, I'd say you have a dead spot in the starter armature. Once you're past that, it'll spin right over.

I really like PlayingWithTBI's suggestion. There are documented procedures to check for this in the FSMs, but
most people would simply swap in a reman starter with a lifetime warranty & run with that.

The ultimate go/no-go troubleshooting setup for this would be to (temporarily) hook up a voltmeter to the
PPL (purple) wire connection to the starter solenoid in such a way that you could monitor it from the driver's
seat. (Would require a little Macgyvering.) By doing this, you would be able to easily figure out which of the
2 most probable scenarios you are in, and respond accordingly.

1) Full battery voltage applied to Starter Solenoid, but starter fails to respond.

Cause: Dead spot in armature scenario. EDIT: Given the starter solenoid is audibly engaging, but there's
no turning by the primary starter motor, this gives the dead spot in the armature a much higher probability
that this is the root cause.

2) Weak/missing voltage at Starter Solenoid PPL input with key/ignition switch fully into the Start position.

Cause: Intermittent current path somewhere in the Fuse > Ignition switch > NSS (Neutral Safety Switch) > Starter
Solenoid circuit. Troubleshooting hint: The next time the problem presents itself, try wiggling the Shifter a
little to see if you can get a marginal contact inside the NSS to start working? Same thing for the Ignition
Switch -- sometimes a little extra action with the key will overcome a marginal contact in that area? (NOTE: This
scenario is added for completeness, but is a way lower probability than Scenario #1.)

****

Simply food for thought, trying to cover all the troubleshooting bases.

Please let us know what you discover.

Cheers --

 

[XDmToter]

Thanks for all the detailed suggestions.

I’m not trying to downplay anything here, and maybe I’m just being ignorant, but why would it start 100% of the time when the weather is above about 10 degrees F, but have an intermittent failure below that?
We haven’t had a lot of frigid cold days yet, but so far it’s failed 50% of the time trying to start at 0F or colder.

I’m just worried it’s going to do this again when I really need it to be reliable. It’s my only vehicle that has a chance of getting out when we get Heavy snow. It’s not uncommon to have 4 foot snow drifts here and take days for the county to send a plow truck down our road.

 

[evilunclegrimace]

Ohm out your cables if you have not already done so. Preform a voltage drop test on your cables.