'96 K1500 5.7 Crank no start, no changes.

[Komet]

Sometimes the electrical just needs a firm wiggling.

That's a lot of household electrical problems. I have a lot too (if you need the perfect wetness level to get the touch capacitive buttons on your 20 year old stove working, I'm your guy) but there's a Chrysler product in my driveway so I reckon it's all second hand from the proximity.

 

[Schurkey]

My house was built by the owner of a contracting company--for his own use.

I had to replace every electrical outlet in the place. I'd plug a cord into them, walk away...and the cord would fall out on the floor. The receptacles had no grip on the cord prongs. He'd used the cheapest, crappiest, back-wired outlets in Creation.

While I was in there screwing with the electrical outlets, I put lighted light-switches in. They work great in every room but one, where the built-in lights in the switches flicker like mad. This is the same room where if ALL the electrical receptacles are in place...I have 120V power to all of them. But if they're not ALL in place, like I'm in the middle of replacing them, I can disconnect one or two, then I have no power to some that are not disconnected, ~60V at others, and 120V at a few.

 

[Road Trip]

Ugh. I got at the connector for the ignition switch, unplugged it, removed the ancillary connectors, fished it up to where I could reach it, and tested the switch with a DMM. The switch tested 100% as specced. Thinking I might have a real problem, likely mouse related, I reassembled the connector, plugged it back in, etc.

On a whim, I decided to give it a go starting the truck. It started. While I'm over the moon that I'm not currently rolling around under the dash looking for mouse-eaten wires, I really hate it when something that wasn't working starts working without a good explanation.

The gauges are reading sane values when the truck is running. The wipers work (on high only). The windows work. 4WD works.

So what do we think? Intermittently bad ignition switch? Maybe they did replace it, and the new one wasn't well-seated? I don't need to plow, so it's decided to work?

Are there any markings on the switch to indicate if it's an OEM part? Should I order a back-up one so that I have one on hand? Has anyone got other thoughts or suggestions that they want to air?

I've been in a similar situation where I removed a plug from a connector in order to
perform some voltage or resistance checks, find nothing wrong, reconnect everything,
and it then decides to work despite the fact that I didn't do anything besides disturb the connection?

Instead of immediately declaring a victory, we used to use the 2 x MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure)
rule. That is, if something failed on average once every three tries, then we would wait for 6 straight
successes before declaring a fix. (Believe it or not, this helped preserve our reputation with non-electronic
types in our chain of command, for oftentimes the intermittent would return...but no harm, no foul, for
we hadn't declared a fix yet.)

In English, the unknown mechanic that preceded you may not have gotten a solid electrical path between
connector & socket? Myself, I would try that switch at least once a day for a week straight (with zero
misbehavior allowed) before I would start to trust my theory that it was a marginal connection that you
corrected during your troubleshooting session.

Definitely keep us in the loop. This way we all learn from your hands-on experience. And for what it's worth,
I am a firm believer that even a plow truck can (& should) have a reliable electrical system in it. Just takes an
owner like yourself who's willing to verify the electrical functionality of the ignition switch with a DMM.

If it stays working, great! If not, just post all the symptoms and we'll try to narrow it down as far as possible.

Best of luck with your plow truck --

 

[juror]

Status report: The truck has fired up just fine 2 days now. I like the 2 x MTBF heuristic for answering the question "is this fixed, or is it only behaving because it isn't snowing now?"

I am a firm believer that even a plow truck can (& should) have a reliable electrical system in it. Just takes an
owner like yourself who's willing to verify the electrical functionality of the ignition switch with a DMM.

I don't need a lot to work, but the stuff I need to work, I need to work reliably. I'm not worried about the cruise control or the radio, but if it doesn't fire up, you'd better believe I'm going to be salty about it.

For the rest of the electrical problems:

I've replaced the light switch. If the light comes on reliably for the next couple weeks, I'll call it fixed. One of the wires was backstabbed instead of screwed down ; I'm hoping that was the problem. Don't backstab your devices, folks.

I've gotten at the heating element of the dishwasher, and discovered that it's integral to the circulation pump assembly. Instead of being a $30-$50 part, it's a $200-$300 part. I promise that I won't be buying any LG appliances based on this experience.

And I haven't touched the oven.

While I was in there screwing with the electrical outlets, I put lighted light-switches in. They work great in every room but one, where the built-in lights in the switches flicker like mad. This is the same room where if ALL the electrical receptacles are in place...I have 120V power to all of them. But if they're not ALL in place, like I'm in the middle of replacing them, I can disconnect one or two, then I have no power to some that are not disconnected, ~60V at others, and 120V at a few.

I don't understand how this is even possible. Please don't try to explain. You'll just break my brain. I have a very loose grasp of how AC power works as it stands.

 

[Schurkey]

I've replaced the light switch. If the light comes on reliably for the next couple weeks, I'll call it fixed. One of the wires was backstabbed instead of screwed down ; I'm hoping that was the problem. Don't backstab your devices, folks.

That's exactly what started my quest to replace outlets. Had one go funky in the bathroom because the "back-stabbed" wire wasn't secure, and that was the end of the line for my patience.

Everything I put in, is side-screwed. I even twisted the wire around the screws the correct direction.

I won't be buying any LG appliances based on this experience.

Excellent plan.

Finding good appliances is near-impossible now. Amana and Maytag used to be trustworthy, but ever since they sold 'em off, they've been de-contented like everything else.

My Amana fridge is now thirty-something years old.

My Sharp Carousel "Made in USA with domestic and imported components" microwave died last week, 19 years since it was built, I suppose I've had it 18+ years.

And I haven't touched the oven.

If mine has been shut off for two days, when I set the baking temperature, it tells me it's 120 degrees before the element even comes on. Yeah, my oven runs cold, too. Set it at 425, I get somewhere between 375 and 400.

There's a way to re-calibrate the starting temperature, but I've forgotten the procedure and I'm too lazy to research it again.

I don't understand how this is even possible. Please don't try to explain. You'll just break my brain. I have a very loose grasp of how AC power works as it stands.

You and me both. I couldn't explain if I wanted to. I'm convinced that the partial-power at some outlets, and the flickering lights on the light-switches are related...but I don't know how or why, I'm just thankful that electric devices work OK when all the outlets are installed.

 

[juror]

Well, I thought this saga was over, but it seems that's not the case. We finally got some real snow, and I went to start up the truck and plow. Nothing. No fan, no lights, no nada. I jumped it, let it charge for a bit, and promptly killed it trying to put the plow up. I pulled the battery, threw it on the charger, and went inside for dinner.

After charging for an hour and a half, I reinstalled the battery and plowed successfully.

I'm pretty certain that the issue with the ignition switch was protecting the battery from a parasitic drain in some circuit or another that wasn't getting power ever previously. Having solved the ignition switch problem, I've revived the parasitic drain. In fairness, I was warned by the buyer that the truck had one, but hadn't run into it and figured it wasn't going to be an issue.

I'm off to buy a battery disconnect switch, because I'm not chasing after a parasitic drain on this truck.