1999 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LT Starts Sporadically

Tiny
BOOKMON
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN
  • 13,500 MILES
We own a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LT, 5.7 liter V8, 135,000 miles. About 2 years ago, it started sporadically leaving us stranded. You’d hop in at the house, crank it up with no problems, drive to the store, and come out with ice cream and NUTHIN’. The engine would just whine away making that “I wanna start” sound but it would not turn over and catch. Eventually, you could run down the battery just trying to crank it. One night, it even left us stranded in downtown Birmingham, Alabama on a 20 degree night in November. I can not recall the number of times I’ve ridden home in a tow truck cab.
We’ve changed the big starting fuse under the hood- twice. We changed the fuel pump-twice. We changed the battery. We changed the rotor and cap assembly. We had it in and out of shops spending thousands on diagnostics and no one finds a thing wrong.
After all this, yes even after the cold night in November- the wife loves this Suburban. It’s big and boxy. Lots of room and rides great.
Have you ever heard of such a thing? Have you any advice of how to end this game of “Drive Away Roulette”? It’s gotten to where we’re afraid to drive to the store just 3 miles away.
Thank you for your help.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 AT 2:42 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
FIXITMR
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,990 POSTS
So when it wont start, whats missing? Spark or fuel supply?
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 AT 3:19 AM
Tiny
BOOKMON
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
According to the shop folks- nothing. It all checks out fine. While I try to crank it during those times, I think spark. My untrained logic- I can smell gas as if it is flooded.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 AT 3:03 PM
Tiny
FIXITMR
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,990 POSTS
Seems like thousands on diagnostics could have been spent replacing ignition parts/ecm?
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 AT 4:02 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Related Battery Replace/Remove Content

Sponsored links