1998 Chevy Silverado Engine will not crank

Tiny
SKIPTIG
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 280,000 MILES
The engine will turn over but about two seconds into it turning over it'll make a "kicking back" noise. Loud clank-ish type noise. Put a new starter on it and when it kicked back it broke the nose off the starter so I replaced that. Holds good fuel pressure and oil pressure. Plugs were wet but appears to have spark. Timing appears to be ok. It acted this way about two weeks ago but cranked up and has run great until this episode! Do you have any idea what this could be? Nellanad@ec. Rr. Com
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 AT 4:44 PM

10 Replies

Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,750 POSTS
Replace your crankshaft position sensor. Very common for this problem, trust me.
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Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 AT 5:02 PM
Tiny
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It wasn't the crankshaft position sensor. It was the control module.
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Friday, February 8th, 2008 AT 3:28 PM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
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WOW YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY. I HAVE WORKED FOR CHEVROLET FOR 10 YEARS AND HAVE NEVER REPLACED THE MODULE, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE CRANK SENSOR. THEY EVEN HAVE A GM BULLETIN FOR THIS CONDITION.
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Friday, February 8th, 2008 AT 4:29 PM
Tiny
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I'm at a loss to even guess what it is! The control module was replaced and it ran like a top. Cranked every time! Then last weekend it did the same thing again. Turn over fine but acted like it wasn't getting fire and then did the "kick-back". After a day of sitting it cranked right up and has run fine. Until now! It's doing the exact same thing! It seems that when it rains or after a rain (last night) it does this! I could tell it was not going to start today last night. It seemed to be missing a bit, kinda like a spark plug wire was off. And I was right! One thing it might be is that the dist cap has only one side screwed down. The mechanic used a cable-tie to fasten down the other side. Could that be the cause of all this? He tried the crankshaft position module before replacing the control module? I really need this fixed and really don't know what to do next. It's starting to cost me a fortune and I've gotten to the point that I'm affraid to cut it off because I never know if it's going to start again or leave me stranded! Got any ideas?
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 9:49 AM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,750 POSTS
HAVE YOU REPLACED THE CRANK SENSOR WITH A UPDATED GM CRANK SENSOR. OR DID YOU USE AFTERMARKET PARTS? I JUST RELOOKED UP THE BULLETIN AND THE OLD STYLE CRANK SENSOR IS GIVING 50 DEGREES OF TIMING CAUSING THIS PROBLEM AT START UP.
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 10:22 AM
Tiny
SKIPTIG
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  • 8 POSTS
It was a NAPA. Do you have the updated GM part # handy? I'll try anything!

I'm going out as soon as I finish this and pull the dist cap and rotor and check them over very closely for cracks or wear or corrosion since it does seem or rather appear to be weather related?
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 10:31 AM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
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The part # is 10456607
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 10:34 AM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
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The bulletin # is 00-06-04-014
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 10:35 AM
Tiny
SKIPTIG
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I think it's fixed! I took out the rotor and it looked worn and I could tell that there had been moisture inside the dist cap by the rusty screws holding the rotor in. I replaced the dist cap and rotor. One of the screw-ins for the cap had been broken to where only one screw was holding the old one in.I used a 1" long 6/32 ss phil head screw with a nut and a top washer and bottom washer. The screw will fit through the cap and tighten into the washer and nut below. It took some distorting and twisting around but it wasn't too hard. Tightened down great! Cranked right up and runs great! Thanks for your help. Dan
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 6:03 PM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
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No problem. Those bolts break all the time in those distributors. I usually see them held on by wire ties.
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 AT 6:05 PM

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