It'll crank strong, but won't fire up?

BEAUTIE

MEMBER
2004 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
6.0L
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
222,000 MILES

Hi, I hope all is well. So as I was driving 55 mph over a bridge at 11:00 pm a couple Friday's ago, I lost power to my steering and brakes, but the truck stayed running. I pulled off, shut it down, pulled the negative cab!E and waited about 15 minutes. I reconnected the battery and tried starting it to no avail. It'll crank strong, but won't fire up. In addition I noticed none of the gauges or indicator/emergency (security, ABS, seat belt, etc.) Lights are working. The check engine, and gauge lights work, but the gauges themselves do not. I'm not sure if this is normal, but when I disconnect the positive battery lead from its terminal, and compete the circuit using a multi-meter, it only reads 8.6v on a fully charged battery. I'm getting fuel to the Schrader valve under the hood. Any input is greatly appreciated, thank you. I'm stumped.

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

This sounds like a fuel or spark issue so we need to start with this. Just because there is fuel at the valve does not means it is enough pressure. 5 PSI will spray fuel out but that is not enough to start the truck.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator

Also, we need to pull a plug and hold it against the block and crank the engine to find out if there is spark or not.

https://youtu.be/dCjmRL3p4Cs

Once we know this info we can make a better decision on next steps but the way you tested the battery is not needed. You just need to check the voltage across both terminals to get current voltage level. You don't need to remove the cable and check between the cable and post.

However, this is not going to load check the battery so we should do this as well.

Here is a guide on this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-load-test

Lastly, do you have a scan tool to check the codes? We should just check and make sure there are no codes.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Let us know what you find with this and we can go from there.

Thanks