Any ideas appreciated. '88 K5 Silverado. Had the steering wheel 'tightened' about 3 months ago, problem first happened about a month after that, first time in the six or so years I have owned it, may or may not be related.

Picking daughter up from school about two months ago, turn key - doors lock, radio comes on, lights on dash come on, does not turn over. I check wires to starter, get a jump, no change. I get it towed (broke my heart) to a local place I trust. He calls me 30 minutes later, "Loose wire to starter, it's ready to go." I was shocked because I checked the wires to the starter, but.......I trust them. Ok, my bad.

Today I go to leave work (I do about 50 miles each way so a break-down is...well, not ideal) and the same exact thing happens. So, of course I check all the wires first and they are rock solid. More out of frustration than anything else I cycle the shift lever a few times....and, it starts.

Any thoughts? My guess is that it is something in the steering column, but it seems odd that it would be so sporadic. I drive this thing a lot.....start, stop, turn on, turn off......this has only happened the two times I mentioned.

Thanks.

 

Sounds like it could be your park/neutral safety switch. It's located at the base of your column on the top side. When this switch goes bad or doesn't send the right signal it interrupts the ignition signal(if I remember right), anyway mine went a while back and from what I understand it's pretty common for them to go bad. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Super, I appreciate it. Do you know how hard it is to change out? I had someone else do the steering wheel tightening because I heard it was quite difficult to do if you had never done it/did not have all the right tools......if this switch is an easy to access switch, I can probably do it. I just hate to turn it over to a mechanic and stand by for a huge bill if I can do it myself.

Thanks again.

 

It should't be too bad, it clips onto the top side of the steering column and should have two connections. The tab goes into the column and rides a slot which moves the contacts to tell the ECM that you are in park or neutral. I think mine was 17.99 at the parts store. If you get a haynes manual or search some on this forum you should be able to get an imageof what you're looking for. Good Luck and sorry for the delay in responding.

 

Or your starter can be going bad mine is doing it now and my 85 k5 did it a few times to. if you do get stuck grab a hammer or something similar and hit (not super hard) the solenoid on the starter and or the starter it self. It works enough to get you somewhere. i had a camry that did it to me all the time and i drove 100 miles a day didnt have the money for a new one, now my dad drives it every day only about 15 miles total and it never does it to him.

 

wonder if they somehow bent the bar going to the ignition switch or pulled on it moving the switch it self. when it does start does the key engage the starter with a little bit of play left in the turn or do you have to max it out all the way forward for it to engage the starter.

 

Great ideas fellas, I really appreciate it. Down hard right now from a pretty serious shoulder surgery yesterday (unintended high speed dismount from a dirtbike - bad idea at age 41), but i will check that all out when i get my other arm back (2-4 weeks). Thanks again, i do appreciate it, and i will follow up.

 

Happy to help, hope that shoulder gets better soon. While you're down though make the most of your time and get a little more familiar with the parts you'll be dealing with. Before I tore into my rebuild I spent about a month on here and studying my dealer service manual. It really helped me!! Just post back if you run into problems.

 

Thanks again everyone. Super, based on your recommendation, I finally took the time to order a full set of actual service manuals! I look forward to using this down time to get into them and start learning some more about my Blazer. BTW, James at this place http://www.autorepairmanuals.biz was really helpful in finding the correct books for my specific vehicle. Apparently the '88 was not all in one book (at least if you want electrical, engine, chassis, etc. all covered). So, it cost me some pretty decent money, but I am sure they will pay for themselves over the years.