I've tried searching but could not find my particular problem. The vehicle is a '96 Blazer 4x4 2 door. I don't know the engine size but will try find out if needed. I'll tell the 3 times this happened since they were a little different the second 2 times. Also, the vehicle has an Excalibur remote start, door lock and alarm. It works well but sometimes alarms for no reason so I do not use it.

1st time- Driving to work and stopped at store. Turned engine off and when I came back out and turned key to start position there was absolutely no power anywhere. No dash lights, clock was dead, no clicks and no crank. I got the genius idea to use the remote start and it worked. I put key in run position and drove to work.

2nd time- Several months later leaving work in a.m. and same thing happened but remote would not start it this time. Got a ride home, came back a few days later and it started.

3rd time- Two weeks ago. I opened the drivers door to see if the interior light came on as I know this means it will start. It did come on. Several minutes later I got in to start it and go to work. Turned key to start and the alarm siren just started to sound (it was not set) and then went dead. All power inside cab was dead as the other times. No dash lights, clock, no crank and no clicking of any kind. A few minutes later I opened the passenger door to get something from back seat and the interior light came on. I put key in ignition and started it right up.This time the dash clock reverted to 1:00 as if it was restarted or something.I'm not sure if this happened the other times as clock was on wrong time then.

Does anybody have a clue as to the things I should check first?

Thanks in advance for any help. This vehicle runs great and I'd like to keep it.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the check engine light comes on sometimes and goes off sometimes. The ABS light also came on a few months ago but went off about 2 minutes later.

Dennis

 

I would remove the alarm system if its flakey like that then if the problem persists we have at least ruled out a system that has caused problems anyways.

 

I was thinking that might be it but I really love the remote start in the winter. If it comes down to it I will figure out how to disconnect the alarm, remote start and the door lock. I'd hate to remove something that might not be the problem.

Dennis

 

Welcome to the forum. Your 96 blazer came with a 4.3 liter v-6 from the factory. The first thing I'd do is remove the remote start/alarm unit and all of it's wiring. The alarm portion has already failed on you and it sounds like the remote start has as well. It needs to be ruled out as the cause of your no start condition. I agree with strangerock.

 

The ayes have it, I will remove or at least disconnect the remote system. In several threads I've read where people had starting issues it was recommended also to remove the remote start systems. I suppose if it's been there for 21 years it could be causing the problems.

Thanks for the help and the welcome to the forum. I hope I don't have enough problems to come here too often though

Dennis

 

I was finally able to take it to a shop today where they are going to remove the remote start, alarm, and I think the auto door locks won't work either unless I get a stock fob for them. I'm not interested in the door locks anyway, I rarely used them because the alarm would set and it would sometimes randomly go off.

I'll post here again in a few weeks if I've had success or if I have not.

 

Well, today I feel like a damn fool. A couple of months ago I dropped the fuel tank to replace a rusted out line. I broke the plastic nipples on the attachments coming out of the tank so I had the same shop come get it and reinstall everything correctly. Point is that I had removed the positive battery cable when I dropped the tank so when I had this no-start issue I checked to make certain it was tight. It was. But the guy from the shop called yesterday and said he'd been inspecting everything before removing the remote start & alarm wiring. He had the door open and the interior light was on. He found the negative battery was a little loose and when he wiggled it the interior light went off and the clock reset and the radio lost the presets.

He said to use it for awhile and let him know if the problem recurs. He feels very confidant that the problem is solved but there is a small chance of it being something else. He did not charge me for inspecting the vehicle or finding the likely problem. I cannot believe I checked the positive cable but did not check the negative cable.

Thanks for the responses here and if I have any more problems I'll definitely be back

 

It's been almost 2 months and the Blazer has started every single time since the negative battery cable was tightened. I've had no problems with the remote start either although the alarm is still very sensitive. Lucky it's not too loud. I'll have to make certain to start at the beginning the next time I have an issue with a vehicle. There's nothing more basic and I completely slept it.

 

Congrats with having such an easy fix be the solution. It always pays to check the easy stuff but oh so easy to overlook. LOL

Also thanks for the follow-up posts. These can be really useful to others later on.