New to me Truck = new problems

[Irish_Alley]

Hello old friends as some of you know i went through a hard spell a couple years ago with work, but i was doing "OK". long story short in march of this year i was in a very bad vehicle accident where the other guy crossed the double yellow and we ended on hitting head on. my 2010 chevy was totaled but she gave her life for me, i ended up with a broken femur, 6 broken ribs and a broken sternum. the other driver sadly didnt make it. anyway we been getting around in my wifes 94 single cab chevy truck and ive been looking for another vehicle and this is why im back lol. i still have most of my squares but im in no shape to fight/fix them. anyway

i just got a 2003 chevy 2500hd crew with 6.0 4l80e and it sometimes has a "no start" issue. it will crank over fine and start for only a second then dies, you have to unhook the battery for 45 minutes or so and it will start up. it also has a charging system issue and air bag light but im not sure if theyre connected. he also replaced the BCM and it did not fix the issue. ive heard of the 90s trucks having a VATS issue that sounds similar but im not sure and wanted to poke some minds on here for their opinions

[VileZambonie]

Glad you are on the mend. The way people drive now is absurd and disgusting.  We have mass stupidity run amuck.

This platform of GM trucks are electrical hogs and require good clean electrical signals. Make sure your battery is good and fix your charging system issue. The grounding points are critical and must be clean and tight as well. Does it have the factory radio or aftermarket? Are the gauges working correctly? Does the scan tool communicate? Any codes?

[Captkaos]

Glad to hear you are getting better.  I have the same questions Vile has, does any codes show up?
I have seem some do this with a bad cam/crank sensor, but check for codes.

[Shifty]

I don't have a suggestion for you Tim, but I'm glad you're here to try to fix it! 

[Irish_Alley]

Thanks for the warm welcome backs.
No codes that I saw in his video but if he did just reset the battery I would think it would wipe the codes. My scanner can read most codes and should be able to see both pending and permanent codes. But I haven't had a chance to even drive it yet. Buddy owns an auction and got it from there at 2.8k and going to try to pick it up today.

I was leaning towards the cam or crank sensor also on a whim. but I haven't had the chance to test anything yet. I'll be checking codes tonight and seeing if anything comes up and I'll be checking grounds and cleaning them up also

[Irish_Alley]

talked to the guy more and he said it all started with a dead battery one day. he changed it and a few days later it was dead again. this led to an ecm change and a shade tree mechanic working on it. it was at least running at this time but still wasnt fixed. they changed the bcm and it still didnt fix anything.
i did ask if any sensors were replaced and he said none were.

it does have an after market radio that doesnt work. when the truck does screw up he has to do the 15 min key relearn 3x.
and it also it has a draw on the battery that will kill it in a few days.

[bd]

Hello Timmy.  Welcome back.  You've experienced quite the whirlwind!  Life has a way of dropping marbles on your sidewalk.  Watch your step!

Measure the draw with an ammeter.  If it's greater than ~0.075 ampere, pop the fuses out one by one until the draw drops below the 75 milliamps threshold. That should help identify the offending circuit.  Due to the onboard microprocessors the draw will never be eliminated.

[VileZambonie]

Remove the aftermarket radio and eliminate it from the equation.

[Irish_Alley]

thanks buddy. i kept telling myself and others that my accident could be a lot worse and at least im able to feel pain. the worst part is the guy was driving his personal vehicle for his boss and his boss is a local that everyone knows. we were able get some info from mutual friends. but i guess it got back to him and next thing you know everyone stopped talking and the term "people are just sue happy" came up. im lucky years ago my mother in law had my wife on start farm insurance and thats who we kept along with their policy. we're going to end up going after my insurance policy to make up for lost wages and all that crap because the guy had such a crappy insurance policy. it wont be much in the end after getting a lawyer and paying off bills that have piled up. in the meantime his boss is just sitting fat still making money but i kind of hope karma comes around for him, not just for me but the other guy's family and his passenger. but anyway

got tags for the truck and brought it home, radio is dead and the fuse is good. unless they jumped something else but the truck doesnt look like its been messed with too much. the airbag light is on and for some reason i cant find my good scanner only my cheapo one that i lend out, so i can only read live data and engine codes. didnt get around to testing the draw on anything yet.

but i think it did act up and go into the "no start". it died within seconds of being restarted after getting home and tried to start it again and it did it died again. turned the key to "off" and pulled it out a little and tried again and it started right up. it did this a while later and after the first time i took the key out again and it started right up.

[Irish_Alley]

BD and Vile, Vile didt see your post till now, but i removed the old radio and installed mine from my impala. everything worked "ok" except for the sound only playing on half the speakers and the radio doesnt turn off when any door is opened. this could be explain the battery drain, the dash does turn off on its own after a few seconds regardless of door position but if the radio is still on im sure the factory amp is still on.

Edit: also the dome lights dont come on either. if im not mistaking the radio should auto turn off after 15 minutes to save the battery so im going to have to see if that happens. and the power door lock doesnt work unless the key is on, the both key FOBs dont work either but that could be a transmitter problem with the batteries 

[bd]

...This platform of GM trucks are electrical hogs and require good clean electrical signals.  Make sure your battery is good and fix your charging system issue.  The grounding points are critical and must be clean and tight as well...

This ^^^^^ is crucial to ALL electrical functions!

[Irish_Alley]

also want to add the radio was installed both times by adapters to wire it directly to the factory radio harness. its been almost an hour and the radio still hasnt timed out. which im very confused about because even without the RAP working properly it should have killed the radio after 15 minutes

will be looking at the grounds here in a minute.

[Irish_Alley]

ok me and the boy were out all day screwing with the truck. took a lot apart in the dash mainly to look at grounds, the inside ones look brand new. but while we were messing with it found the dome lights only come on if you open the door with the key in "ON" position, still wont kill the radio. key will also come out of the ignition with it in the on position and even with the engine running. so the door switch is working but the RAP isnt working properly. also unhook the BCM and it had no effect on the radio not sure if thats relevant or not. there is one braided ground going from the firewall to hood that MIA and the one going to the engine to the firewall has a hint of green to it. i didnt get under the truck to check on the frame grounds right under the driver seat but ill save that maybe till tomorrow.

the radio will stay on all the time unless you pull the fuse, if you reinstall the fuse the radio will stay off until you turn the ignition to "on"

[Captkaos]

I would removed the radio and its power/ground connections going to it

[Mike81K10]

An old car I used to have had a worn down ignition key that would start the car and I could pull it out while it was running with that particular key. My other keys that were not worn down would not come out.

So, is your key heavily worn down?