1998 6.5 Intermitten No Start

[4x4 Nut]

Hello, I have a friend with a '98 K2500 4WD with 180,000 miles that occasionally won't start. Today it acted up again. Here is some history on what we've done. 2-3 years ago a FSD Cooler was installed. About a year ago the injection pump was rebuilt. The linkage in the pump was worn and caused quite a throttle surge. Starting last fall every once in a while it didn't want to start. It may not fire one time and then run fine for weeks. The cold weather seemed to cause problems with starting so I checked and replaced a couple glowplugs. It has run fine for a couple months and then a couple weeks ago didn't fire one time. Today it didn't start and hasn't after multiple attempts. Back when I checked the glowplugs I also had the GM dealer check it with their scanner- no codes or problems shown.

It cranks fine with good speed. The lift pump runs. When it does fire it runs and drives great. When it doesn't fire there is no smoke.

Would anyone have a suggestion for me? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Have a good day.

[a5150nut]

Hows the batteries?

These engines need to reach 100rpm cranking before the puter will let the pmp have fuel.

[4x4 Nut]

It cranks fine with good speed.

Like I said before, I cranks fine. I'm not concerned about the batteries. It's not consistently acting up or acting worse when cold (which would load the batteries harder and crank slower yet). Thanks for the reply though.

[a5150nut]

OK,

How is the fuel shut off solinoid?

Can you hear/feel it clicking?

Electrical connections good? ALL grounds clean and secure?

[4x4 Nut]

Yes, the solenoid clicks just fine. I haven't found any connections that are bad and the grounds seem good and tight too.

[DennisG01]

I had a similar experience. Very random no-starts. No codes. Turns out it was the ignition module. Not the key switch, but the actual module that's a little further down in the steering column. Had it replaced and all was fine... for about 6-9 months. Then it started happening again. Decided to research it a little more and the culprit turned out to be a bad remote-start install - bad electrical crimps. I had the remote-start disabled and it's been fine since. This was about a 1-1/2 years ago. I'll eventually have the remote-start hooked up again, but not by the original shop that did it the first time.

Even without remote-starts installed, there are plenty of cases of no-start conditions because of a failing ignition module. I can't say that this is your problem, just that it sounds familiar.

[4x4 Nut]

The truck finally permanently acted up and would not start. We ended up putting a new Stanadyne PMD on it and seems fine now. Time will tell if that indeed takes care of it, but I'm pretty sure it will.