Help!! 1997 Silverado won't start.

[97silvershortbed]

I have a 1997 Siverado with a 5.7L,auto trans. The truck has 162,000 miles on it . This it the first problem to come up since buying truck a year ago. All I know about this truck is that old owner took very good care of truck and did all the maintance every 3,000 miles . He told me that he just replaced fuel pump and battery 1 year ago.

Well I noticed that the starter was draging so I bought a new OEM, NOT the cheap ones priced at 59.99 . WOW! what a difference,worked like new.

Well 5 days go by and everything seems fine intil driving on freeway about 65 mph my truck seems to have a slight misfire and it did throw a code .
I had the code checked and code was a misfire code. All I did was change spark plugs and clear code. Everything seems fine for about 2 days and the truck starts to feel like it misfired a few times but did not throw a code.

I park my truck over night in my driveway over night,and in the morning I go to start the truck and it just cranks, does not turn over. So I crank over and over again. After a min of cranking ,sounds like starter got jammed ,MADE A clunk noise. I did hear some small back fires in mufflers . So I let it sit for a while and got some starting fluid and sprayed into TB and put everything back together and try again,it just cranks and has small back fires in the mufflers not loud at all.

Now it seems that I may have hurt my new starter . The starter engages and just cranks the engine for 2 seconds and then sounds like the starter motor is not engaged and just spins. I take the starter off to have it tested at local auto parts store . They say starter is in good condion. Pass thier test.
So I put starter back on and it does same thing. Now it looks like I have 2 problems now .Do you guys think battery has gotten to low on amps or volts??????
Just to let all you guys know that I can hear the fuel pump come when I turn the key to the on position,and then it turns off 2 or 3 seconds later.

Have any of you had this problems?? What do you guys think I sould do NEXT ? I have read some old theads but seems nothing like this was posted . I read things like crankshaft/camshaft position sensor problems. So what do you guys think?

[2percent]

My blazer did something like that I actually got it started by holding the brake in while cranking and it fired up. No clue why but now it runs rich and i think its my mao sensor but good luck

[97silvershortbed]

Thanks for the tip,I'll give it a try. What does mao stand for?

[J-Ri]

I'm guessing "MAO" stands for MAP, which stands for Manifold Absolute Pressure.

Did you clean all the battery cable connection when you replaced the starter? Too much resistance (from corrosion) can cause a starter to crank slow... probably wouldn't make the solenoid disengage after 2 seconds of cranking, but it's a thought. If it keeps doing that and it has enough voltage while cranking, the starter is probably bad, even if the test says it's good.

[97silvershortbed]

I did make sure that the battery cables were clean on both ends when I changed the starter the first time.

I think you are wright when you say that the new starter that I just put on a week ago is bad, I think I had something to do with that while trying to get the motor to start . I must have cranked on the starter for over 10 min off and on.

well that didn't take me long to kill a new starter, thank goodness for the lifetime warranty.

It looks like that I still have 2 problems .

i did checked the plugs and they were wet ,I think because of the starting fluld I sraryed in TB

I dryed the plugs and put them back in and still not running .

While cranking I hear some small back fires in the mufflers,but not loud at all.

[97silvershortbed]

If the truck did not start when I put starting fluld in TB does that mean it has nothing to do with fuel pump?

I have read alot about fuel pump problems with these trucks.

while cranking the starter, does the injectors keep spraying gas while I keep cranking the motor?

[young_11_blood]

.... Same problem as me... i have the pressure at the engine and it turns over but no fuel in the cylinders. I replaced the starter and battery and a crap load of sensors....nothing is working for me

[16th hippy]

@97 silver: plugs were wet when you took them out, sounds as if you have no spark. did you check spark? seen alot of times where the cap get old and corroded ovet time, and then just quits working. truck will sputter/mini-backfire at times as if it is trying to run, but nogo. is cap and rotor new, or been checked? plugs and wires were replaced how long ago?

@young 11: You have fuel up to engine, but injectors aren't spraying? what about spark to plugs?

[young_11_blood]

i have good spark. we replaced spark plugs and destributor....

[16th hippy]

ok, and the fuel issue? i am a bit confused on that. you have pessure to the service port right? how about volume/amount of fuel?

[young_11_blood]

There is good volume cause when i touch it with my finger it shoots up and hits the hood and my hand is covered... so i would say there is alot of volume

[ascads]

chek crank sensor

[young_11_blood]

ya we have rplaced it.

[16th hippy]

ok, are the injectors pulsing, have power to them? does it run a little with some carb cleaner or starting fluid sprayed in?

[young_11_blood]

im i think they are but how would i check... and if they werent getting power how would i fix that