Hello everyone,
I have a 98 Chevy K1500. It has been running without incident for nearly all of it's 140,000 miles. Then today without warning, it refuses to turn over. I can hear a click for the starter relay, but the engine doesn't move. It's not seized as I can spin the crank pulley by hand.

Now it may very well be that the starter is in need of replacement. It has always turned over, but I have noticed that it seemed to have a little bit of a crunch feel right when the truck fired.

I want to throw in a few more variables just to make sure that I have covered everything. It has been pretty cold here in Boulder. Many 0-8 degree nights. When it is this cold the truck will fire up then die repeatedly, unless I rev it right as it catches. I don't really think this is related and really has never proven to be a big problem.

It has also been very snowy here so the 4x4 has been getting used a lot lately. The other day I could not get it to go from 2H, to neutral and then to 4LO, but that seems to have fixed itself.

I have also deducted the clutch switch from the problems as well. I have bypassed it. The starter definitely draws voltage when engaged and you can hear the starter relay click, but that's it.

Last but not least, is it possible to clutch start these trucks? I have tried several times with no luck and this alone is why I am posting here.

Thanks for reading this and for the help!
-Nate

 

I like to post follow-ups for the good of the community...

It was the starter and now everything is back to normal. One other note, If you pull the main lighting fuse, the truck will start and then immediately die. Totally unrelated, but I lost the fuse while checking them and figured it wouldn't effect the engine. I was wrong.

 

Good info to know and glad you got your truck back up and running.