This is seriously becoming a problem. This is the 3rd time I've had this problem and I've only had the truck 3 or 4 months now.

The problem is on my '99 EB Expy. Every once in awhile the thing decides that it doesn't like my keys. Twice it's been sitting in my driveway after coming home and I'll go to get in it in the morning and it simply won't start, now it's sitting at my fiance's work and she's stranded until I can get down there to pick her up.

What's going on is this... when you put the key in the ignition and try to turn it over it simply won't turn over, won't budge, won't beep, nothing. I have power to the blowers on the vents so I know the battery is ok. The THEFT light blinks quickly every once in awhile. When I call the dealers they tell me that the fast blink means that the key isn't being recognized by the module that only allows that particular key to work. Maybe it's "temporarily out of order" or something because I'm sure it'll work fine in a day or so after playing with the darn thing.

The first time it did this I thought it might be the starter. I began to troubleshoot that path and eliminated everything, it's not the starter. A different dealer told me to toggle back and forth from one key to the other 5 times. This doesn't work. One time I put the truck in neutral to try and tow it to a dealer and for kicks decided to start it from neutral, that worked, not this time. This is incredibly frustrating. It'll go about a month+ before acting up and does so for no apparent reason (no change in temperature, humidity, wash the truck, etc.).

Any ideas? I'll be heading over to pick my fiance up in about an hour. I hate to sell the truck because it's been really good other than this. TIA.

Andy

 

Its not that it’s not recognizing your key. If you use the wrong, or non-programmed key, it will still turn over, but no ignition, so it won’t ever start. Sounds like a voltage to the starter problem, or starter itself.

 

This happened to me about two weeks ago! I was stranded at work - luckily for only about ten minutes.

 

Well, it appears that the unofficial fix for this is to put the key in the ignition, move into neutral and turn the truck over. That's fixed the truck the past 2 times and will hopefully work should it happen again in the future. Love the truck, HATE this problem!!! Thanks.

 

Maybe a neutral safety switch adjustment, since moving the gearshift seems to have some effect.

 

are you parking on a hill by chance. I had the same issue happen to me. I parked on a hill and shut the truck off. Came back out and tried to start the truck. It would not start.

I tried moving the tranny into N, but thought better of it as I was on a hill (not thinking about the E brake). Anyway, by moving the gearshifter back into park, it started.

I talked with a tech, and sometime when parked on a hill, the tranny will roll forward or back a little, and can move the gear selector off the switch that allows the truck to start (ie cannot start in Reverse, or Drive).

Try moving the gear selector within Park.

Hope this helps,

Boxter

 

I'll try and bounce around a bit in Park and see if that does anything in the future. All three times that this has happened it was on a flat surface (twice in my driveway, once at my fiance's work).

 

This happened to me and it was the Idle Air Control valve (IAC). It had happened at random times over several months and then it started to increase. New IAC and it went away.