# Battery died, recharged, but will not attempt to crank



## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

First off my car is a 2012 Chevy Cruze LTZ, with the 1.4L Turbo engine. It is an automatic with keyless push button start. What started all this, is I ran out of gas at night, out in the middle of nowhere. I finally was able to get some help, the person helping poured diesel fuel in my car instead of gasoline. I didn't notice because the wind was blowing and it was pretty dark out. 

I was able to drive the car until all the regular gas was pushed through the system and then of course it hits the diesel fuel and eventually dies. I came back to the car several times trying to work on it where it died, but no dice, so I ended up towing the car on a car dolly about 100 miles with the flashers on. When I got to my destination, the flashers were blipping and barely lit. The battery was so run down I couldn't turn the flashers off and or get it out of accessory mode, before I could get to another battery, it eventually died completely, no lights or anything. 

Next day, I was able to boost it with another battery and turn off the hazard flashers and get it out of accessory mode. I then removed the negative lead from the battery and charged it with a trickle charger over night, the next morning I noticed it was completely charged. I checked the voltage and it read 13.3 volts. But now when I try to start the car, nothing happens and the car does exactly the same thing as this post https://www.cruzetalk.com/threads/n...shboard-service-messages-on-2012-1-4l.244197/ 

My car already has the new negative battery cable, I checked for a voltage drop when I hit the button to start it, there is none. Another thing I noticed is the information screen blips and then goes black, if you hit the button again all the dash lights come on and it cycles through all the service messages, the green light is shown on the start button. You hit the button one more time and it all goes black again. 

Before I towed it, it would spin over fine and try to crank up. I have tried inserting the key into the special spot in the center console and I have tried using my secondary key fob as well, nothing. Both fobs unlock/lock the doors and pop the trunk and the remote start does not work either, same results. Just as in the link provided, it doesn't even attempt to turn the motor over and you hear one small click, the info screen blips and all goes black, except the green light on the start button. 

Anyways, sorry for the long post, just wanted everyone to get the full picture. Anything you got, lets hear it.


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## plano-doug (Jul 1, 2015)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> Next day, I was able to boost it with another battery and turn off the hazard flashers and get it out of accessory mode. I then removed the negative lead from the battery and charged it with a trickle charger over night, the next morning I noticed it was completely charged. I checked the voltage and it read 13.3 volts. But now when I try to start the car, nothing happens and the car does exactly the same thing as this post https://www.cruzetalk.com/threads/n...shboard-service-messages-on-2012-1-4l.244197/



I'm wondering if the battery failed - maybe lost a cell - when it got run down so low. You said it would turn over before being run down. but, since then, despite charging it, you get no crank, right? 

You say you checked for a voltage drop - how did you do that?

My idea is to get the battery load tested at a parts store, or Walmart, and make sure it's good.

With a bad cell, and a charge, they can still read good voltage, but not be able to source enough current to start the car. Also, at least some of the Cruzes have AGM batteries which use different charging processes than the older lead acid types. Perhaps the trickle charge affected yours.

HTH.

Doug

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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

plano-doug said:


> I'm wondering if the battery failed - maybe lost a cell - when it got run down so low. You said it would turn over before being run down. but, since then, despite charging it, you get no crank, right?
> 
> You say you checked for a voltage drop - how did you do that?
> 
> ...


I checked for a voltage drop by holding a meter on the battery and attempting to crank it, the voltage only dropped maybe a half volt, definitely not near what a starter would pull. Yes it would turn over fine before, but after I towed it with the flashers on and killed it and then recharged it, doesn't even try to turn over.


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## plano-doug (Jul 1, 2015)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> I checked for a voltage drop by holding a meter on the battery and attempting to crank it, the voltage only dropped maybe a half volt, definitely not near what a starter would pull. Yes it would turn over fine before, but after I towed it with the flashers on and killed it and then recharged it, doesn't even try to turn over.


At this point, I would still get it load tested so that you can rule it out as a possible cause.

After that, with a known good battery, I would start probing for voltage at the solenoid, to see if the signal is getting thru when the key is turned to crank. If no voltage there, then probe the starter relay to see if the signal is getting there from the BCM during crank.

The goal is to find out where the signal is lost in the path between the push-button and the solenoid. While the instinct is to tie it to the dead battery, there's a chance that something else could have failed coincidentally, such as the starter relay. 

Doug

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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

At the very least, check the battery voltage with the headlights on. That's not definitive, but could provide a clue. 

Old batteries frequently die when badly discharged.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

The fact you reached 13.3 on trickle charge is a clue the battery isn't absorbing the charge completely. And it happened over 1 night.

You're reading surface charge. The rest of the battery is still dead. And a trickle charger takes at least 48 hours to fully charge a healthy battery. Depending on the amp output.

Add to that you completely drained it.

It's probably time for a new battery.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

snowwy66 said:


> And a trickle charger takes at least 48 hours to fully charge a healthy battery. Depending on the amp output.


To put it another way, a trickle charger is about 1-2 Amps. A car battery is around 60-75 Amp-hours. So, best case, you're looking at 30 hours to recharge a completely dead battery. Worse case, 3 days.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

ChevyGuy said:


> To put it another way, a trickle charger is about 1-2 Amps. A car battery is around 60-75 Amp-hours. So, best case, you're looking at 30 hours to recharge a completely dead battery. Worse case, 3 days.



I have to dig mine up. I'm not sure what it is. It's much less then 1 amp. I use it for the motorcycle during the winter. 
First time I used it. The battery wouldn't crank. Had power. But not enough to crank. It took 24 hours to reach full charge. 130 amp battery. Don't remember the Amp-hour.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

I left the charger on it for another 24 hours, it now reads 12.8 volts solid. The headlights and other lights are all bright and the blinkers work without issue. I found out the starter solenoid relay is not kicking in. After looking at a wiring diagram, it appears the ecm may be the culprit. I checked all fuses and the relays themselves, as well as the starter circuit and they all check out. I swapped the relay with the cooling fan relay since they are exactly the same relay and still nothing. Last night I removed both battery leads and when I go back to it this evening I will hook the battery backup. I left it sitting with the leads touching each other to remove any stored energy from the system. My next action is going to be to remove the battery and unmount the fuse box and take a peak at the wiring underneath. I am gonna try and get my hands on a good battery I can put in the car and test as well.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

Ok so tried some new things. I had left the battery leads off the battery and touching each other all night, the night before last. I went back to it yesterday and just tried to jump it off with my truck, same results as before. I then took the leads off the battery again and attached the jumper cables directly to them with the other end attached to my truck battery, still the same result. I then tried the same thing with a deep cycle marine battery, same thing. I then hooked my battery back up and turned on the high beams, radio and inside lights and the dash lights were all on, I then held a meter to the battery and watched it, it was losing a hundredth of a volt every 3 seconds. At that rate, the battery would be completely dead in an hour, so the battery is definitely bad, now to find a good battery I can put directly in the car to test.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

So last night, I pulled the starter and tested it, the starter is good and works perfectly. I also bypassed the 250 amp fuse just in case, still same result. I have the battery pulled and am going to get it load tested today to confirm it is bad. Will update when I find out something new.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

No one's asked - how old is the battery. If it's the original battery it's had a long and good life - time to bury it in the nearest battery recycling center.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

Ok, so the date on the battery is 4/17. I just had the battery load tested and tested in general, turns out the battery is good and they said definitely don't replace it. They said it is only 80% charged though. So basically my earlier test where I watched the voltage with all the lights on, just burnt off the surface charge, that's why the voltage level was going down so fast. So the search continues. I will be digging into the wiring and testing connections. Once again, if I find out anything new, I will let yall know, thank you for all the input so far and if you have anything, no matter how small, please post it.


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## ralph1981 (Jul 29, 2019)

My cheap trick in testing a battery without anything fancy, put headlights on and start the car. If the headlights only dim at worst, should be ok. If they glow red but not enough to illuminate anything in front of it (I have a concrete wall in front of my undercover parking space), or if zero light battery is either dieing/dead.

Recently I replaced my battery, with a lower CCA rating of 500, the previous battery boasting 700cca which was a garbage RACQ battery made by RAC batteries in Australia. New lower cca battery works fine, but I had to use cut pieces of heater hoses under the battery to raise it, so the clamp could secure it. Cruze uses a lever based clamp on the battery, when all my previous cars had rods with a hooked L shape on the bottom and you could screw them down further if the battery was not as tall!

Supercheap Auto tested my old battery, 158cca. Either they used a deceptive tester or it really is that bad. Only reason it barely cranked was the MBL8 friction modifer I use in the engine oil.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

Ok so this weekend has brought new information. I once again tested the battery voltage drop and it is fine. The battery is holding a charge well and is responding well under load. There is no signal coming to the power wire that trips the starter solenoid, the always hot 12 volt is indeed hot. I once again went through the wiring, fuses and relays and tested all with a meter, they all check out. My code reader still shows all is good. I literally cannot find anything wrong with the car. I hit the start button and jumped the starter myself to turn the car over, but then noticed that neither the spark plugs and fuel injectors are getting power, even though the motor is turning over fine. So now I am back to, the ecu is interrupting the starting circuit for some reason.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Curious. And you're not getting any kind of theft alert? 

When you push the button, the car sends a signal to the fob. The fob responds, and if it's the right response, then the computer is happy to start the car.

Does the car respond normally to the push buttons on the fob? Can you lock/unlock the car by pressing the button on the outside door handle with the fob in your pocket? (Showing the fob is responding to the car's computer signal).

If I had to guess, the antenna that send to the command to the fob might be bad, causing the car to act as if the fob wasn't present. Note this is a different antenna than is used for opening the door or trunk. This might set a code, but perhaps not a CEL.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

ChevyGuy said:


> Curious. And you're not getting any kind of theft alert?
> 
> When you push the button, the car sends a signal to the fob. The fob responds, and if it's the right response, then the computer is happy to start the car.
> 
> ...


Both of my fobs respond the same way. I can unlock/lock the doors with the buttons on the fob, if I have either fob in my pocket, I can walk up and pull the door handle and it will unlock like it should. If I take the fob out of my pocket and set it outside the car a bit away, the door will not unlock and if I hit the start button, it presents a message that no detectable key fob can be found. The security light in the middle of the dash works as it should and does not flash when I am trying to start the car. Is it possible it is setting a code that I cannot see with my code reader? Another thing that is odd, is that I cannot move the gear selector in accessory mode, like I could before. In order to get it out of park I have to hold the brake in and hit the button like I am starting it, then hit the start button one more time, then I can move the gear selector.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Maybe I missed it but have you tried neutral or moving the gear selector at the transmission manually like this? 










Shift to Park lock problem


Once I can get a break in the weather I will be seeing my dealer for a fix to this strange problem. Once I shut the engine off with the shift level in park this is what appears on the display ( Shift to Park)it cannot be cleared-the door will not lock so we can walk away from the car having the...




www.cruzetalk.com





Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> Another thing that is odd, is that I cannot move the gear selector in accessory mode, like I could before. In order to get it out of park I have to hold the brake in and hit the button like I am starting it, then hit the start button one more time, then I can move the gear selector.


I'd have to check, but I don't think you can get the gear shiftier out of park without stepping on the brake. 

I would try putting it in neutral and see if you can start it that way.


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## ralph1981 (Jul 29, 2019)

My old 91 model TR Mitsubishi Magna had a design flaw where there was no surge/over voltage protection at all and this caused the ECU to fry at any time. The alternator, solenoids etc can feedback high voltage spikes. Some people installed a voltage suppressor diode to counter this. Maybe the Cruze has the same issue. They cut so many corners on it after all.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

ChevyGuy said:


> I'd have to check, but I don't think you can get the gear shiftier out of park without stepping on the brake.
> 
> I would try putting it in neutral and see if you can start it that way.


Before I could hit the start button without stepping on the break, to put it in accessory mode then push the brake and move the gear selector. Now I have to hold in the brake, then hit the start button, then release the brake and then hit the start button again and then I can move the gear selector.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

This is another post from yet another that has experienced the same no start symptoms as I.https://www.cruzetalk.com/threads/ecm-reprogrammed-per-recall-now-car-wont-start.164058/


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Maybe time to start inspecting your wiring harness. That link was a small electrical fire. We've also had some where mice caused a mess.


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## Allyzul (Sep 18, 2019)

The answer is simple change out your spark plugs and also your fuel injectors since you said that your car was filled with diesel fuel and your car is gasoline the injectors can get clogged easily with diesel fuel that’s why diesel vehicles don’t have spark plugs because diesel can ignite on its own however gasoline has the added chemicals and has to have the spark plugs in order for it to ignite. So check your spark plugs first also check your boot make sure the spring is in the right position, the longer that diesel fuel sits in your car the more problems you can have since it’s a thicker consistency. I own a 2015 Chevy Cruze and I had that happen to me with the voltage (not the diesel), but it turned out to be my spark plugs and the spring in one of the boots it wasn’t making contact to the spark plug, I also replaced the purge valve and now on my 2nd engine valve cover for vacuum leak. Just make sure you get that diesel out of the tank though don’t flood the engine.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

So last night I confirmed there is no anti-theft alert that ever comes up on the information screen, no anti-theft light or anything to make you believe that its the anti-theft system preventing you from cranking it. I did try and crank it after moving the gear selector to neutral as well, still same results. It can't be mice because I attempted to crank it just minutes before towing it away and the engine spun over fine. I have looked at wiring that I can see without tearing the car apart and it all looks intact, I can't find any exposed, melted, torn wiring so far. The only thing that happened to the car while being towed, was the battery going dead. I once again played around with my fobs, tried some tricks with unlocking, locking, setting the alarm off etc... nothing, not to mention both of my fobs will unlock the doors from nearly 300 feet, so the batteries are good in them. I am literally at a loss at this point.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

Allyzul said:


> The answer is simple change out your spark plugs and also your fuel injectors since you said that your car was filled with diesel fuel and your car is gasoline the injectors can get clogged easily with diesel fuel that’s why diesel vehicles don’t have spark plugs because diesel can ignite on its own however gasoline has the added chemicals and has to have the spark plugs in order for it to ignite. So check your spark plugs first also check your boot make sure the spring is in the right position, the longer that diesel fuel sits in your car the more problems you can have since it’s a thicker consistency. I own a 2015 Chevy Cruze and I had that happen to me with the voltage (not the diesel), but it turned out to be my spark plugs and the spring in one of the boots it wasn’t making contact to the spark plug, I also replaced the purge valve and now on my 2nd engine valve cover for vacuum leak. Just make sure you get that diesel out of the tank though don’t flood the engine.


The first thing I did was remove all the diesel from the car. The fuel itself would not prevent power from getting to the plugs and or injectors anyways. There are no vacuum leaks that I can find and the coil on plug assembly has been replaced and is practically brand new, so the boots and springs etc are all good. My car will not even attempt to turn over, even though the starter, battery, fuses and relays are all good.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Although I'm sure it's been done, I'd disconnect the battery for 15 minutes or so and reconnect it. Do NOT connect any auxiliary source of power. What we're going for is a "power off reboot" of everything.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

ChevyGuy said:


> Although I'm sure it's been done, I'd disconnect the battery for 15 minutes or so and reconnect it. Do NOT connect any auxiliary source of power. What we're going for is a "power off reboot" of everything.


Yes, I left the battery completely disconnected over night with the leads touching each other already. When I hooked the battery back up, it was the same result. The only good thing so far, is that the result is exactly the same no matter what I have done.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

Well, I bought a brand new battery and tried it. Same result as before. So to summarize what I know, it's not the battery, starter, relays and or fuses, there is no signal coming to the solenoid, the always hot 12 volt power to the starter is hot, there is no power getting to the spark plugs and or fuel injectors.


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## plano-doug (Jul 1, 2015)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> Well, I bought a brand new battery and tried it. Same result as before. So to summarize what I know, it's not the battery, starter, relays and or fuses, there is no signal coming to the solenoid, the always hot 12 volt power to the starter is hot, there is no power getting to the spark plugs and or fuel injectors.


I'm satisfied you have a good battery. But something is interrupting the trigger to the starter solenoid. You checked the starter relay, and it's good. I assume you verified no signal is getting to the relay coil (from the ECM ).



> Before I could hit the start button without stepping on the break, to put it in accessory mode then push the brake and move the gear selector. Now I have to hold in the brake, then hit the start button, then release the brake and then hit the start button again and then I can move the gear selector.


I think this may be where to drill down. If the ECM is not closing the starter relay, then the problem is upstream of the ECM, such as the neutral safety switch in the transmission. Not sure if or how jump starting could be related to this. (But bad fuel doesn't cause electrical problems.)

I've attached a couple drawings which may be helpful. The ignition switch goes to the BCM, which in turn signals the ECM over the serial bus. You can verify you're getting the ignition signal to the BCM. I don't know how to monitor the bus from there to the ECM but let's assume for now it's working. You can probe the signal from the transmission to the ECM (X1-34) and make sure the car is in neutral. After that, ECM X1-27 goes to the starter relay, and X1-19 goes to the ignition relay. You can probe those to see what they do when the ignition switch is pressed.

Sorry I can't give you a more definitive debug flow, but those are some places to poke around.

Doug

.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

plano-doug said:


> Not sure if or how jump starting could be related to this. (But bad fuel doesn't cause electrical problems.)


I totally understand that and said as much 5 posts up from this one. When I attempted to jump it off, I was just seeing if the starter would even attempt to turn the motor over, it of course did not.

Thanks for the drawings, they will indeed help in my search. Indeed no power is getting to the starter relay. This is all so bizarre because the only thing that happened was the car was towed with the flashers on and the battery died. How on earth could the battery going dead cause such an interruption to the ignition system? At this point, I am afraid either the bcm or ecm is damaged, hopefully not though. As always I will post anything new that I find.


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## plano-doug (Jul 1, 2015)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> How on earth could the battery going dead cause such an interruption to the ignition system? At this point, I am afraid either the bcm or ecm is damaged, hopefully not though. As always I will post anything new that I find.


At this point, I'm thinking somehow the jump damaged one of the computers. Not sure how, or which one, either. But it does seem that the newer the model, the more susceptible today's cars are to jump-starting issues.

Every time I jump one nowadays, I hold a tight @$$. I'm not sure what that does, but it seems to be working 

Doug

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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

plano-doug said:


> At this point, I'm thinking somehow the jump damaged one of the computers. Not sure how, or which one, either. But it does seem that the newer the model, the more susceptible today's cars are to jump-starting issues.
> 
> Every time I jump one nowadays, I hold a tight @$$. I'm not sure what that does, but it seems to be working
> 
> ...


Thing is I didn't try to jump it until I had tried a whole bunch of other stuff and I only tried to jump it once. Anyways looks like I will be spending a whole lot of time with a meter.


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## plano-doug (Jul 1, 2015)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> Thing is I didn't try to jump it until I had tried a whole bunch of other stuff and I only tried to jump it once. Anyways looks like I will be spending a whole lot of time with a meter.


So it had already stopped cranking by the time you jumped it? That sounds encouraging. 

Focus on the brake pedal switch and gear shift position. Your earlier description of the roundabout way you had to get it to crank (involving applying the brake, pushing the start button and moving the shifter) points to a couple items would can cause the no-crank condition.

Doug

.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

SuperDaveDuex said:


> there is no signal coming to the solenoid, ... there is no power getting to the spark plugs and or fuel injectors.


Hmmm. Sounds like the computers are not cooperating.

Perhaps it's the exhaust camshaft sensor


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

ChevyGuy said:


> Hmmm. Sounds like the computers are not cooperating.
> 
> Perhaps it's the exhaust camshaft sensor


Just checked the exhaust cam shaft sensor, that isn’t it. Could the crank position sensor keep it from starting? Otherwise time to dig into the transmission.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Did you unplug the exhaust cam shaft sensor? That would be the quick test.

I don't think the camshaft sensor would stop it from cranking. It won't "catch", but it would certainly try and spin the engine. But you could unplug it just to see what happens.


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

Victory!!! I did unplug the exhaust cam shift sensor, same result. It was indeed wiring! This plug was apparently damaged from the factory. Took the plug apart, seated the wires correctly, plugged it back in and bam! The engine turned over! Thank you everyone for your comments and help!! I so appreciate it!!


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Cool!


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## SuperDaveDuex (Oct 12, 2018)

From what I can tell this wiring harness goes to the transmission and is how the ecm tells if the car is in park or neutral. The plug is easy to get to once you remove the plastic splash guard from underneath the car. Anyways now on to getting the rest of the diesel out of the system and get her on the road again.


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