Occasional No Crank When Turning Key? Ideas on Causes?

[smiley91]

Twice today I had the same issue where I try to start er up, only to be met with dead silence. No power. No lights. No cranking. After this happens, there are electrical popping noises happening throughout the cabin. The first time, I walked outside to check under the hood (didn't change anything) and came back inside. After about 10 minutes, and trying several times, everything kicked on and I drove it back (10 minutes or so) seeming normal. Same thing happened a few minutes ago, but this time, I hopped out, swapped the relays in the fuse box, hopped back in, nothing. Opened the door, and saw the lights come on. Closed door and she started up.

Any ideas on what could be causing this? Sounds like a potential short to me, but unsure what to check. The battery is new (as of 5 months ago) and is a Walmart EverStart Maxx Platinum AGM. This only started happening today, but since I was able to drive it back earlier, I wouldn't think it would be an alternator issue, but I am open to any and all suggestions.

 

[Mollys70]

Clean your battery cables first.

 

[OR VietVet]

Actually, the first thing I want to know is, what are we working on here? Is it a secret?

 

[smiley91]

Twice today I had the same issue where I try to start er up, only to be met with dead silence. No power. No lights. No cranking. After this happens, there are electrical popping noises happening throughout the cabin. The first time, I walked outside to check under the hood (didn't change anything) and came back inside. After about 10 minutes, and trying several times, everything kicked on and I drove it back (10 minutes or so) seeming normal. Same thing happened a few minutes ago, but this time, I hopped out, swapped the relays in the fuse box, hopped back in, nothing. Opened the door, and saw the lights come on. Closed door and she started up.

Any ideas on what could be causing this? Sounds like a potential short to me, but unsure what to check. The battery is new (as of 5 months ago) and is a Walmart EverStart Maxx Platinum AGM. This only started happening today, but since I was able to drive it back earlier, I wouldn't think it would be an alternator issue, but I am open to any and all suggestions.

Here are some videos of the behavior:

https://flic.kr/p/2ovhBZu

https://flic.kr/p/2ovgufT

 

[Doubeleive]

seems like a poor voltage problem, I would break out a meter and start ohm testing the battery cables and grounds and test the battery even if it just came off the shelf

 

[OR VietVet]

Reminds me a lot of a failing ignition switch.

 

[Mollys70]

Make sure your battery is solid first.

 

[Sam Harris]

Have you checked grounds? Seems like things are starting / stopping, as if they’re receiving intermittent voltage. I’d be checking all vehicle grounds, and since the battery is fairly new, perhaps the main cables aren’t solid on the posts?

 

[Joseph Garcia]

As @OR VietVet stated above, it sounds like the ignition switch is starting to fail. I had the same symptoms on my 97 Yukon (RIP), and after a period of intermittent issues, it failed completely, and had to be replaced.

 

[smiley91]

Hey everyone, I went through and checked connections and did notice that the negative terminal cable was a little loose. Not extremely loose, but loose enough to justify tightening. After doing that, I haven't noticed the issue. I'll let you all know if anything changes. Thanks for all the help!