Ignition Switch Problem

Replaced Battery, Starter, relay and ignition switch.

I am assuming it is shorting out somewhere. Before I started replacing things;

It would take 3 to 5 times of turning the key from the on to start position to get the truck to starter to engage and start the car. Some of the attempts, you could hear the relay click and some not. This would only occur on the first start of the day. Running around town, it would start on the first try, multiple times in the day.

As the problem got worse, it would take sometimes 6 to 10 times of turning the key from the on position to the start position to get the car to start. The turn from on to start also seemed to be getting more sloppy.

The starter would also struggle some when starting but would start the car, and seemed to struggle on later starts in the day when the car was starting on first attempt.

Replaced the battery

Again, after multiple start try’s, it would start, the rest of the day was no problems. but that did not seem to help with the struggling start.

Then replaced starter.

Now I can’t get it to turn over at/start at all.

Replaced the relay. Also hooked up the battery and shorted the relay circuit and the starter turns over fine, did not sound like it was struggling as before. (I think the starter was going)

Replaced ignition switch.

When I installed the new switch, with the white gear rolled all the way to the left, as I believe the way it was set on the old one, the key turns on everything, everything looks correct, but the key won’t turn far enough to engage the starter. When I rotate the white gear all the way to the right, as it came out of the box, the key won’t turn at all. If I move the gear in-between, the key turns everything on, looks normal, but when I turn the key to the start position, which moves to easily, the lights all dim and the starter does not engage. No relay clicking, just looks like it is shorting out.

I found the switch diagram on line, which is how I found this site. Thought it best to check to see if anyone had any thoughts before I screw something up or have it towed to a dealer for $225/hr investigatory looksee.

Thanks

 

Hi Bob, to the forums!

This is a site for Chevy HHR. Is this the vehicle in question?

 

A Tahoe has very different ignition and wiring harness

 

Have you looked at the Mega fuse and the alternator? The Tahoe is completely different from HHR.
Looks to me like the solenoid gets its + from an independent source from the motor Which makes me think the 175A mega fuse.
Here is the schematic from charm.li:
https://charm.li/Chevrolet/2007/Taho...al%20Diagrams/

 

2007 tahoe ls

 

yes, I checked and cleaned the surfaces too. Assuming that because I can jump the starter via the relay, that goes thru the mega fuse, I think.

 

The relay supplies power to the solenoid via the mega fuse and the starter fuse. Power to the motor comes directly from the battery. The alternator charges the battery through the mega fuse.
My guess is that the battery is not getting fully charged because the mega fuse is not good..

 

I changed the battery twice and the car won't turn over/start when jumped
tks

 

That is all I know about Tahoe; it is not anything like HHR. Sorry.
Either the relay is bad, the ground for the relay is bad or the signal from the ECM is interrupted.

 

thanks for the help. I have replaced the relay. going to start looking for bad connections/grounds