I bought the truck a few years ago from a friend. It has about 105k miles on. It ran fine, but every once in a while it wouldn't start up. It seemed like there was a short someplace because it would just go completely dead. If you bypassed the ignition, it would usually start up. It's gotten worse and now it won't start at all, and if you bypass the ignition, it'll fire up, but die after a minute or so. While this was getting worse over the year, I was also having trouble with the speedometer and odometer going out. It would just randomly die, so the needle would fall to zero, the mileage would disappear off the dash and then the truck would have trouble shifting, and if I turned the car off and tried to restart it, it wouldn't. Both problems seem correlated. It's at the point where if I turn the ignition and I see the mileage show up on the dash, then the truck will start no problem. But if it doesn't, nothing will budge. Any help is appreciated! And yes I've replaced several parts at this point, but feel free to ask.

 

What about the ign sw located on the lower part of the steering column , under the dash?

 

yes that was replaced a while back. The truck was stolen when I first bought it and they tore up the whole steering column, so it was rebuilt.

 

You said you bypassed ignition and it started. How, please explain in details.
Do you have a digital multimeter?
You said truck got stolen so what parts you replaced, including the parts relevant to the steering column.
You said once in a while it wouldn't start up, do you mean "no crank no start" or "crank no start"?

 

Can we ask who did the "Rebuild" job?
I ask this because most shops will not get involved with steering column work and replace the column with one from a salvage yard.

Just maybe you wound up with a used ign sw assy.

The work is not difficult, but does require some finesse and patience along with some special tools if it is a tilt column

 

I had the column repaired by a mechanic I've known for a while. He used new parts. And just to clarify, the issues I'm having started before the truck was stolen and the column was replaced.

We bypassed the ignition by putting power directly through the starter relay.

When I say no start, I mean no crank.

It all seems to be pointing to a computer or fuse problem, or a short somewhere.

 

From your description, I would think a short or computer problem is not the cause.

There is a good possibility power is not getting to the right place at the right time.

This should not be difficult to troubleshoot. Power usually comes from the ign sw through a neutral safety sw if auto trans or clutch safety sw if manual trans on down to the starter relay and then to the solenoid,to operate the starter motor. .Full power from the battery must be available through the battery cables
All this is easy to verify, but must be verified before doing anything else..
Don't fall into that trap of replacing good parts because we suspect them. The majority of the time that gets expensive and disappointing.
It pays to keep one thing in mind, "Test don't guess".

 

You know how to bypass ignition and range sensor, why you don't know how to diagnose the trigger wire that's connected to the starter relay, simply test (while cranking) the trigger wire for voltage starting from the starter relay, then range sensor, then fuse box (range sensor fuse), then ignition switch (starter trigger wire), all going backward on the same circuit.
Can you do these yourself? Do you have a voltmeter to do it and you want to do it but lack of diagrams and instructions?
You have multiple issues, do you have a code reader/cable so you can find out on your other issues?