Thanks.

 

Try to keep it simple...try, and you may need some assistance, tapping on the starter with a hammer, I assume when you say it won't start, that it's not turning over....the tapping on the tapping on the starting motor may jar the solenoid, allowing the motor to turn over....keep in mind too, you said the battery died before the no start?....when the battery voltage drops below 9.6 volts, you could ruin your starter. Hope this helps...

 

Thanks, that’s a good suggestion. I tried tapping on the starter, but it didn’t help. (Heck, in the course of trying to run this problem down, I’ve probably tapped on every component at some point). I should have been clearer when I said “dead”. Turning the key lights up the dash, but there’s no click or any other sign that the motor knows it’s supposed to do anything. The only visible signals that something is up is that the shifter position indicator endlessly cycles though all the positions, I intermittently get “no bus” on the error/mileage display, my OBD2 scanner won’t connect, and the dome light that I mentioned. I had someone with more experience look at it and he thought maybe lightning had struck nearby and the ECU might have been fried. I found a cheap used ECU online and have ordered it to see if that makes a difference, but it hadn’t yet arrived. If that makes a difference I’ll post. I sure miss the days when a truck was a motor, body, and wheels and not a computer.

 

And there is your hint. If the PCM doesn't know what gear the trans is in, it will NOT engage the starter motor. Might be as simple as a bad trans range sensor.

 

Thanks, good point. If the ECU approach doesn’t work, I’ll try that next.

 

In case anybody else has a problem like this, it was the ECU. My son found a used one with the right numbers on EBAY. He plugged it in and the truck started right up and is running smooth.