FIXED***2004 Workhorse won't start

[Big Bad Rog]

I went to start my 2004 Workhorse P42 and nothing. I thought it was the ignition switch since it went bad before so I changed it, still nothing. Battery is new. No power at all on the dash, headlights wont work, no click from starter, nothing. What a pain. I read a ton of threads on forums and narrowed down the problem. I had to be sure the starter worked though so I jumped it at the starter relay under the hood. That worked. So I was down to loose wires at the starter maybe or bad ground. Wires were tight and snug at starter. I added a ground wire from the battery to the engine (I left the old one on just for the heck of it) and that was the problem. Original ground no good, or not good enough anymore. 1 day of troubleshooting but turns on like a champ now. I hope this helps people with the same problem.

[TandW]

Welcome aboard! Thanks for sharing!

[Arch Hoagland]

Thanks for the update, glad all is well!

[catmandoo62]

seems GM has issues with battery cables.my 07 suburban started acting weird.out of the blue stepping on the brake pedal would cause all the gauges to quit momentarily and then the doors would lock,turns out lots of people had the same problem and the fix is to replace both battery cables.it cured the problem.

[1972VWbus]

Could be that the 'engine to chassis' braided cable is shot and in need of replacing. This also one of many things I changed after purchasing my 94 (P-30 chassis).