3.0 Duramax cranks but won’t start

Forrest Friedrich · June 14, 2021

Ok, here's one more 3.0 Duramax with the no-start problem; '21 Sierra 1500. It happened twice within the first two days of ownership, four times total to date. I've owned it six weeks, 2,600 miles on the clock. Always seems to happen after it's been run, then stopped for a few minutes, then an attempted re-start. Never on an auto-stop/start. I really hate the idea of having my new $60k truck being completely torn apart. I can't imagine that it would ever be quite as tight and quiet as it is now. Crap.

I can't imagine how much GM is going to have to spend to fix this problem, if in fact the cabs have to be removed. I'd love to know how many problem vehicles have gone out the door.

Hello32 · June 15, 2021

I have a 2021 sierra 1500 elevation. Odomoter just hit 1000 miles and ilI had this issue for the first time today. Went in to press the ignition and it just cranked for about 30 seconds. Then started right up the next time. Have an appoinment later this week to add some power running boards and will mention this alongside some window trim issue.

Gruggas · June 21, 2021

Hey everyone. I have an update. Just went to leave work today and just had the issue happen again after trigger wheel fix. 3 strikes your out. Called my dealer and getting a new truck Wednesday. Hope they find a fix that doesn’t involve tearing the entire truck apart to not fix the problem.

Barrett10 · June 22, 2021

16 hours ago, Gruggas said:

Hey everyone. I have an update. Just went to leave work today and just had the issue happen again after trigger wheel fix. 3 strikes your out. Called my dealer and getting a new truck Wednesday. Hope they find a fix that doesn’t involve tearing the entire truck apart to not fix the problem.

New truck? Mine is in for the second time… please let me know about getting the new truck? Thanks Bob

Gruggas · June 22, 2021

4 hours ago, Barrett10 said:

New truck? Mine is in for the second time… please let me know about getting the new truck? Thanks Bob

Yeah mine has been in 3 times. I posted a while back and been updating several times. Lost it on GM and the dealer and now I’m getting a new truck with from lemon law.

Barrett10 · June 22, 2021

16 minutes ago, Gruggas said:

Yeah mine has been in 3 times. I posted a while back and been updating several times. Lost it on GM and the dealer and now I’m getting a new truck with from lemon law.

Got it, thanks...

Ahearn35 · June 23, 2021

Gonna leave this here... Make sure your service center has read the link below.

If problems continue after this I'm going to take advantage of the used car market and take some profits.

https://gm-techlink.com/?p=14824

Frankhpns · June 24, 2021

On 3/23/2021 at 5:52 PM, Dbersuch said:

Bought a 2021 Sierra with the 3.0 last week. Twice when trying to start the truck the starter engages and cranks the engine but it will not fire. Starter times out after a few seconds and stops cranking. Anyone else have this happen? 570 miles on the truck.

I have the exact same problem. GM is aware of it. Mine is caused by a bent camshaft sensor and apparently requires the cab of the truck to be lifted to gain access to the camshaft cover and sending. The service writer is telling me it is about a 40+ hour job. I have the TSB on it, let me see how upload it.

ColoradoCub · June 24, 2021

2 hours ago, Frankhpns said:

I have the exact same problem. GM is aware of it. Mine is caused by a bent camshaft sensor and apparently requires the cab of the truck to be lifted to gain access to the camshaft cover and sending. The service writer is telling me it is about a 40+ hour job. I have the TSB on it, let me see how upload it.

#1 You don’t have a bent camshaft sensor.

#2. Did you not read the responses on this thread? That TSB was done on one of the members trucks a few posts up that’s responding in this thread and it did not fix his problem, why would you allow them to do it?

Joe Brooks · June 24, 2021

So my third one happened today at 1700 miles. Call GM customer service just to see if they had any info on this issue. What a waste of time. Said they could find nothing. With Gruggas having it happen again and another truck with the issue but no bent trigger I’m feeling a bit deflated on this. I wish it was happening enough to have the dealers catch it.

Troy Klassen · June 24, 2021

On 6/4/2021 at 11:45 AM, Gruggas said:

Hey guys I have an update! So dealership finally got everything dialed in. Apparently mine was the first one to find the fix. I have the pictures of the bent timing ring for the camshaft. It’s a pretty big job. Involves removing cab, changing timing gears and chain on top of the ring. I suggest anyone having this issue contact your dealer immediately. If the bent ring is bent enough, it can touch the timing chain causing damage to the chain. Truck runs beautifully for now! Will keep updated in maybe a months time to let you fellas know how it’s going.

Did they say what might have caused this to happen, just replacing parts does not fix the problem?

Jacob D · June 25, 2021

Same thing happened to me. Brand new traveling from Arkansas to Florida and stopped at a gas station. Tried to start and it kept trying to crank but never started which eventually timed out. Tried again and it fired right back up. I then had this happen again when I went from our house to a store. So the first time the engine has been running for a while but the second time it wasn't.

Took to the dealer when I got back and they did some computer updates on it. I see people talking about this all over the place but everyone has a different answer.

This article points to bulletin #20-NA-218 (https://www.gm-trucks.com/tsb-issued-for-no-start-long-crank-condition-occurring-on-trucks-suvs/) that talks about reprogramming the ECM which is what my dealer did.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Jacob D

ColoradoCub · June 25, 2021

30 minutes ago, Jacob D said:

Same thing happened to me. Brand new traveling from Arkansas to Florida and stopped at a gas station. Tried to start and it kept trying to crank but never started which eventually timed out. Tried again and it fired right back up. I then had this happen again when I went from our house to a store. So the first time the engine has been running for a while but the second time it wasn't.

Took to the dealer when I got back and they did some computer updates on it. I see people talking about this all over the place but everyone has a different answer.

This article points to bulletin #20-NA-218 (https://www.gm-trucks.com/tsb-issued-for-no-start-long-crank-condition-occurring-on-trucks-suvs/) that talks about reprogramming the ECM which is what my dealer did.

That reprogram was their first attempt at fixing it earlier this year. It didn’t work and either has this super invasive procedure for replacing the Cam Exciter wheel that came out in May. Now they are saying to check the cam sensor for metal on the magnet, that doesn’t make sense either since the member here who had the 40 hour repair had both sensors replaced and it still did it. They have no clue how to fix it yet. On the GM Facebook pages there are 3-5 new owners reporting this problem every single day, it’s widespread.

Edited June 25, 2021 by ColoradoCub

Jacob D · June 25, 2021

10 minutes ago, ColoradoCub said:

That reprogram was their first attempt at fixing it earlier this year. It didn’t work and either has this super invasive procedure for replacing the Cam Exciter wheel that came out in May. Now they are saying to check the cam sensor for metal on the magnet, that doesn’t make sense either since the member here who had the 40 hour repair had both sensors replaced and it still did it. They have no clue how to fix it yet.

Great.... well I tried to reach out to GM directly basically to complain about it and complain about GM not putting out any info since so many people online are complaining about this same problem. We will see if their "specialist" ever call me back.

Do you have anything I can provide the dealer from GM stating this is what needs to be done? I assume this isn't GM releasing this info.

Tracy Lawrence · June 25, 2021

Yes, I had ran into this you a couple of times. I think in my case it was because I was tapping the starter button and not holding it in for a second. After I started pushing the starter button and holding it for a second or so the problem has not existed since. Hopefully that will be the problem.