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TRUCK WAS IN A WRECK. IT WAS HIT IN THE REAR. IT RAN FINE. IT HAS 53000 MILES ON IT. I LET IT SET FOR 2 YEARS. THE BATTERY WENT COMPLETELY DEAD. I PUT A NEW BATTERY IN IT. BUT NOW IT ACTS LIKE THERE IS NO POWER TO THE STARTER. SOMEONE TOLD ME ABOUT A SECURITY CODE THAT YOU SET WITH THE RAIDO WOULD TAKE OF THIS PROBLEM. TELL ME MORE I AM ALL EARS. NEED HELP IN WEST VIRGINIA.  

were the hidden areas of the battery cables where the bolt goes through into the side of the battery actually clean...

turn the head lights on..   do they come on..   having someone watch the brightness of the headlights... try to crank the engine..

do the headlights dim slightly??

do the headlights go dark..??

do the headlights stay the same brightness???

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in the relay box under the hood is the starter relay...

turning the key sends power to one of the relay pins...   if the ECM sees that the transmission shifter is in Park or Neutral.. the ECM will ground the other side of the starer relay coil .. so your action with the  key will close the contacts and send cranking signal to the starter solenoid...

YEP.. complicated...

do you still have the owners manual...  it will show the location of the starter relay in the box under the hood near the master cylinder...

depending on where the truck was impacted...  it might have shifted the motor mounts and changed the position of the shift linkage.. so it may NOT be totally in park...

the only way to tell is with an OBD2 scan tool... you can turn the key on..  you can not only see the cranking signal from the key..  but the position of the gear shift on the scan tool..  why.. you are looking at the electrical position of the shift lever into the side of the transmission...


you can with care....  identify the starter relay position in the relay box...   REmove the relay..   gently pry the internals from the cube cover...   stick the exposed relay back in its location.. and then squeeze the contacts closed to see if the starter actually works when commanded...

PLEASE do NOT GO PROBING around in the relay socket...  why.  if you probe the wire going to the ECM .. you can blow the ECM circuit out..  

if you don't have a owners manual.. google the year and model of the truck.

2000 chevy S10 pickup Owner manual .pdf  

 you will probably find one..  it is the easiest place to identify the starter relay location..  

You may be on to something. But tell me something, I keep hearing about a security code to be entered with the radio if the battery has gone totally dead. It won't let the motor start unless you put in this code into the radio. I drove this truck after it was wrecked several times. I need to get the frame straightened and that is why it set so long. I will check out the relay in the mean time. Thanx  

its totally possible that the radio code needs to be reset.. that would prevent the computer from letting any bandits start the car if the radio is missing



depending on how hard its hit....

its sometimes easier to buy a truck with a blown motor or a stripped recovered truck... and use the frame from that truck...

or... move the cab and engine to that frame and suspension...   mixing and matching...

warning...     warning...  warning...

frames and all the parts have VIN numbers...     some states check vin numbers on the frame also.... so you will need to have a pink slip and photos to show the work done to get it all  legal... DO NOT TAMPER WITH ANY VIN NUMBERS ON THE BODY OR FRAMES>..  that is a federal rap..  

you might want to try it...     by reaching through the steering wheel and turning the key to the crank position...

and with your right hand.. pulling the gear shift lever down through the gears..

see if the truck starts in any other gear.... i am taking its an automatic...

impacts move things around...

it does not take a LOT to move the gear shift linkage from the proper position ... you can only really tell with a scan tool looking at the live data stream...


print a copy of this.. .    read it ONE line at a time...
you can see the Park  neutral line about half way down...