SOLVED! Envoy will not start after a fan clutch and water pump exchange

[Schadman]

Hi guys this is my first post on here, I’m having an issue of starting my envoy.. I changed my fan clutch and water pump yesterday and drove it around and all was well. When I tried to pull it out of the garage again, the car makes what I can describe as an electronic buzzing sound when i put the key to the on position and when i try to start the car the dash barely lights up and my cab lights turn on and off. I can get the car to start and turn over but immediately after the car bogs down and stops running. I’m out of ideas, there’s a brand new battery, alternator seemed like it might have been overcharging because it went a little over 15 when starting the car but i’m not sure where else to go.

Edit: I got the car to start but i don’t know what i did to make it start. I was told on a fb group to take the belt off and see if it still does it, the belt got off and the car still didn’t start... i put it back on and try for shit and giggles and it starts right up!!! GRRRR! It’s throwing a code now and i’m not risking a tow so i’ll wait for a scanner to come in the mail... thanks Linneje and Mooseman for your suggestions.
I’ll update what happens in the near future.

 

[linneje]

You had the belt off to change the water pump. Check the belt. Yes you had it running, but you want to make sure that it is routed and seated properly on all the pulleys. I have done it before where it looked good but a secondary inspection showed me that it wasn't quite seated on one of the pulleys.

Once I drove a rental van that ran fine but wouldn't start again after parking. A cloth had been sucked up into the belt, and was restricting the movement of the belt.

The symptoms that you are describing seem like it is something to do with charging/alternator/belt. It does not seem like the alternator should have died so suddenly.

BTW welcome to the forum.

 

[Schadman]

Thanks for the suggestion! The belt looks okay to me. I’m starting to wonder if it has something to do with the fan clutch as i pulled it off a junk car. A new one is on the way but i’m not ruling out the alternator either. It’s only a year old but you never know. I was worried about it overcharging because i checked the battery and it looked like one of the cells were leaking. I wish i could post videos on here.

 

[Mooseman]

You can upload videos to YouTube and post a link to it here.

It's quite possible that fan clutch is responsible. Unplug it and see if it improves.

Check your battery connections. What's the alternator's voltage output using a meter? Being an '07, you have a SARVC voltage controller. It's a module looped on the negative battery cable. It lowers alternator output, sometimes down to 12V, when power demand is low. If you disconnect it, the alternator will run like a regular alternator. Maybe yours is defective. They aren't known to fail a lot so you could swap it with one from a junker.

 

[Schadman]

I disconnected that plug and it still died. Everytime i start it, it smells like somethings burning... Im fairly certain it’s the fan clutch cause it’s a used on from a car that had 150k+ miles on it. Maybe it’s locked also and i just got a bad car one again..
The output of the car off is 12.3 and when the car starts the range is from 8.0 to 15.3

 

[Mooseman]

I disconnected that plug and it still died.

Which plug? The fan or the SARVC? If you unplugged the fan, then that's not the issue unless the wiring itself is bad but I doubt that would cause your issue.

the car makes what I can describe as an electronic buzzing sound when i put the key to the on position

Where is this buzzing coming from?

Electrical gremlins can also be attributed to the ignition switch. Check it or just replace it to eliminate that possibility.

These symptoms sound like a bad battery or charging system. The fan is not known to stall engines although can throw a Reduced Engine Power error but won't stall it.

 

[Schadman]

Yesterday i tried the fan clutch plug and that didn’t stop it, earlier i tried the sarvc plug and it started but still bogged likes it’s been doing. The battery is a day old now and the alternator is a year old. I can get the car running long enough to see a light but i’m gonna try to upload a video and link it to help y’all see it.

 

[Schadman]

me trying to start the car^^

buzzing sound ^^

 

[Blckshdw]

You don't have enough juice in that battery. That buzzing sound is the stepper motors resetting themselves when losing and reconnecting to voltage. What happens when you try to jump start it, does it behave the same when connected to another power source?

 

[Chickenhawk]

If the battery is a day old, then it is highly likely it wasn't connected properly. Those side mounts are a bit tricky and with the plastic housing around the cable, it is real easy to think they are tightened down when they are not. Either that, or the battery is defective or was sold to you completely flat. Not unusual to have a new battery bad right out of the gate. Was it new or used, and did you install yourself or was it done at a shop?

Not sure I would trust a Facebook group who told you to try to start it with the belt off either!

 

[Schadman]

You don't have enough juice in that battery. That buzzing sound is the stepper motors resetting themselves when losing and reconnecting to voltage. What happens when you try to jump start it, does it behave the same when connected to another power source?

It would not start at all when i would jump it. I thought i had killed the battery as i was working on the fender because i had the radio going on the whole time and thought my amps had drained it out.. My new battery has a lot more CCA’s and the car starts and runs now but it sounds like my ones of my actuators went bad now because whenever i started, i hear a loud clicking noise and it gets better or worse as i change the modes for the AC. I tried to recalibrate it but still no dice for that issue..

 

[Schadman]

Welp, it’s not starting again. We messed with the battery to change the blot cause it was stripped and it won’t start. We also changed the fan clutch and nothing. Scanner doesn’t read any codes either. I’m at a loss.

 

[Blckshdw]

Fan clutch won't prevent starting. Either the fan would freewheel, or spin full speed, if the clutch was bad.

Can you be more specific about the non starting issue now? Does it crank at all? Is there power to any interior lights when the key is on, (or off and the doors are open), and then it goes dead when turned to start?

 

[Schadman]

Fan clutch won't prevent starting. Either the fan would freewheel, or spin full speed, if the clutch was bad.

Can you be more specific about the non starting issue now? Does it crank at all? Is there power to any interior lights when the key is on, (or off and the doors are open), and then it goes dead when turned to start?

The car acts like it wants to start up and it does start like normal but then the engine has violent drops of rpms as it bogs down and dies. All interior lights work and the radio works too. We just changed the camshaft sensor hoping it would fix but no dice. When it did start my dad was fumbling with the wires on the pcm side and it started right up. It seems electrical because i have fuel, and air. When the key is on there are no electrical issues.

 

[Schadman]

Welp the culprit ended up being the MAF... diagnostics said it wasn’t getting anything at idle nor when the throttle was pressed.

 

[gmcman]

I'm not sure if this plays a factor, but when I do any electrical work, I'll pop the hood then shut the door and I'll leave it sit for a little while, maybe 15 min to let all the sensors and modules go to sleep.

That way when I disconnect the negative cable, there is not as much of a surge or a spark.

Did you remove the battery NEG cable before you started any of this work?

 

[Schadman]

I'm not sure if this plays a factor, but when I do any electrical work, I'll pop the hood then shut the door and I'll leave it sit for a little while, maybe 15 min to let all the sensors and modules go to sleep.

That way when I disconnect the negative cable, there is not as much of a surge or a spark.

Did you remove the battery NEG cable before you started any of this work?

No, i wasn’t thinking and never disconnected the battery. It seems like coincidence because I had driven (after i had done the fan clutch and water pump) it before it started acting up.