97 GMC K1500 Ignition Wire-cheap repair option

My brother owns a 97 GMC K1500 4WD.... and never has any money for anything, especially unexpected truck repairs. Recently the starter solenoid stopped engaging. Basically DOA. No sound whatsoever when turning the ignition key to start.

I had hoped it was just the ignition cylinder, a loose wire at the starter or battery post,etc, but no such luck. Basically, no signal was being sent to the solenoid.

After eliminating all the easy stuff, I pulled everything off the dash so I could get into the ignition wiring. The bad news is these GMC trucks have an integrated ignition switch circuit within the harness inside the steering column.



As you can see, even the Amazon version is expensive.

I had found a good tutorial on the output signals from that plug shown in the pic. Sure enough, one of the signals was not correct when the ignition was turned to start.

I decided to try to McGuiver it instead of buying the harness. Long story short, I ran a few new wires and added a push button start. I have about $20 in materials in it and it works fine. If you do this type repair, make sure to use a momentary style switch. Standard fused relay from a box of 10 of them I bought off Amazon.

I tapped a wire in the steering column since I had it open. It is only +12v when the key is set to run. Don't use a wire that's always energized, in case the starter solenoid malfunctioned and would not disengage. You'd be unable to cut power. I ran a new trigger and a high amp wires off the relay down to the starter.






Just wanted to pass this along since it may be applicable to other vehicles with such a condition. Hey, all the new vehicles are going "Push to Start", so I'll just call this an upgrade, not a "cheap alternative"!

 

Nice. FYI you can get a full pushbutton start kit with transponder for $25: https://www.amazon.com/Eunavi-Transponder-Immobilizer-Keyless-Carsmate/dp/B07H95GFJ5/