GM TechLink 2003-05-51
Original text and source
Original text
Starter Cranks After Key is Released
Owners of some 2003 Silverado and Sierra pickups or full-size utilities with the 5.3L Engine (VIN Z -- RPO L59) may comment that the engine starter continues to run after the key is released.
This is a normal condition and no repairs should be attempted for this condition.
On these vehicles, the starter relay is controlled by the PCM, with input from the key switch. After 0.4 seconds of cranking, a timer is activated in the PCM.
Once this happens, even though the key is released, the PCM will continue to crank the starter until the engine starts or a no-start time limit is reached.
The fuel pump module may take several seconds to build fuel pressure, particularly after sitting overnight. The automatic crank feature ensures sufficient crank time even if the customer releases the ignition switch prematurely.
Refer to bulletin 03-06-03-001. These are the highlights.
Source
- Source
- GM TechLink — Communication from a manufacturer to dealers (summary published by a government agency)
- Reporter type
- Manufacturer
- Source reference
- 2003-05-51
- Country / market
- US
- Language
- en
- Document version
- Version 2 (2 held)
- Note on the source
- Copyright General Motors Corporation. No licence is stated. Held as the headline and short quoted passages with the issue named and linked; the articles themselves are not stored or shown.
Dates
- Incident date
- Unknown
- Received by source
- 2003-05-01
- Added to the source's file
- Unknown: not returned by the source API
- Issued / published
- 2003-05-01
- First observed
- 2026-10-06 10:29 UTC (initial bulk load)
- This version fetched
- 2026-10-09 12:52 UTC