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Old 01-04-2019, 04:58 PM   #1
Skyman2112
 
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Question New battery DEAD after sitting 2 weeks

I had my Gen6 at the dealer to get the A8 tranny flushed and he said 1 time when they tried to start it ,it turned over slow. It never did it to me, but ok whatever if they want to give me a new battery then fine. Well, i drove it 4 miles home then went on vacation for 2 weeks. When i got home it was dead as a doorknob. This is not a daily driver, i routinely let it sit for weeks at a time and never had any problems for over a year.

Obviously they did something when they changed the battery cause its only got 9k on it. Some module must be staying awake or something cause it couldnt possible be the alternator i only drove it 4 miles. Any idea what it could be or do i need to drop it back off at the dealer , again. Ugh...

Last edited by Skyman2112; 01-04-2019 at 05:34 PM.
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Old 01-04-2019, 05:13 PM   #2
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I would not assume that the new battery was fully charged when it was installed. From what I understand, the Camaro battery management is good for maintaining battery charge, but not so great at charging a depleted battery. 4 miles is certainly not enough to recharge a somewhat discharged battery. Best bet is to put the battery on a full size (meaning not a trickle) charge ASAP for at least a full day or more. If the battery is good, but just not charged, that should bring it back.
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Old 01-04-2019, 05:20 PM   #3
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Assuming a new battery is fully charged is where you messed up.
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Old 01-04-2019, 05:35 PM   #4
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i got mine replaced a few months ago my car has been sitting for 2 weeks hope it still good tomorrow lol
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Old 01-04-2019, 06:37 PM   #5
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That may be the case, but it was so dead i had to put the charger in "activate" mode. So it seems more like something is draining the battery dead ,If it was just being parked when its not fully charged, then it would just be a low charge, not totally dead.
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Old 01-04-2019, 06:42 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 17rsvert View Post
I would not assume that the new battery was fully charged when it was installed. From what I understand, the Camaro battery management is good for maintaining battery charge, but not so great at charging a depleted battery. 4 miles is certainly not enough to recharge a somewhat discharged battery. Best bet is to put the battery on a full size (meaning not a trickle) charge ASAP for at least a full day or more. If the battery is good, but just not charged, that should bring it back.
Just hooked up the charger, seems more like its being drained cause its not just low, its totally dead. if it had enough juice to start the car and drive it home 2 weeks ago, then it would still have some charge even if it wasnt enough to start it. But this thing is totally dead, like when you leave the headlights on in an older vehicle and the battery is completely dead.
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Old 01-04-2019, 07:03 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyman2112 View Post
Just hooked up the charger, seems more like its being drained cause its not just low, its totally dead. if it had enough juice to start the car and drive it home 2 weeks ago, then it would still have some charge even if it wasnt enough to start it. But this thing is totally dead, like when you leave the headlights on in an older vehicle and the battery is completely dead.
It may or may not be really dead. All you know is it won't start the car, it is probably registering 2-8 volts, which is not enough for the Camaro. Also normal battery chargers won't charge the AGM type GM Camaro battery if it's very dead, it needs a jumpstart to chrge. Many people bring back an flat AGM from the dead by connecting another fully charged battery to it and letting them equalize at 9 or 10V overnight. Then your charger will work. Do a Google search and you'll see…like here:

https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...harged-battery

This site has been littered with dead battery posts ever since 2016. Some feel it's a possibility of installing aftermarket accessories, some feel it's a weak/defective battery, and some fell its internal to the car. I personally think it's a design defect/drain. I put in two batteries over four years over three years before I sold the car and it still wasn't right with two dealers telling me "no fault found". I am in an area where I can park the car at night and don't need to lock it , so I just added a neg quick Disconnect switch. You don't lose any major settings when you disconnect the battery.

I run this on all my vehicles and boats:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this for the camaro:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also, you can use a device called a "priority start". You hook it up between your positive cable and the battery, it monitors the voltage, and if it sees the voltage go down below 12 or so, it disconnects the battery automatically. If that happens, you just push a button on the device and it reconnects , so you can start the car.

Last edited by Glen e; 01-04-2019 at 07:17 PM.
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Old 01-04-2019, 07:26 PM   #8
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At one point, my battery was dead-dead; measured 4 V. on my Fluke meter.
My Schumacher smart charger would not complete an automatic cycle and would give up after about 20 minutes with a BAD BAT message. I got around that by leaving it on Engine Start mode about an hour until the voltage read about 9 V and from there it was able to charge with the automatic cycle. After it read 100%, I left it connected for a full 2 days to make sure it was totally charged, and that brought it back. I think AGM batteries have a better tolerance for deep discharge than lead-acid. Don't give up too soon.
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Old 01-04-2019, 07:32 PM   #9
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Seems sorta odd people are having this issue! I have had mine set for 2 weeks multiple times and up to a month before and no issue with the battery. Also store it for the winter and never an issue
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Old 01-04-2019, 07:52 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glen e View Post
It may or may not be really dead. All you know is it won't start the car, it is probably registering 2-8 volts, which is not enough for the Camaro. Also normal battery chargers won't charge the AGM type GM Camaro battery if it's very dead, it needs a jumpstart to chrge. Many people bring back an flat AGM from the dead by connecting another fully charged battery to it and letting them equalize at 9 or 10V overnight. Then your charger will work. Do a Google search and you'll see…like here:

https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...harged-battery

This site has been littered with dead battery posts ever since 2016. Some feel it's a possibility of installing aftermarket accessories, some feel it's a weak/defective battery, and some fell its internal to the car. I personally think it's a design defect/drain. I put in two batteries over four years over three years before I sold the car and it still wasn't right with two dealers telling me "no fault found". I am in an area where I can park the car at night and don't need to lock it , so I just added a neg quick Disconnect switch. You don't lose any major settings when you disconnect the battery.

I run this on all my vehicles and boats:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this for the camaro:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also, you can use a device called a "priority start". You hook it up between your positive cable and the battery, it monitors the voltage, and if it sees the voltage go down below 12 or so, it disconnects the battery automatically. If that happens, you just push a button on the device and it reconnects , so you can start the car.
thanks for the input friend, thats some good information. Theres only 1 thing, i had this car for 1 year and never had any problems untill the dealer claimed i needed a battery. The only reason it was at the dealer was for a tranny flush. Otherwise i would have never even touched the battery. Crazy isnt it? Either the battery is no good or something happened to the electrical system when they connected the new battery. Well keep you posted on the results. THanks
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Old 01-05-2019, 07:28 AM   #11
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I had an issue with my SS sedan where the battery would drain when it sat for a couple weeks. I ended up putting the car in transport mode when I knew it was going to sit. If I recall correctly, and I could be mistaken, it only left the vital components “active” and reduced the parasitic drain.
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Old 01-05-2019, 07:31 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyman2112 View Post
thanks for the input friend, thats some good information. Theres only 1 thing, i had this car for 1 year and never had any problems untill the dealer claimed i needed a battery. The only reason it was at the dealer was for a tranny flush. Otherwise i would have never even touched the battery. Crazy isnt it? Either the battery is no good or something happened to the electrical system when they connected the new battery. Well keep you posted on the results. THanks
If it happened when they installed the new battery, Then it could be something as simple as the battery connections are not making a good connection, there is some type of dirt between the connector and the post, etc. etc. I saw this on a center console tournament fishing boat about a year ago on one battery.

check to see that it's a good installation.
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Old 01-05-2019, 08:15 AM   #13
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Lots of good info so far. Having recently installed a pigtail on my battery terminals so I could easily run a trickle charger over the winter, I know how easily one can think you're getting the battery cables tightened down properly when you're really not.

The cables clamp down on the battery posts by means of a bolt on the top that goes down to a v-shaped piece under the clamp. As you tighten the bolt, it pulls the v upward and the narrowing of the v forces the two sides of the split clamp together. If you have accidentally caused that v piece to be a little off center, it will do no clamping, and even though you are tightening down the bolt on top, the cable will still be loose, so could make poor or intermittent contact. To fix this, you simply loosen the bolt and re-position the v part so it is centered under the split clamp and re-tighten.

If in fact some electrical item is not shutting off and is causing a parasitic drain, you can measure this with an ohm meter placed in between a battery cable and the battery. In other words, you disconnect a battery cable and put one of your two meter probes on the now disconnected battery cable, and the other probe on the battery terminal. The meter will show you what is being pulled from the battery by the car. It has been a while since I have done this so I can't remember if it has to be the positive cable but it might.

One expects some small amount of parasitic drain to be present to keep the clock alive, etc., but there shouldn't be so much as to kill the battery in 2 weeks. The last two winters I did not put my '16 SS into transport mode and I did not put the battery on charge; I simply parked it for the winter, and it still started up for me in the spring.

This winter, with the battery now approaching 3 years old, I decide to add a trickle charger. Based on posts in a battery charger thread on this site, I bought one of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FQBWCY..._hUlmCb0YAGFW2 because it was supposedly like what GM sells as a compatible charger for our cars.
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Old 01-05-2019, 04:16 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emoto View Post
Lots of good info so far. Having recently installed a pigtail on my battery terminals so I could easily run a trickle charger over the winter, I know how easily one can think you're getting the battery cables tightened down properly when you're really not.

The cables clamp down on the battery posts by means of a bolt on the top that goes down to a v-shaped piece under the clamp. As you tighten the bolt, it pulls the v upward and the narrowing of the v forces the two sides of the split clamp together. If you have accidentally caused that v piece to be a little off center, it will do no clamping, and even though you are tightening down the bolt on top, the cable will still be loose, so could make poor or intermittent contact. To fix this, you simply loosen the bolt and re-position the v part so it is centered under the split clamp and re-tighten.

If in fact some electrical item is not shutting off and is causing a parasitic drain, you can measure this with an ohm meter placed in between a battery cable and the battery. In other words, you disconnect a battery cable and put one of your two meter probes on the now disconnected battery cable, and the other probe on the battery terminal. The meter will show you what is being pulled from the battery by the car. It has been a while since I have done this so I can't remember if it has to be the positive cable but it might.

One expects some small amount of parasitic drain to be present to keep the clock alive, etc., but there shouldn't be so much as to kill the battery in 2 weeks. The last two winters I did not put my '16 SS into transport mode and I did not put the battery on charge; I simply parked it for the winter, and it still started up for me in the spring.

This winter, with the battery now approaching 3 years old, I decide to add a trickle charger. Based on posts in a battery charger thread on this site, I bought one of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FQBWCY..._hUlmCb0YAGFW2 because it was supposedly like what GM sells as a compatible charger for our cars.
yeahi need to see if they installed the battery correctly. Didnt have any problems for the whole time i owned the car, over a year, untill the dealer changed the battery. I wasnt even there for electrical problems, i was having my tranny flushed. Even if the battery had bad connections i only drove it 4 miles so it should not have had any drain on it. So annoying
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