RnLi

Asking for thoughtful suggestions.....

My 2008 "basic" Coupe, original battery, sat for about 3 weeks without use (not unusual, and never had troubles before). Just went to start it and got the infamous, "click, click, click". Realizing immediately that I had a battery problem, I pushed the "OFF" portion of the button (I did notice the interior lights as well as the Auto Headlights turned on and appeared to be the normal brightness.).

I attached my digital battery charger to the battery, correctly, and noticed the battery displayed 11.7 volts on the read out. I plugged the charger in and programmed it for a 3 stage charge. It is now on that charge, as I speak.

Question....

If the battery takes a complete charge and registers a 13+ volt on the trickle, do you think the battery would still need replacement?

Should I take it to a parts store and have a load test done? If so, what should the reading be for the load test?

Honestly, I'm tempted to continue with the current battery just to see if it is capable of continuing to provide service. Of course, the negative outcome could be stranded someplace waiting for AAA.

Off to check the charger........

ChevyDave

yea, hard to say. 3 weeks could run it down enough (some have reported) to drain it below crank needs.

one interesting thing you can do.
press accessory and hold for about 15 seconds and DIC will light up. go through options and read voltage. there will a draw with stuff running so will be reading about 11.6 to 11.9 in a full charge state. (some report 11.4 & they thought fully charged)

you get that reading below 11.1 (again thats reading with car drawing power, not car off reading battery terminals) and your getting near crank fail. i dont have actual lower limit. but its a good way to see what ya got before hitting start.

if ya got a bad cell, it wont charge or if it does, wont last more than a day. at some point nearing 5 years, ya gotta figure your getting your money outa the battery and gonna reach your limit some day.. lol

saplumr

Usually once any battery (other than deep cycle) completely drains it will never be the same.

VET4LES

It's time for a new battery anyway. Why chance it.

dvilin

SUB VETTE

Just spend the money and your time on a new battery. Your peace of mind will also be preserved by a small outlay of cash.

RnLi

Sub Vette.....

Yep, you are absolutely correct. It's not the cost that has me inquisitive. It's the nature of the problem.......

If it was only at 11.7 volts, which to me is just a minor number under the 12 volts that are necessary, I keep wondering about it taking a good charge and still have some life.

It is currently (no pun intended) at the floating stage and 13.6 volts. But as you stated, I'll probably buy a new battery this week because I'm planning on a short trip to San Clemente the middle of next month. I despise car problems away from home.

Because of the nature of my driving, I generally get about 7 years from a Delco.

383vett

Batteries cost about as much as fillups in California.

SUB VETTE

Yes, I understand. I got about 6.5 years out of my Delco on my 06 and it was still going strong, but changed it anyway for peace of mind. By the way, I keep a battery tender on it whenever it's in the garage.

PatriotZ

get the battery.....it will save you some grief...I also just replaced mine on my 08....it was a good move on my part...easy to do yourself for about 125.00 and Delco at that

black.z51.c6

I will say that this happened to me and after I jumped it the passenger window went down four inches and I could not get it to go back up... Brought it to the dealer and they were a little mistified about what was going on with the window... searching deep in this forum I found that it was likely a passenger door swith.. you know the rubber pad you grab to open the door, was probably stuck and thus draining the battery and telling the BCM that the window needed to index the 1 inch it does when a door is open... they replaced the battery with the better one not oem but still gm with a 48 month warranty at any gm dealer... the switch was 12 dollars and they charged me .4 hours labor to replace it... it is two screw and 1 harness connector... if you have to grab the switch and wait too long or play with it to open the door just replace it, this could cause a drain on your battery... when you grab the door it wakes up a lot of electronics on these cars. I had an aftermarket amp that is wired to turn on as soon as you wake up anything on the car and this was compounding my problem. I bought a new switch for the drivers door too, 11 dollars, and replaced it in the parking lot of dealer in 3 minutes with a phillips head screwdriver. replace both if your going to do it and good luck

VET4LES

sliverck

Definitely get a new battery. I left my '06 sitting for a month, totally dead. Wouldn't even unlock the doors. Tried to charge it, didn't work. Tried to jump it, didn't work. Took it to Advance Auto, they tried to charge it and that didn't work. Got a new battery and a battery tender, lesson learned.

Wildmanht

I have an 08 as well. Pretty much everyting you said is exactly what my factory battery did and read. I replaced it about 5 months ago.

AORoads

Early on in my early production '08, I had an almost complete drain on my three month old battery. I then got advice and "religion" re a batt. maintainer and used it for the next almost five years. Then, I decided even with good maintenance, I didn't want to be left stranded because I don't take my maintainer with me. So, I got a new AC Delco.

Do I think you will be ok based on what you've described? Most likely, for awhile. But I don't know when the "for awhile" will expire. If it were a one or two year old battery, I'd have more confidence in saying, don't worry too much.

Good luck with your new batt. and trip!

Like dem Vettes

The battery in my 06 lasted six years. Then I installed a 34R Odyssey, which required that I change the tray to an 07 tray using the part number found elsewhere in this forum.

AGMs discharge at a lower rate, which is advantageous for vehicles that are not DDs.

nytrorcr

If its the original battery....replace it, better safe than sorry when out seeing the sights. As stated above, they are never the same once run down.....some may say run it anyway but I don't need a problem from something that has given me a possible early warning.