skewzme

I have a 2005 Corvette. Battery kept going dead so I replaced it.
Now, with a fully charged battery, when I hit the start button the entire electrical system seems to just go dead. No attempted crank, nothing. It's as if the start button is a lights off switch for everything in the car. After about 5 to 10 seconds, the dash lights come back on. Repeat and it does the same thing over and over.
Any ideas?

ruxvette

Is it a fully charged battery or a brand new battery? There is difference.

EVRose

If the battery is fully charged then there's a bad connection somewhere under the hood. Most likely either at the starter or the battery.

ben dover

I think I had to lock and unlock the doors before it would start.

extrapilot

What your describing is the start sequence which is normal with all power going off except to the starter motor. What's not happening is the engagement of the starter.
Look at the top of the starter motor where the positive cable attaches to the soleniod and make sure the connection there is not loose or broken. The bakelite plastic can crack creating a poor or no connection at that point.
This one is real bad...

skewzme

Checking the starter connections in a second. Here's a video showing the sequence of events.

skewzme

Forgive me for asking a dumb question, but where is the starter on this car? Do I need to jack it up to get to it?

extrapilot

If you find nothing with my first posted check, a good idea would be to
check the connections behind the passenger carpet foot rest where the fuse box and the BCM unit is (blue connectors).
These harness connectors have been know to create all kinds of issues with the operations of these cars. Pull them apart by lifting the little swing arm and investigate all the pins for cleanliness and looseness .

extrapilot

Passenger side at the rear of the engine on the bottom. Try to shine a flash light down there and follow the battery cable to it. Good idea to disconnect the cable from the battery, then give the cable a pull and see if it feels tight. If you had the cable attached to battery you could short out something badly if that wire came loose.
May have to lift the car to get a better look it.

R_W

Looking between the passenger side header tubes, you'll see the starter motor and starter solenoid.
In the photo, you can see where mine cracked and broke, and one of the posts came out of the starter solenoid. Note the large hole in the solenoid plastic.

skewzme

Appreciate all the posts. Don't see any obvious loose connections on the starter. Checked the electrical connectors too. Guess I'll have to get it towed in.
Last question - how difficult is it to replace the starter on a C6? I have a buddy who works on cars a lot and says he can do it. Easy enough for a backyard mechanic?
thanks again

skewzme

One m0re thing to add -- Before this occurred, something seemed to be draining the battery. The battery I replaced was less than a year old, and the new battery went dead shorty after I installed it. Does that tell you anything?

extrapilot

Pull the battery out and have it load tested at a local auto parts store before you do anything else. Could be as simple as that.
But something could be draining your system, as a new battery should hold it's charge unless it wasn't fully charged to begin with or it's defective.

Bruze

From The School of Hard Knocks, when a car won't turn over and you have no reason to suspect a dead battery:

Step #1 - Check both ends of both battery cables for cleanliness and tightness, and visually inspect the cables themselves. The ground connection is just as important as the hot.

dcarter0001

Did you try jump starting the car? If it still does not start, you know it's not the battery.

Jerry Rocha

How much was it to fix it ?

rickyb

I had a problem that the wiring in my steering column would short when it sat in the sun all day. You may want to check the steering column wiring. Mine was an 05 also.

R_W

Took a few hours to move the header, remove the starter assembly, install a new starter solenoid, reinstall the assembly, and re-bolt the header.

Cost of the solenoid was about $20 vs the $100+ for the entire assembly.

Found here:


Quoted from another post:
"I took my starter to a local starter house and they installed current Delco part # 66-161. Original Delco part # 10503939. If you search on either of these part # you should be successful at buying a solenoid. This information is valid for my for a LS7 and suspect other LS starter motors but I didn't not verified. This solenoid has (3) bolts on the starter nose to attach it to the starter. It has the single round plastic snap on connection for the start wire connection."

There are also videos out there on how to use jumper cables on your car battery to test the starter solenoid and starter motor, but the assembly has to be out of the car to do so.

car-guy28

This happened to my ‘05 manual roadster, no crank and no start. I also had a check engine light with a P0335 code. I put in a new battery and new crankshaft position sensor with no help. After days of diagnostic checking I swapped the crank relay with the rear defog relay and it started right up. The rear defog light on the switch then wouldn’t light so I knew it was a bad relay. Easy fix but what a pita. Relays are # 40 and 43 in the under hood fuse box in front of the battery. Check engine light went out and all working fine now.

car-guy28

This happened to my ‘05 manual roadster, no crank and no start. I also had a check engine light with a P0335 code. I put in a new battery and new crankshaft position sensor with no help. After days of diagnostic checking I swapped the crank relay with the rear defog relay and it started right up. The rear defog light on the switch then wouldn’t light so I knew it was a bad relay. Easy fix but what a pita. Relays are # 40 and 43 in the under hood fuse box in front of the battery. Check engine light went out and all working fine now.