Hey guys, I just recently got an 85 from my grandfather that has sat in storage for a few years. We had to replace the battery, and upon getting a new battery the car would roll over and did start for a few seconds a couple different times. The battery got drained fast so I put it on the charger for the night. The next day I tried putting the battery back in and tried to start the car. It did try to start a couple times which I then sprayed some starter fluid in the breather. After doing this, I tried to start the car again and the battery wouldn’t work. I took the battery to my local garage and they tested it and it had a bad cell. I then got a new battery and tried it in my car once again. When I tried to start the car again it would not roll over, instead just clicks and won’t spin the flywheel. I’m by no means a mechanic, and new to all of this. Would it be the starter? I’ve also read about the security system not allowing the car to start and i wonder if I’ve triggered this. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Sounds like your starter/ solenoid. You can take the starter to an Auto store to get it tested. Check your battery connections for corrosion and at the starter. There’s no factory security system on an 85.

 

I believe it does have some sort of a security system, just not the VATS. That is my plan for today is to play with the starter and solenoid. I did have it cranking over and then once I switched batteries, it wouldn’t crank which is why I thought I may have triggered the security feature.

 

You should pull the starter and go to NAPPA or AutoZone they can test it. If the car has VATS. The security light on the dash will stay lit. If you wait until the light goes out 4 - 5 minutes with the key on. The car should fire up.

 

The fact your battery is making the starter solenoid "click" I would take a close look at the connections to the battery and the starter solenoid. Any corrosion can cause the battery to just click the solenoid without having enough power to spin the engine.
Even a Brand NEW battery should be charged completely before being installed in the Corvette. A lot of alternators are not able to fully charge the battery since they are designed to basically Float the battery once the engine is running. I have seen tests where they claim the battery stays about 85-90% fully charged in an automotive application. You will quickly loose some of the capacity of the battery if the battery is just installed in a car directly from the shelf of an auto parts store.

Whenever you buy a new battery check the "open-circuit" voltage and then charge it on a large enough charger to enable the battery to get to the gassing point. Gassing is very important on a battery like we use in our Corvettes as it circulates the fluid inside the battery. If the battery is never pushed to this level by the alternator you can have the electrolyte stratify inside the case. In these situations the heavier fluid settles to the bottom of the cells and can eat away at the lead due to the concentration of the acid used in the electrolyte. When the electrolyte has Stratified the battery will appear to be fully charged much faster than usual. The battery will show full voltage and under a load it will expire quickly as it does not have the full capacity of the battery behind it anymore.

We see a lot of Corvettes that spend their winter and longer on a small trickle charger. Beware that not all small trickle chargers are alike. I bought one at HF and it boiled a brand new Interstate battery DRY in the 3 months it was out of the Corvette. If you use a small trickle charger be sure that it has the ability to stop the flow of current once the battery is fully charged. The more expensive ones do this and they are less likely to hurt your battery. On my Charging bench they are connected once a week to maintain the charge. I charge the batteries in my Corvettes only when I have disconnected the battery cables isolating the battery. The Flooded Lead Acid battery can take higher voltage than your Corvette's electronics were designed for. It is possible to damage your Corvette with a charger that pushes the voltage too high for the rest of the electronics. The battery can be charged while hooked up to the car but only do this with smaller chargers (less than 5 amps). I have seen many a battery go up to near 17 volts charging and that is too much for most electronics.

After cleaning your battery connections you might want to find some battery grease and liberally coat the outside of the connectors. This keeps oxygen from helping start corrosion again. It also attracts dust and other stuff to stick to it so be careful how much you use.

Take a volt meter and measure your battery's voltage, then go to your fuse block and check the battery voltage there as well. They should be very close or the same, if not you have corrosion where the battery power meets the Fusible links. On my 1988 C4 I had so much corrosion at the post where they are connected to the battery that I had close to a 2 volt drop between the battery voltage and the fuse panel voltage. On my C4 there were 7 fusible links getting their power at this particular point, these fusible links supply most of the Corvette and it's accessories the power they need to operate.

Clean those battery connections both on the battery and the wires that connect to them. You should also verify that your engine is properly grounded, measure the battery voltage first and then leave the red meter lead on the battery positive and take the black negative lead and touch it to your engine block. Again the voltage should be the same or very close to the same. There are several ground straps on these C4's and they are all important to something. I fixed one between the exhaust and the frame and all the sudden my power antenna started working again.

In your case you most likely got a new "Partially Charged" battery sold as "new" and installed it in the Corvette. That is one reason it is so important to charge every new battery before installation. Your battery will last longer if you do this. I always use FLA batteries in my Corvettes. I like the fact I can still top off the electrolyte and help the battery last longer. Beware of "sealed" FLA batteries as they are designed to be replaced more often as you can't do the needed maintenance. They call them "Maintenance Free" batteries which is a joke. The plan is to get you to buy another one after this one dries out internally. I have been able to defeat most tricks used on Maintenance Free batteries and still top them off with distilled water.

Last point, if you do buy a battery from a Auto parts store be sure it has electrolyte in it before taking it home. I saw a guy install a pair of batteries in his boat and neither had any electrolyte as the manufacturer gives them a dry charge and ships them to the stores where they are supposed to fill them or supply you with the electrolyte for you to pour it in. A FLA battery will not last long without any electrolyte or even having concentrated electrolyte from having the water boil out leaving a much more caustic mess in the lower part of your battery. You can buy electrolyte at most auto parts stores like NAPA but do not ever try to drain out the old electrolyte and replacing it with new as it is very dangerous. Never add electrolyte in place of distilled water as that will hurt the battery by having too strong an electrolyte. People have done some amazing things with batteries and survived. Just be sure to have a Rubber apron and full face cover when working with electrolyte. I use the safety equipment even when topping off a cell with distilled water. The electrolyte can blind you if it contacts your eye so be very careful with batteries. Also be sure to recycle the battery properly, I have seen batteries turned upside down in rivers and streams of third world countries and that will hurt a lot of people downstream.

I found this product called DeOxIt and this stuff is amazing. It removes corrosion from most electrical contacts and connectors. I have been using it everywhere on my C4 as it helps clean contacts without using anything to scrape it off. I use pencil erasers primarily to clean copper or brass contacts and connectors but now with the DeOxIt it is so much easier. It can ever be used to clean up the contacts inside a relay and make them last longer. It is not cheap but it is available on Amazon.

 

Never heard of a security system that makes it click. Not to say it doesn't exist but even the VATS that gets blamed for everything including a rainy day does that. If it even clicks, it isn't VATS. Someone will be glad to sell you a VATS bypass kit so you can be happy that it can never leave you stranded because you will need it, or so they say.

Bring it to Autozone and have them charge up the battery overnight. Obviously they will stop charging once it is full. Test the next day and see how much it has dropped. Say it is at 100% after charging, if it is at 60% tomorrow morning or afternoon, you may have a battery that doesn't hold a charge even though it tests good right after charging.

 

If it is even clicking the starter, it can't be VATS, much as we like to believe it is.