Can back from a short trip... no problems, car did just fine... but next morning, car would not start... cranked, and would try to start, but would die withing seconds...

skipping ahead a bit here... suspected a battery problem and sure enough, had the battery checked, and there was a shorted cell... got a new battery, put it on a slow charge, now this morning when trying to start the car, car cranks strong, but won't even start for even a few seconds like it did with the old battery... can smell gas, so figure it's still getting gas...

The only thing that seems 'unusual' at this point, is that in the 'Driver information display panel' in the center of the dash, the battery symbol in the lower left had corner is on, even though the battery is fully charged and the voltmeter in the main dash shows over 12 volts... I've not been able to find any info on just what conditions have to exist for that indicator to come or, or where it takes it's information from...

Right now, there's just so many things that could be checked or wrong, i don't know where to start, but i'm still thinking it must be something pretty obvious, since the car was running so well the night before all this happened...

I'd really appreciate any information, or experience, or ideas that anyone might have and be willing to share...

 

The "batt" symbol only indicates that the battery is in a discharge mode, not a low battery. It will disappear when your vette starts and the altenator is activated. As for your starting problem, it would be suggested that you determine if the are any diagnostic trouble codes stored.

 

Have you test the ignition coil yet? Maybe its time to replace the cap, rotor and coil.

 

I wanted to reply and say thanks to the guys who replied with ideas for resolving the problem.... My apologies for not answering sooner, the sudden death of a close friend, and a major computer hard disk crash have kept me from responding and only able to diagnose the problem myself in small segments of time as they became available.

The problem is resolved... There were no diagnostic trouble codes, or at least not able to be read, as the 'service engine soon' light would not light when the ignition key was turned on. This 'clue' was what led me to diagnose and identify a problem in a fuseable link that runs off of the positive battery cable, and i am 'pretty sure' is the one that feeds 12v to the ECM. Battery acid leaking from the old battery had corroded the wires and one at the end of the fuseable link had broken off, evidently when i moved the positive battery cable while changing batteries...