jwright8

I hope this is the right section.

Let me start by saying my car has sat a while (say 3 months) and I just had to replace the battery (an Optima for an Optima). I cranked it up fine the other day, but I checked the error code history and got these. I'm only posting these since maybe it will help the current error code problem:

Today and yesterday, though, I tried to crank my car and it wouldn't even click like it was trying to start. All of the battery components came on fine (headlights, etc.). About 4 hours later in the day yesterday, my father walked out to take a look at it and the car fired right up. Just now, though, the same problem happened to me, and I just got the following current error codes:

It might also be worth noting that right before this happened, after I replaced the battery for a new one, my check engine light came on. Any help is much, much appreciated. Thank you for looking!

andynpz

I'm no expert but your symptoms are typical of a poor connection somewhere. I'd check battery connections then starter motor connections, then as many ground connections as you can reach.

A search for starting problems will find some photos of what to look for IIRC

Good luck!!

jwright8

Thanks for the reply!

I had thought that it might be something like that. I'm going to try reseating the battery and trying to check the connections in the door jamb that I see posted on this forum in various places. Hopefully it's something as simple as that instead of an indicator of more serious problems.

If anyone else has any other insights/ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

cor28vettes

see bill curlee's pic
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=3166195

add the fix or link here
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=3183336

hdkeno

Definately sounds like a low or bad battery primary issue. did you have a tender hooked up during that down time?

c51stvette

I would also suggest reviewing Bill Curlee's sticky at the top of the c5 tech section. I had similar issues and my problem turned out to be the ignition switch. Yours could be different.

jwright8

Thank you all for the replies.

I did not have a tender hooked up during the downtime. I'm certain that's why I ended up having to replace the battery.

The ignition switch was something I thought about as well. Why would it suddenly manifest itself after I changed the battery, though?

I'll just post a link here for myself so I can start looking through it:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...tion-long.html

I don't suppose anyone knows the page offhand where I'd diagnose the starter, solenoid, or clean the starter? I'm thinking it's one of those, but I'll start looking through the thread after I get home from work today.

Thanks for the help so far!

jwright8

Just wanted to post in case someone else was having the same problem. I put a battery charger on the battery on the slowest charge possible. At first it didn't seem like it was doing anything, but after about a full day it finally showed a charge and by the second day it was fully charged. After that, I unhooked it and tried to crank it and it's fired right up ever since.

As I said above, the battery was a brand new Die Hard from Sears (it's the most expensive one they had that would fit the car), so that leaves me puzzled to say the least. Since I've been cranking it up now for a week or so, it doesn't seem that anything is draining the battery. I just think the batteries from Sears aren't that great, as what are the odds of one complete dud and one discharged battery, both in a row?

The only outstanding problem I have is that sometimes when I start the car at night, the headlights will pop up but nothing comes on. This includes using Twilight as well as doing it manually. The brights will work just fine, but with it set on the regular low beams, it won't show any lights at all.

After driving it for a few days in a row for extended periods of time, it seems like the problem has worked itself out with the headlights and the low beams work as they should again. I'm not certain on how fixed the headlight problem is as a whole, so I'll try to update this thread in case someone else is having the same problem as well. Any ideas on why it might be happening intermittently are also welcome.