OK, im officioally ticked off. I bought the vette no less than 3 weeks ago, and drove it exactly once. Its a used 2000 with 40k on it. Im in the navy so im not with it, its back home with my parents. Tonite my best friend went over to my place, backed it out of the garrage and took off the tailight covers for a forum member because i didnt like them. when he went to start it, it wouldent start, not even a click. the wondows dont work the electrical doesnt work, the power locks done work, nothing owrks. all he did is back it out, he didnt touch anything. when i drove it the headlights were a little screwy, they wouldent pop up for me when i tried them, then when i got back from dinner while my car sat in the lot it worked, i didnt touch a thing. Whats going on here? and suggestions, things to check fuses whatever? the battery is good, my dad tested that when he went to jump the car, whats the deal?

 

any ideas fellows? im realy scared here, and id love a little help rom my forum friends?

 

It sounds like a dead battery. What do you mean your dad tested it when he jumped it?

 

he tested the battery, the battery is fine, and the car wouldent jump

when they hooked the jumper cables up to the battery and the other ends touched, they sparked. any other ideas? fuses?

 

My friend told me he left the keys in the ignition while he was working on the tailights, might this be a security issue? does the security system disable the electronics? he left the keys in for 10-15 mins. thanks for any ideas, the car is going to be towed tomorow, id love to fix it before that if i can.

 

Clean Battery cables with wire brush.

 

The security system may disable the ignition but I doubt its going to kill the entire car. When you mentioned your friend backed it out of the garage, did he start it to back it out or just put it in neutral and push it out?

Just because you get a few sparks doesnt mean anything. Even if you put a volt meter across the battery terminals of a dead battery, it still may show 12 volts but the amps may be next to nothing and the battery can still be shot. Another idea is to check the battery cables. See if he can remove the fuse box cover in the engine compartment and hook the positive jumper to the stud thats under that cover and connect the ground to part of the frame and make sure he gets a good connection and see if anything works like lights etc. This way your somewhat bypassing part of the battery cables if one of them were bad. When he hooked up the cables previously, did anything work then? Lights, radio, horn, etc?

 

These cars can develop some weird electrical quirks, when I first got mine the headlights wouldnt pop up, working the the stalk switch a few times cured that. Check the battery connections, the positive terminal corrodes rather easily.You can get a full voltage reading across the terminals, but if you have a bad connection either positive or negative all kinds of weird things will happen. Today I returned my HypertechIII programming to stock as I was taking the car in for the column lock recall.Immediately the car started acting up, would start then die repeatedly.Disconnected the the negative terminal, reconnected and car started and ran fine.Got home and reinstalled the Hypertech programming, upon comepletion,got a low voltage message and had to put car on charger for an hour.Ive had the battery die twice due to the passive key fob switch accidently getting turned on and the continual locking, unlocking, lights on lights off, as I walked around the house, ran the battery down. Oh and it threw eight different codes none which remained current, all immediately went into history. And that was just today.It takes very little to run the battery down to the point where a poor connection will give you the problems you are seeing.

 

ok thank you for your imput, i think the car is going to be towed because if it is a problem its gotta get it fixed because i need the car next week, and since im not there, their is nothing i can check, thanks for the help guys, ill let you know how it turns out.

Bob

 

NAVY08

I am retired from the Navy (26 yrs active duty) and would like to welcome you to the C5 world. Im sorry that your first expierence has been a bad one. Hopefully we can get you on the road and you will enjoybyour car..

Your car has numerous electronic computers. Voltage to each one is carefully controled and monitored. If the voltage is not correct, SHE WON"T RUN! Many times the battery terminals can get loose, corroded or get damaged. Your very first step is to carefully inspect both terminals and look for damage. The side terminals can leak and allow acid to get into the terminals. They will corrode. Once they are clean and properly inspected. They need to be torqued on to 11 inch pounds.

Your OBDII system in your car has a built in feature that will allow you to check for codes and malfunctions. Please read all of the codes and post them on here. Make sure you include if they are current or history. Once you write them down, go ahead and clear them.
Here is a link to explain how to read the codes.

http://www.corvettedoctor.com/Codes_Page.htm

Even though the battery sparked, it still could be defective. STRONGLY recommend having the battery load tested at one of the local autoparts places. Many C5 owners have swore up and down that there NEW OPTIMA that has been in the car less than 6 months is good and replace numerous high dollar componets for no reason.

Once you have removed the battery, checked the termimals, read all of the codes and posted them, look in the battery tray and at the areas under the battery to see if you can see any signs of a previous battery acid spill. I'm not saying that is causing your problem but, it is something that you need to keep track of.

Please let us know how you make out and post the results of the troubleshooting efforts.

Bill Curlee

 

I would check the codes, but unfortunately nothing electrical works on the car, when i say nothing, i mean the dors wont unlock with the remote put the key in the ignition and turn it, no click no lights on the dash, no headlights, no nothing, as soon as i can check the battery i will, and ill let you all know, thank you.

 

If it's the original battery, replace it. You can get a reading of a strong battery from a load tester on an old battery too.

 

You have a bad battery or battery cable!!
There is a +12 VDC "B+" terminal on the Under hood electrical Panel. It looks like this:





That cable goes directly to the battery! Follow the cable.

If you measure form ground to that terminal, there should be 12 VDC. There is also one simular to that one on the Instrument Panel Fuse Center.