TOOGECKO

Well, I posted in another thread that my second battery in my 2004 Z06 died last Thursday. Having seen all the stories and experiencing three other Delco battery failures in my personal cars, I bit the bullet and bought an Optima Yellow Top over the weekend. I installed it Sat. morning and all was good. Very busy weekend so car never left the garage. Went out this morning to go to work and my brand new battery was completely drained. I obviously have something causing a short and a constant drain. Would my alternator cause this? I guess I will put a charger on it and take it to the dealer tomorrow morning but would like to know what to suspect before hauling it in...
Any guesses?

NCOMNC5

Have your electrical system checked under both load and no load. I had 2 different instances where my battery when dead. The first was a short in my turn signal switch (in the steering column) which caused all kinds of strange messages on my DIC. The other was in my driver side sport seat (motor kept running), I just unplugged it and haven't had it repaired yet. Hope this helped.... GOOD LUCK

TOOGECKO

Thanks - more feedback please!

T Will

Okay this is old school If you remove neg cable and put a test light between cable and post if it lights you have a draw. you have to start by making sure whatever is on all the time is off by pulling the fuse clock ect.. hood light you can just remove the bulb then just start pulling one fuse at a time until test light goes out this will narrow it down to the circut that is on. this worked on one of my trucks and found the fuel pump was always running thus killing the battery over night. hope this helps.

TOOGECKO

Twill:
Thanks - I will give this a shot...

leadfoot4

Did you fully charge the Optima before you installed it?

jrose7004

Are the cables tight and corrosion free?

TOOGECKO

It was brand new - never heard of having to do this to a new battery. I did put a trickle charger on it last night and it was fully charged this morning. Dealer is looking at the car this moring; hopefully they won't reflash my PCM...

The cables are tight and spotless. The car only has 9800 mi. on it and is kept garaged when not driven...

leadfoot4

Even though the battery is "brand new", it doesn't mean that it hasn't sat on a shelf somewhere for a while, losing its charge. Then, you (or any purchaser) installs it into a computer controlled car, which causes an immediate drain. Don't start the car immediately, which kicks in the alternator, and a dead battery is a distinct possibility.

TOOGECKO

Dealer just called me. It seems a GM rep was there today and immediately pointed to the HID lights installed. They will not cover this under warranty and want $100 per hr., min. three hrs. to diagnose.
(Bill Heard dealership, by the way).

I guess I will spend the evening trying to isolate one cause at a time...

thisMSGgood4me

Bill Heard stealerships SUCK BIG TIME!!!

Hope you find the cause of your problem. Let us know what it is when you find it.

T Will

Did you find anything? What about the vanity mirrors? You should check if one is staying on.

TOOGECKO

Well, I thought I had it fixed. I do however have it narrowed down to either a problem with my replacement battery or a problem somewhere in my lowbeam circuit. I need to eliminate the battery possibility tonight and hopefuly by the time Sunday evening rolls around I will have positively identified the culprit (if other than battery) and regained the confidence in my ride

TOOGECKO

I hope this is the last post on this one. I ran my "brand new" Optima Yellow Top back to Advance Auto yesterday where it was purchased and stated that I knew that it was a long shot but asked if they would please run a diagnostic on it. Sure enough, it had an internal short. They replaced it, no questions asked. Car seems to be fine now, charging system is acting normal and everything works as designed. They said they have never had an Optima returned but there is a first time for everything... I learned two things from this experience...

1. Never rule out anything as all components are fallible
2. Never expect your local Chevy dealer to know more than you do. Experts are hard to find, and rarely at the dealerships!

Another life experience chalked up! If the car makes it through the weekend without anymore charging problems I think I can safely start enjoying it again. Thanks for all the help and advice everyone

leadfoot4

I agree, ESPECIALLY #2 !!

AllCammedUp

I had a short in my yellow-top as well and was experiencing the EXACT same issues you were. I replaced the battery and all has been well since.

It's a shame - the Optima batteries are very expensive, and I would have expected better for the $$ involved.

KBlanke

Silly question here, why do you want to run a deep cycle battery in you corvette? Deep cycle batteries are designed to be charged then discharged in cycles, woulldn't the red top be more suitable?

AllCammedUp

Well, for starters, I got a good deal on the yellow-top, so w/ the additional capacity and CCA's it offered, I thought it would be a good investment.

I've had a red-top as well, and have found it to be less than stellar on its reserve capacity. I think that as a technology the optima batteries are better, but from a practical usability standpoint, I don't see much, if any, difference between them and a conventional battery.

SFVetteman

This won't work as there is always a draw because the PCM is always powered up.

TOOGECKO

Looks like there was an internal short in my replacement battery. I got a new one last night and so far so good

Thanks for everyone's input - gotta love this forum!