Recently purchased (11/06) a '02 vert C5 from a guy who only had owned the car for a year and half. When I purchased it last Nov. he said that he had recently replaced the battery, but wasn't specific as to when and did not have a receipt. Its an "Interstate" brand and visually looks fairly new, at least not old.

This is a weekend car for me so its not driven more frequently than once a week at best. When I first purchased the car I wasn't able to register it in my name because the title wasn't clear. So I just parked it in front of my townhouse. It sat for three weeks before I was able to title it in my name and comfortably drive it.

After sitting for three weeks outside in cool temps, it started right up. I drove it for about a hundred miles on our interstate and then parked it for two weeks to do some serious interior detailing. When I went to drive it again, the battery was dead.

I'm pretty sure that in cleaning the rear view mirror, I accidentily turned on one or both of the map lights and didn't notice they were on when I put the cover on in the daylight. Jumped it and drove it 80 miles on interstate and brought it home and parked it. Turned engine off and then tried to re-start it. Engine started right up, no problem.

Car sat for another week. Went out to start it and it started right up. Drove it another 80 miles on interstate, came home and parked it. Car sat another week. Went to drive it on saturday and it started right up. Once again drove it 80 miles on interstate, came home and parked it.

At this point I'm pretty sure that my dead battery issue was because I had left on the map lights. Since then I've been really careful to not leave anything on that might drain the battery. All seemed well until this afternoon when I went out for my weekly drive, and after only sitting for a week, the battery was stone dead.

Again, jumped it and started to drive on my regular interstate run, but had a letter to mail and stopped at our local post ofc. (only 2 miles from my house) and turned off the car not thinking that it might not have enough of a charge on it to re-start. But it did. Started right up without any chugging. Drove it uneventfully 80 interstate miles and came home and turned it off.

It seems funny that this car could sit for 3 weeks and then start right up. And now in only a week the battery needs a jump. I can't see that I'm leaving anything on that could be draining it, and for the previous three weeks it's been fine.

Again, I'm not sure how old this battery is, but the previous owner only had the car for 18 months, so it can't be any older than that. It seems to me that a battery this should be able to hold a charge for a week, even in outdoor cool weather.

Any comments or thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

DH

 

Check your grounds and batt terminals for corrosion, clean them and get a new battery or have that one checked at autozone or wherever, if you leave any light on in your car it automatically shuts off after 15 mins then it will come back on if you open your door so thats prob not the problem.

 

Yep! Is the battery truely DEAD or was it a bad connection? The terminals need to be clean and tight. They get torqued to 11 ft/lbs.

There are also connections on the starter that can come loose and cause havoc.

Before you get too wrapped around the axel, check all those things!


BC

 

I don't even know why we still have a "starter motor" on our engines.I can remember in the early '80s Ford was experimenting with starterless ignition that would (with a crank trigger) know the closest cylinder next in the firing order. It then "pulsed" the fuel/spark to get the deal moving in the right direction and fired the systems to start and run the engine. Saved weight of the big cranking amp battery (smaller battery fine,just supplied "electronics") This technology impressed me then, what happened? Bill? are you there?

 

Im here for ya man,,Im here for ya!!

BC

 

Thanks to all who replied to my "dead battery" problem.

I'll certainly check out the condition of the battery terminals and cable connections. I don't know much about auto mechanics, so I'm not sure about checking starter connections.

One thing I forgot to mention is that when I turn the key in the ignition after a weeks sitting and the battery is dead, I don't get any "clicking" or chugging. I get NOTHING when I turn the key. I don't know if this is significant or not. The car does starts crisply,and instantly when I jump it.

Another question on jump starting. I have been using my other vehicle to jump the vette. I have one of these battery back up units from a company called "Xantrex". The unit is called "X-Power". This is not one of those cheap units. It has a positive and negative cable set that is supposed to be able to jump start a car battery with a 12volt system. Its a sealed lead acid system (AGM).

Has anyone ever used one of these type of "battery backup" units to jump their cars? Any thoughts good or bad would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

DH

 

If its a weekender, once you get the problem solved, I recommend keeping it hooked to a battery tender during the week.

 

your battery drains out a few times to dead it is never the same. My car doesn't last long at all with everything off with a brand new battery. Get a Battery Tender if you use it occasionally. In my yard trucks I have small solar charges which keeps batteries up as them sit for a weeks.

 

many good comments on the situation. Sit my car often remains parked for 2/3 weeks, I throw the battery charger on it as I work on my other vehicles.

Seems to benefit from a quick 20 amps for 15 minutes.

 

Thanks for the replies to my battery problems.

Unfortunately I live in a townhouse w/o a garage and keeping my vette hooked up to a battery tender or charger is really not practical, if not impossible.

Its sitting outside is probably part of the problem. Its been pretty cold here over the past few weeks, especially at night. Still seems like a car with a relatively new battery should be able to make a week w/o a jump. Especially when I take it out directly to the interstate and put 80 or so miles on it, drive it straight home w/o stopping and restarting the engine, and park it. That should have put a pretty good charge on the battery.

Anyway, Thanks again for your kind replies.

 

Dear Nmbis2k,

What kind of charger are you using. That's about all I can do because as I explained in my last post, I keep my vette outside and its not possible to keep it hooked up continually to something like a battery tender. Your charger suggestion sounds doable for my situation. Just hooking it up for 20 minutes or so before I'm ready to take her out for a drive.

Any charger types or brands that you could recommend would be appreciated.

Thanks again for your helpful reply.
DH