I have been having some strange electrical gremlins living in the car lately. It sits in my garage mostly now after being retired from daily duty. As it sits it has 124K miles on it. I have never had any problem with the electrical system prior to this.

#1. If the car sits for more than a few days it will not start. I have a new Exide Orbital Battery. This would happen even with the new battery.

In order to address the first problem I have purchased and have been using a Deltran "Batter Tender" this seems to have alleviated the first problem. However I have not taken if off the charger and let it sat to see if the problem re-occures. I need to get a voltage meter and see which fuse circuit is draining the battery so fast.

#2. Now this is the weird one! Lately when I have started the car I disconnect the tender and turn it over. Only I get a click and everything in the car goes dead. No lights, no radio, no nothing - completely dead. I get out an jiggle the negative cable it all comes back. It may now start but sometimes it will just click and go dead again. The cables are tight - I have checked them many times now.

So what is causing this? I am mystified. This is one area on the C5 I am not well skilled. I can do a cam job but electrics are beyond me.

 

You say the cables are tight at the battery, but have you checked the connections on the other ends of the battery cables?
If you can move the cables and it starts, something is still loose.
Even though you have a new battery, have you checked to make sure it is putting out 12 volts? Even a new battery could have an internal short or a dead cell if you are as lucky as me.

If both ends of the ground cable are tight, you might still check to see if the cable is corroded or not tightly crimped to the lug or end connector.
I had a 77 Corvette that did what you describe and it turned out to be a bad ground cable to the frame. In my case, the cable looked perfect, but when I replaced it, the problem went away.

 

I had this problem on my wifes 95 suburban. It had a new battery and the cables were in good shape. It turned out to be a broken stud on the starter solenoid, A new starter fixed this problem. Hope this helps. Mark

 

You either have:

A Bad battery cable (the terminal is CRIMPED to the battery cable) and may be corroded or loose.

Loose or corroded battery ground terminal on the frame:



Or a loose or defective engine ground connection (Passengers side of the block)

Or a Loose or bad connection on the starter!

BC

 

you know how we get, when we have had enough with these lovable machines, i have just been keepin mine on the trickle charge in the garage an basically ignoring it, but it is becoming a pain in the ***** reseting the radio stations, seat memory and other items at the becoming of each cruise... my 99 6 spd has about 71k on the ticker, and it's about time for some real preventative maintenance.

 

Yeah I know what you mean. Mine has been sitting most of the last year. I drive it rarely. Currently I have the above mentioned electrical gremlins, dead A/C Compressor, Transmission Problems and a whiny differential. I am not disappointed in these things. The car has been driven very hard for most of 10 years. I currently have a new transmission, torque tube, diff and compressor sitting in the garage. I am going to be buying a new starter and clutch sometime here soon. Then I will take it over to a friends house with a lift and get all this work done over a few days. I may do a few other things as well. I may add the Abs of Steel/Aluminum with heat shield and put in all new bushings too. The engine runs like a champ and interior is still very good. The outside is a little rough but what do you expect from a 10 yr old car with over 120K miles.