talon46

It started fine, drove it all day stop and go, came home washed the baby,, just now i put a battery charger on it, and its not dead but it taking a charge not sure if it is because the under hood light is on, but I will keep monitoring it till it goes green last time I went throught this, I wound up buying a new battery times two for my powerstroke.

volt meter reads a 14 volts when ac is not on if headlights radio and ac are on drops to 13.5 maybe 13 volts.??

code did not come back on nor did I reset it.


I need to check the electrolyte.

Other then that the car is used I bought it with 23.5 k miles on it it has 25.2 k on it now. Time might mean it needs a new battery.

It was originally sold in michigan, I am the fourth owner.

I have read that if I disconnect the battery, that the sercurity code will cause the radio to not work until I have it reset??

what is the correct size battery for a 2004 c5 corvette LS1. it currently has a 590 cold cranking amp battery in it.??

Thanks
james

talon46

Well,

just as I thought, I had to remove the battery, it had 4 cells slightly low on fluid levels, filled it up, it was on the charger before that for about an hour and was not making any progress, took out the battery filled up the low cells, it charged right up in like about 20 seconds went from 1-2-3- to 4 then green it had been staying on the 3 light trying to charge. Experience pays off I guess, only draw back now is the stereo is locked until I can get to the dealership to have the lock code removed and disabled or till I can set my own.

I figure I can make it another few months will wait and watch to see if the battery is at the end of its life.

Time will tell.

any other words of wisdon on reseting the stereo code??

thanks
james

aquaholic

i'de start with a new optima red top. i think its a group 78 but someone may correct me on that. torque to 11 ft-lbs. also, your stereo should not be locking up from disconnecting the battery. you have a seperate issue there. i disconnect my battery from the car for the entire winter and have no radio issues when i reconnect in the spring.

DPG

some of the bose stereos are locked and some are not. look here to see if you can unlock the stereo

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=164&TopicID=1

talon46

I took it to the dealership some bennies of being a soldier, the service manager was an old engineer soldier, a long time ago, the door stooge, was rather not helpful so he referred me to the service manager who took care of me. He unlocked the stereo, it was in the ( anti theft )sercured mode, meaning if you disconnect the battery it locked up. Lucky me the car had the base stereo, the bose version is harder to deal with. I am ow the proud owner of my unlock code. so I no longer have to take it in if it locs up. For a meager 26 bucks. and about 3 hours of time. battery took the charge.

Just a question is it normal for the car to need a charge from time to time due to all of the electronics that are on it.??

djengr

I don't know about time to time, if I am not driving mine I will start it up once a week. I don't keep a charger on it. I do have an Optima battery however. It is a jell type, sealed, etc. Some owners have had problems with acid leaks,---- there are electronics below the battery.

good luck.

DJ

bestvettever

Hi, The common wisdom for all batteries and especially corvettes,(because they have a lot of constant draw even when off), is to use a Battery Maintainer if you are not using the car for a few days. ( if you drive it 10 or so miles every day it should not need to be charged or need a maintainer) If it does need charging under those conditions,(daily driving), you have either a failing battery, loose or dirty connections, or a faulty charging system. A battery needs to be kept at peak charge to get the full lifespan out of it. When you let it sit in a car that is not being used for periods of time, that has a constant draw as most of the newer cars do, it drains down over even short time spans. When it is in a less than full charged state it begins to sulphate, and eventually looses it's ability to hold a charge. If your battery has vent caps to allow water replacement, you do need to check the water level every so often depending on your use and the temperatures in your locale. Keep it full to the ring, not to the top. Also if it is a water type battery, a very good idea is to put an acid absorbing mat under the battery, to protect the electronics, and vacum lines under the battery tray.
As for the stereo theft lock you can disable it using the radio buttons and display as a preference if you chose to not have it active, or before removing the Battery. The procedure is in the manual. See Below.. As for size and replacement, check the link. The only configureation difference between the 2004 battery and the previous years is the 2004 has top posts and the previous years have side posts, size is the same.. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2003507
Semper FI
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
Theft-Deterrent Feature
THEFTLOCK® is designed to discourage theft of your vehicle's radio. It works by using a secret code to disable all radio functions whenever battery power is interrupted.

The THEFTLOCK® feature for the radio may be used or ignored. If ignored, the radio plays normally and the radio is not protected by the feature. If THEFTLOCK® is activated, the radio will not operate if stolen.

When THEFTLOCK® is activated, LOC will appear on the radio display to indicate a locked condition anytime battery power has been interrupted. If the battery loses power for any reason, you must unlock the radio with the secret code before it will operate.

Activating the Theft-Deterrent Feature
The instructions which follow explain how to enter your secret code to activate the THEFTLOCK® system. Read through all nine steps before starting the procedure.

If you allow more than 15 seconds to elapse between any steps, the radio automatically reverts to time and you must start the procedure over at Step 4.

Write down any three or four-digit number from 000 to 1999 and keep it in a safe place separate from the vehicle.
Turn the ignition on.
Turn the radio off.
Press the 1 and 4 pushbuttons at the same time. Hold them down until --- appears on the display. Next you will use the secret code number which you have written down.
Press MN and 000 will appear on the display.
Press MN again to make the last two digits agree with your code.
Press HR to make the first one or two digits agree with your code.
Press AM FM after you have confirmed that the code matches the secret code you have written down. REP will appear on the display to indicate that Steps 5 through 7 need to be repeated to confirm your secret code.
Press AM FM again. SEC will appear on the display to indicate that the radio is secure.
Unlocking the Theft-Deterrent Feature After a Power Loss
Enter your secret code as follows; pause no more than 15 seconds between steps:

Turn the ignition on. LOC will appear on the display.
Press MN and 000 will appear on the display.
Press MN again to make the last two digits agree with your code.
Press HR to make the first one or two digits agree with your code.
Press AM FM after you have confirmed that the code matches the secret code you have written down. SEC will appear on the display, indicating the radio is now operable and secure.
If you enter the wrong code eight times, INOP will appear on the display. You will have to wait an hour with the ignition on before you can try again. When you try again, you will only have three chances, eight tries per chance, to enter the correct code before INOP appears.

If you lose or forget your code, contact your GM dealer.

Disabling the Theft-Deterrent Feature
Enter your secret code as follows; pause no more than 15 seconds between steps:

Turn the ignition on.
Turn the radio off.
Press and hold the 1 and 4 pushbuttons at the same time until SEC appears on the display.
Press MN and 000 will appear on the display.
Press MN again to make the last two digits agree with your code.
Press HR to make the first one or two digits agree with your code.
Press AM FM after you have confirmed that the code matches the secret code you have written down. --- will appear on the display, indicating that the radio is no longer secured.
If the code entered is incorrect, SEC will appear on the display. The radio will remain secured until the correct code is entered.

When battery power is removed and later applied to a secured radio, the radio will not turn on and LOC will appear on the display.

To unlock a secured radio, see "Unlocking the Theft-Deterrent Feature After a Power Loss" earlier in this section.

talon46

I will be setting my radio to the unsecure mode, today I had the wheels and brackets welded on, one weld is nice and pretty the other one not so, but the most important part is I will no llonger drag the front end on my drive way. I will take pics of the driveway, and the wheels before I paint them and after wards.

Io disconnected the battery to have the welding done just t be safe sure enough it went into loc mode again, I had the code the dealer had left me memorized fiddled with the buttons literally and figured out, how to input the code it came unlocked. Just need to disable it so that in the future I do not have this issue.

Hot climate, south alabama, will be moving to texas, its hotter there, may wind up replacing the battery sooner rather then later.

Either way thanks for the advice, and help.

Love the vette almost best vehicle that I have ever bought.

James

talon46

What should the dic and volt meter gage read normally, I am asking becaue I plan to take the vette on vacation in a couple of weeks, and even though I have charged it up and had a couple of issues with that process it seems okay. However today, when I turned on the AC the volts dropped noticably, on the analog gage, and then I turned on the DIC, it was reading 13.6 in traffic at idle, after I got up to cruising speed, 65-70 on the way home 25 miles one way most of it cruising speed, it got back up to 13.9 - `14 volts, but as soon as i got back in traffic in town, it dropped back down.

without ac load on it it stays at a steady 13.9 regardless of engine rpm level. idle or highway.??

I am leaning towards just replacing the battery since I am pretty sure it has not been done yet or needs to be done based on recent battery charging fault occuring, it was low on fluid, took the charge but that is normally an indicator of the battery at the end of it is life. Car is as I stated an 04 coupe I am the fourth owner. I do not want issues while I am on vacation in florida.

Thanks

James