Got a light day at work, so stopped at the florist to buy flowers for my wife (25th anniversary today). Come out, try to start the Vette....nothing but "click click click". Tried jump starting it to no avail. Either dead battery or bad starter. Yay.

 

My experience with C5 tells me that battery is the very first item to REPLACE before ANY trouble shooting is attempted... And!.. An easy fix to my most common problem of C5... The electric, and battery stuff.
Happy you, happy wife.

 

Not that bad. Probably a battery. Happy anniversary - the vette was jealous.

 

Why not pull the battery and get it checked before towing?

 

That’s good news. Could’ve been a LOT worse based on the thread title.

Car is in one piece back home.

 

That happened to me and I called Auto club told them to bring a battery and drove home.
When in doubt on a C5 get a new battery

 

My money on the battery, is the reason I carry battery jumper and AAA.

Hate to tell you how many Corvettes comes to car show, and when get ready to leave, battery dead, this item never failed me yet.

 

Every battery that's died on my car was dead shorted. 3 so far and wouldn't take a jump. Just replaced and off we go. New batteries are not as reliable as ones made 10 or 15 years ago

 

Next time it happens turn on your headlights. If they go dim when you try and start then your battery is dead, if the headlights stay bright and it doesn't turn over then its something else but the battery is probably ok.

 

Sorry you had the problem, and hope it is something as simiple as needing a battery replacement.

 

Probably because it appears to have happened after he came out of the florist's business, in their parking lot.



(remember the "good old days", when you could "bump start" a stick shift car, and at least make it home??)

 

More than likely when I take my C5 in winter storage, I'll pull the battery. AFAIK, the C5 has power still running even if the car is off, not much but I'm sure over time..

 

If it is the battery, replace it with an AGM, and get yourself a battery tender.

 

Yep, I too carry a NOCO jumper pack. I had a new AGM battery only last 8 months recently, jumper pack saved me multiple times because I was in denial the battery was bad already.

 

Saved my ***, last year on battery year old, walked up to the car, opened the hatch with the remote, got in car closed the door, hit the start button on my C6, nothing, tried to open the door, can't open used emergency handle to get out, open the hood, jumped the car and drove to the store I bought the battery from, they tested it. I had hour drive to the store and when they tested it, dead on year old battery.
Just shows you how good today batteries are, don't last like they use to back in the day.

 

I do know how to jumpstart a car, guys. Sheesh. Tried that before calling the tow, and Vette would NOT take a jump. Towing guy didnt believe me, so he initially hooked up his large jumpstarter pack, and the car still would not start, just click click click. I did get it to turn over at home, but it would not fire. It did show the "low voltage" warning and seemingly every other DIC warning came up, too.

When you have perishables in the car, you do what you have to to get home as soon as possible. I also only have a small toolkit in my work bag, so I cant do major repairs on the side of the road.

I have towing reimbursement, so it cost me nothing but time and embarrassment

I have one of those NOCO chargers, but its in my daily, not the Vette

Already have a battery tender. The car is on it all winter, but not in summer.

When tested on Thursday, the battery initially checked out as still holding 12v, but CCA is down to 550 from 780. Its a 4-year old AGM battery, so I think one of the cells (matts?) has burnt out.
I have had a problem with the battery going dead after a week if not on the tender, and I have read that AGM batteries are prone to go bad if allowed to discharge like that, so I do figure the battery died even though it tested ok for volts
My tech friend said to get the battery fully charged, then bring it back to him to test again. Ive had some long workdays this week, so its taken a bit to get all this done. .
Once I get some time, Ill put the charged battery back in the car and test the starter, solenoid, ignition switch and TDR just to be sure.

We are leaving on a weekend trip later this morning, so this'll get done when it gets done.

 

Bought a battery tester myself (I really do need one considering how many cars i work on) and results were as you all said, bad battery.
Volts - 12.27
CCA 439 out of 780
Lambda 5.54
Back to Advance Auto tomorrow.

Thank you for all the help.

 

I use to try to get the very last days out of a battery until I was stranded (not with C5) in a park area towards the evening with the wife. Hours later when AAA finally found us, the wife response to this episode taught a good lesson. Now I replace every 5 years or before whether it needs it or not.

 

Well, Advance wouldnt prorate the battery, so to heck with them. Not spending $250 on a new-school DieHard, which isnt.
I found an ACDelco AGM78 battery on Rockauto for $180 shipped, and it'll be here Thursday. What the hell, right?

 

I agree I also looking to replace my battery on my C6 cranking is getting slow, and shopped around, prices are through the roof.

I went with Walmart, free shipping, and had the best price.