Took delivery of my new C6 (6-sp manual) at the museum on Aug 13th. It had a dead battery that morning which should have caused my immediate concern but the people there are knowledgeable.

Went several weeks w/o problems before the draught ended (along with the sunny days) in Virginia. Three days later, dead again. Off to purchase a battery charger.

This past Thursday it showed a full charge but Sunday morning it was dead again. I proceeded to film the process of opening the trunk, opening the door, and showing that my steering column lock was clearly locked. Believe that adequately shows that my car was in reverse. Back on the charger.

Clearly this car either has a bad battery (hopefully) or with whatever switch is supposed to tell it to shutdown.

Made an appointment w/ Joe Malo at Koons for this week. More later.

 

Thats a sign you should have bought an automatic.

 

Corvette's are meant to be shifted.

 

I just posted this in another forum, but it's the same issue here. And to answer the obvious, yes the car was in reverse (all 5 times), and the parking brake was set, and the system had shut down and the alarm activated. No peripherial devices to contribute to the problem.

I'm posting another update. While parked at the airport for 3 days or more, my battery drains to the point I can't open the car, can't start the car and have to get a jump to get going again. This is the 5th time this has happened to me in the past 6 months. 2 times in the past two weeks. I'm taking the car back to the dealership for the third time to see if they can find the problem. This time, I'll have to leave it for a full week so they can duplicate the conditions. It's fine as long as I start the car and drive it every day or two days. But more than 3 days, and bam...dead.

By the way, I did already replace the battery with a brand new one. No help. I even installed a Battery Protector as I read about on this forum. That worked one time, but not the last time. The first time I was only gone 3 days so maybe there was still enough juice once I triggered the switch. But last week, 5 days out, and totally dead. Had to be jump started. I'm really getting tired of being stranded every time I have to drive and leave my car at the airport. Thank God for the parking lot crew at the Atlanta airport. They are always there to give me a jump start. We're pretty much on a first name basis by now!

 

I know I've posted this before, but.... it would be so nice if there was a way to just switch OFF the computer in the car. Would there be any way to somehow install a master switch between the computer and the battery? If it weren't for radio presets and window indexing, I guess you could just install a master battery shunt to essentially unhook the battery entirely with the turn of a switch underhood... but this would be inconvenient for everyday use. However, when leaving a car at an airport for several days, a master battery switch might be ok. IMHO, radio presets are not important... and window indexing seems to be quick and easy. Well, better than being stranded anyway. This whole idea of the car going into "sleep mode" if and when it feels like is terrible in my opinion. When you turn the car off, it should be OFF... period.

 

Pull relay #46 and have the dealer replace the battery. You will never have the problem again. It has been 4 months now since I did this and have not had "dbs" since. The car even sat for a week, and fired right up.

 

Tony, are you manually locking your steering column? I had several DBS incidents until I started to methodically shut the car down in reverse, apply the emergency brake, lock the steering column and lock the key with the fob, even in the garage. I also removed Relay #46. I have not had one incident since May. Maybe there is some external influence that wakes up the computer (especially at the airport). Is this happening to you anywhere other than the airport? There certainly are many radio interferences that could be causing it there. A GM engineer in the company of Wil Cooksey at Carlisle confirmed to me that the steering wheel lock is the "possible" culprit. Who knows? My backup lights never stay on after shutdown.

 

Something to think about .....
I have a Pontiac Bonni that has had numerous DBS's and new batteries.... The last time to the dealer, they called GM who said replace the A/C relay as they had had some stick shut. No problems since.......has been about 2 years.
You might want to check to make sure the A/C isn't pumping cold air when you have it shut down.

 

Unless you need your headlight washers to function, pull relay #46. Get back to us in about 4 weeks and tell us how many dead battery's you have had. I will bet, none !!

 

There are several battery disconnect switches on the market. I had one on my C3. I have heard you don't lose the radio pre-select's just the window indexing but that is not a big deal. By the way I never make sure my steering wheel is locked. As I have posted many times I have never had DBS. Some corvette's have it and hopefully GM will solve the problem.

 

I posted this in the other place, but a lot have answered here.
Hope no one gets mad that this is in 2 places, I'm only trying to help him
**************************************** ************
Couple of thoughts here
1 Why did the battery protector not work? Was it a priority start?
2 This thing seems to occur after 2 -3 days off depending on battery. If you leave it at dealer after 3 days tell them to start/ drive it a bit, park it and then watch it again. (The 2-3 day thing)

Not to be a wise guy, but I must ask you is your battery dead or is there power there and it’s not getting to where it’s needed. (Re. the battery safety switch not appearing to work). ***** Note there may be more than one type DBS problem*****
. Reason for question is in my first problem I opened the door ok (power there) and then I hit the start button and a loud click and nothing. I had to get out of car by the door latch on floor. Put on a charger (10 amps for only a minuet) and car started up. It was like the jolt of the charger jarred something and it started. It’s possible that there is some relay/ seloind. Is not allowing power to get to where it’s needed. Maybe something like the R.A.P. is not working right...

Feel free to give a copy of this to your dealer, I hope it helps.

PLEASE get back to me/the forum with anything you learn from this as I keep this info in a hope of finding/fixing this problem

 

Dbs

 

Backup lights shut off immediately.
Door won't open, no power there. Had to open the trunk and open my door from there. Door won't shut since window doesn't index (no power).
After 4 hours the battery charger is still not down to trickle...no wonder there since the battery was DEAD.

The first time it happened was before I'd even driven the car. That was at the Corvette museum and it happened to them. Stupid me, I should have refused delivery. Now I'm three times lucky in just over 2 months.

 

Hey guys, I just thought I would post the results of my 3rd trip to the dealer with this issue this week. I left my car all week long, and I explained to them that this seems to be a 4 day deal for me. Everytime I leave my car parked at the airport (underground) for 4 days or more, I can count on my batter being dead. Various levels of discharge. They let it sit in their shop for 4 days and it fired right up. They ran all the normal checks for battery drain and couldn't come up with anything. I suspected this would be the outcome. I talked for a long time with their top Corvette mechanic, a very knowledgable. But this has him stumped too. There does seem to be something here about all of these modules that communicate with each other, and it appears that the normal Chevy dealer does not have the diagnostics equipment to really check this out. I wish I could have had something more to report, but for me it looks like it's just wait until my next long airport parking event, and see if I can pick up some more clues. I do have the GM Cust Service folks looking into this too. Between all of us, maybe we can figure it out. Doesn't look like GM is being much help right now.

PS: Just fyi...something I learned from the mechanic. Once you put the car into reverse for shutdown, you can take the car back out of gear or put it in another gear without jeopardizing the electricals. The reverse lock is just for the shutdown sequence. Once it has shutdown, it doesn't have to stay in reverse.

 

I've said it before - why cannot GM find the cause of this issue?

Many on this Forum are attempting to isolate it to relay, software, shut down procedure(s), etc. etc. etc.

Why?

The cost of these vehicles ($60k+ in some instances), and the number of DBS issues encountered just by members of this Forum (a small percentage of the overall C6 ownership) would seem to imply that this issue is major.

Dealers are replacing batteries left and right.

Why not take that allocation of expenses and apply it to GM engineering talent to fix the cause of the issue?

Keep in mind that eventually these vehicles will go 'out' of warranty. At that time the owners will be responsible for the replacement cost of the batteries (as well as other charges such as towing, road side assistance, etc.).

Further, come time to sell your Vette, this issue will have an affect on the resale price.

Put yourself in the position of a buyer: would you purchase a vehicle that has a history of having the DBS?

It is time for the owners of the C6 to stand up to GM and demand a resolution. Failure to do this will 'hit' you in the pocket book - eventually.

Or - just sit back and pay the Piper once the warranty expires, or you go to sell the Vette and cannot get anyone to buy considering this issue exists.

Your choice.

 

One thing we must do is take our car's to the dealer when DBS happens. If we don't GM will not be aware of how big the issue is. In addition we need to be on record so when the warranty has expired there will be a paper trail of unsolved problems.

 

So, are you going to pay for the replacement out of your pocket?

As to the paper trail - don't sweat it - a LOT of people are aware of the DBS, as are staying away from purchasing the '05, and in some instances the '06 due to this issue.

If you think hidding your head in the sand it going to make this matter better, I have a bridge in NY I will sell you

 

That sucks dude...hope it's no serious problem

 

I've been a recovering DBS patient myself. New battery and pulling #46 relay has had me back in the saddle with no problems since. I also installed the Priority Start battery protector but have never had to use it. I still believe that resetting the entire system (disconnect the battery pos cable and hold it to the neg for a minute or so) helped out my car. Worth a shot - the cost is free!

 

So AC54ME, what is your suggestion? I agree with VET4LES that we have to follow the procedure and take these back to the dealer if nothing more than documentation that there IS a problem. I have also communicated directly with GM (only initial promise to get involved but no follow up response yet). In my case, I did buy a new battery out of my pocket. $50 is a cheap price to pay if it solved the problem, but it didn't. And neither did the Priority Start. Evidently the electronics in the C6 are smarter than the Priority Start. I am preparing to do a data log (on my own) so I can monitor an extended period of current draw over time. All this hocus pocus about how the "electronics" turn themselves on and off would appear to be the problem. But I don't think many dealerships have this high-tech capabilities to analyze the new electronics in the C6.

Anyway, if you have a solution, I'm listening.