I know this has been discussed before but i am po'ed. Havent driven my C6 convertible in 2 weeks. Battery completely dead. had to use the key to open trunk and pull the wire then jump the car,third time this has happened. It's an 09 bought 3/09. Havent driven my C5 for 6 weeks,started right up, so i drove it. What is the deal?? Why are these cars having this problem??

 

Same thing happens to mine.

 

2 weeks sounds short. I have an 05 and can let it sit for 3-4 weeks with no problem. AND - it's a manual with the "dreaded" DBS - which I don't experience.

 

During the winter months my 08 coupe sits for weeks at a time.
I will not drive it if there's snow on the roads.
When the weather improves I"ll start it up and go for a ride.
It never fails to start after sitting for long periods of time.
I don't use a battery tender either.

BTW-Did Chevy switch to a lower quality battery starting with the 09 model year to save money?

 

Sounds like a bad battery. I'd either replace it with a good quality one like Optima or have a load test done on it. I have an 05 that has sat for three weeks twice while we were on vacation and starts with no problem. My original battery died at 22 months and I replaced it with an Optima RED top.

 

My 05's original battery was replaced 2yrs. after purchase under warranty and that replacement died this month and was replaced free with a new Delco supposedly the same as what I had, but was 50 less CCAs on same model battery. By the way I handed them the old one and they handed me a new one with NO paperwork other than my receipt. Didn't think dealers did anything easy.

 

I learned several things about a dead battery in my 05 that did make a difference.
1. Don't leave anything powered on, not even a radar detector.
2. Don't know if it is the same now or not, but I always put mine in reverse when parked.
3. Make sure your hood light switch is really turning the light off when the hood is closed, had this problem with mine.
4. once I started making sure nothing was left on, I would still start the car about every two weeks in the winter. I would always let it get up to temperature before I shut it down to get the oil hot and provide some time for the battery to charge. Never had any more problems once I figured all these little things out.

 

Since it's an '09. Take it back to the dealer and get a new battery.

 

 

Was the battery near 100% capacity when you parked it 2 weeks ago? It could be that the battery was dischared somewhat when you parked it.

The guys that drive the car almost everyday seem to have better success then those cars that are parked for 1 to 4 weeks at a time. Unless a battery tender is used.

Yes, you could have a bad battery. The dealer can test the battery using the MidTronics battery tester.

 

I would ensure the battery is good, and get a new battery if it is not. Put the car on a battery tender when you are not going to drive it, especially for weeks. Tenders are cheap and easy, it will eliminate your problem. Even the Owners Manual cautions about this.

 

For the 2011 MY, a battery tender may become an RPO (Regular Production Option). It makes sense.

 

I have a 2007 6-speed. I'm on my third Optima Yellow Top, and since the car hasn't been driven in approximately three days, I guarantee you I'm making a key-related entry through the trunk. It's going to the dealer next week, and I don't want to see the car ever again until it's fixed. Period.

 

Same thing happened to me when I laid up my 2009 for the winter last year. I was told by the dealer that the computers in the car drain the batteries when it's not used and a trickle charger should solve the problem.

 

First, if you have a manual transmission, leaving the car in reverse has no effect on the battery drain at all. The 2005 was the only model year for the C6 that required a shift to reverse for shut down.

The OEM Delco battery has relatively low cranking power and a poor reserve capacity, especially when compared to any of the OPtima batteries. My 2009 started going dead after a year...two incidents in a month with very little idle time and lots of driving. The battery tested good both times, yet after the battery was replaced the problem went away. A bad battery will not always test bad, so testing is not a definitive answer...even GM admits that. GM will also admit that almost all their battery issues are coming from the Corvette and the Cadillac due to the high background current draws needed to keep all the electronics alive.

With any battery problem, the first thing to do is to get the dealer to replace the battery. GM will make them go through a long list of things that can draw down the battery but, in most cases, none of this will apply. After all that, GM will eventually give the dealer permission to replace the battery.

If you keep experiencing a dead battery even after a new one has been installed, the problem may be with the car itself. That does happen, but it's much less common than a simple bad battery.

 

Take it immediately to the dealer and have them replace the battery under warranty and make sure they perform any associated TSB's.
I think the Schumacher 1562A Maintainer from WalMart for $20.00 is a great little investment. There are others you can get that might work just as well if not better.

 

I learned the importance of a battery tender when I had a C5. A friend of mine told me I needed one since my car only got driven on the weekends. I assured him I didn't because my car always started even if it sat for two weeks. Well, right when my Optima Red Top battery was about to turn two years old, my wife took the car somewhere and had to call me to come jump it off. The next week it failed again and I replaced it and bought a Battery Tender and no problems since.
If you do not use a trickle charger of some type and you let your car sit for weeks at a time you will definitely kill you battery within two years because our cars constantly draw on the battery. What this does is lowers the battery's ability to crank your car. A battery kept in a fully charged mode (driven daily) will last for many years while a battery that is constantly being dropped below its fully charged status will normally be worthless in two years because batteries are typically designed to withstand 100 discharge cycles (this means partial drawdown not total discharge) before failing permanently.
Think about it. If you drive your car every weekend, that would be 52 times per year that your battery's charge level has dropped to a point where it will still crank your car but you have used another of the battery's 100 life cycles. By the end of the second year you will be buying a new battery because the full 100 life cycles of your battery will have been used up.
On a side note, my wife's 6 year old Buick Lesabre with 75k miles which is driven daily still has the original Delco battery.

Sanford in Saraland, Al.

 

Mike love your avitar

 

Used a float charger on my C5 with yelow top Optima for over 8 years...was going strong when I sold in in Oct.
Ordered 2 new CTEK3300 units for the 2008 C6 and the 2005 MB since I alternate driving the two cars every few days or so. Also going away for 3 weeks in Jan. and I dont want to come home to any dead cars.
Float chargers are worth their weight in gold.

 

A good battery at 100% capacity can normally go about 4 weeks without the vehicle being driven, assuming there are no other issues such as a high parasitic current drain, and still have enough charge to start the vehicle.

If the state of charge of the battery, when the vehicle is parked, is less than 100% (and for a lot of you weekend drivers this may apply), then the time interval for the vehicle still starting is exponentially less.