Just got through putting a new Delco (OEM) deep-cycle battery in my '05 Vertt after having it towed in on a slide-off after sitting out in the cold at my work place overnight. The battery needed replacing anyways but what has me so upset is the fact that I had to put in an insurance claim for the towing and go through all that mess, too. I have owned all makes and models of cars and trucks alike and never, let me repeat never have had a problem like this. I would expect it from a cheap car but not a $70K automobile. My wifes Dodge Caravan as well as my Dodge 4x4 sit outside in the fridgid temps and always, let me repeat, always start. My Vertt is a garage "Queen" and once again after just a week of sitting, with a brand new battery, will not start. Chevrolet should be ashamed to make such a fine automobile with such a "fixable" problem. I will now take my tender, that I usually only use for my $1K lawnmower once in the Spring to start and keep it on the "Queen" until Chevy comes up with a fix. As far as the rest of you guys that think it's "normal" to tender your Vettes........get a life !!!!!!!!!!!!!! or better yet a Dodge Caravan !!! Love my Vertte but am getting really frustrated as you can tell.
ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS WHY MY '05 VERTTE AFTER BEING TENDED ALL NIGHT AND SHOWING FULLY CHARGED STILL WILL NOT START? REMEMBER, I JUST INSTALLED A BRAND NEW DELCO DEEP CYCLE THE BEGINNING OF LAST DECEMBER AT THE GM DEALERSHIP (I THOUGHT I'D BEEN ROBBED!!!). WHAT ELSE COULD BE THE PROBLEM. YES IT'S COLD IN NORTH CAROLINA BUT AS I SAY, I LIVED IN VERMONT FOR 36 YEARS AND NEVER HAD ANY BATTERY PROBLEMS WITH ANY CARS. THE CAR IS GARAGED AND ALTHOUGH NOT HEATED TO ANY DEGREE NEVER GETS BELOW 40-50 DEGREES AS IT IS ATTACHED TO MY HOUSE. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON??? MY WIFE WOULD BE PUTTING THIS CAR OUT OF IT'S MISERY IF SHE ONLY KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING ONCE AGAIN. HELP ME BEFORE SHE TEARS ME A NEW ONE FOR BUYING THIS AUTOMOBILE. OWNED A '59 IN HIGH SCHOOL AND NEVER HAD THESE PROBLEMS EVEN IN SUB-ZERO TEMPS OF VERMONT. ALWAYS WANTED ANOTHER SOME DAY AND NOW THAT THE DAY HAS ARRIVED....I'M NOT SO SURE ANYMORE. DON'T LET ME GET TOO DISCOURAGED AS I LOVE THIS CAR BUT I NEED SOME ANSWERS AND I NEED THEM QUICK!!!!!!!!!! THANKS.................FRUSTRATED AS HELL IN NC...GARY.....................FIRE ME OFF AN E-MAIL AT.... vt1951@yadtel.net ..... AS THIS FORUM PAGE IS GETTING A LITTLE CLUTTERED IF YOU WISH AND THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL THE HELP.

 

 

I use those cheapo Harbor Freight(usually on sale for around $7) on my 09 Z06, my 56, my 64 and my mower, and the C5 when I owned it. Never had a dead battry in the past 13 years since I've been using the float charger. And they are easy to install. After reading the expert's posts on this forum, it only took me a year to master. The second one; I got it done in 9 months of retraining.

 

I seem to read about these battery issues here all the time and just don't get it. I've owned 9 corvettes over the past 40 years and never had a battery issue with any of them, including the C5 before my currently owned '08 coupe. We've had cold weather here for the last three weeks, into the teens at night. My '08 sits in an unheated attached garage; hasn't been moved in three weeks. After reading this post I went out to the garage and it started right up. I've never had a battery tender or charger on it (or any of the other corvettes I've owned) and I still have the OEM Delco installed and the car was built in August of '07. I did however, have to replace the battery in my '05 Ford F-150 a few weeks ago, at the start of this current cold snap.

 

You see the same messages on the BMW, Porsche, Viper, Ferrari & Maserati forums also -- this is a garage queen disease....

+1 for a Priority Start, installed one myself -- very easy to do.

One tip, if you plan leave your Vette sit for a few weeks, at least leave the hood popped to make it easy to get to the battery.

 

Didn't the earlier year C-6 manuals also have to be parked with the shifter in reverse because of a power drain if it wasn't.

 

Only the 2005 MN6 must be shut down in reverse. DBS (dead battery syndrome) is a well known problem with a few 05's and GM has a flash to take care of it. No 2005's have reported a problem after the flash.

 

Yeah but the 05 guys are so used to doing this it's no different than pushing the door button to open the door. It's automatic.

 

 

Ditto.

On my 5th Corvette and have never owned a battery tender. Have never needed one, either.

With the notable exception that my current '09 went dead for no apparent reason shortly after buying, have NEVER had a failure to start...period.

FTR, I am on a short roadie with the '09. It had been in the garage since before Christmas. Garage is attached to the house but wholly unheated. Temperature has been quite cold last few weeks. Today was 12 F. when I started it. No problems, whatsoever.

Not calling BS but something is amiss.

Peace, out.

 

I keep a battery tender on it. It also starts

 

I wonder if this is possibly triggered by one fully discharged battery cycle and things go downhill from there?

There's been posts showing poor/bad connections in the harness, especially between the battery, fuse box and starter - can be contributors.

 

My '05 (bought used) was perfect for 9 months and then, out of the blue, stone cold dead. Charged it up and all was fine for about 3 months then one morning, stone cold dead again. Yes, an '05 manual and yes, always parked in reverse. Took out the battery and put in a brand new Optima. Went to the dealer and got the update/flash. 3 weeks later the new battery is stone cold dead. Dealer says there are actually 2 different flash updates, 1st was a pcm/ecm update, 2nd one was for the rcdlr update.
Went back, got it flashed again and all was well, for 2 months. Dead again. Read here that many had problems with the Optima batteries so decided to spend more and get a new, standard wet cell battery. 2 days later, dead again.

It was totally random. Car could sit for weeks and start, then die next day. Sometimes it was put away at night and dead in morning. Gave up and bought a Ctek and a priority start as a safety net for when I am away from a power outlet. Since then it's been over a year and the priority start has kicked in twice.

Both the "dead" batteries I pulled are still in service in other vehicles, starting reliably in below freezing weather. Only the Vette has the DBS issue.

So in my case the flash helped, but did not totally cure the problem. I have 2 friends who still have random DBS issues on thier C6's. One is an '06 and the other is an '08 so it does not seem to any of us 3 that the DBS issue was related only to '05's.

If you have an outlet, get a tender. If not, get a Priority Start. And GM, could you please fix this on your $50,000+ "Flagship/Halo car"?? It's only been in production for 7 model years now. Maybe a deal with PriorityStart and Ctek to have them installed at the factory?? Hey, whatever it takes.. Love the car, hate the drama when it's time to leave for work in the morning.

" Yep, late again boss. Yep, $50,000 Chevrolet wouldn't start again. Yep, I see your 10 year old Honda made here just fine, again"

B

 

Bingo! I too have seen it on many other forums, many different cars. With all the computers, sensors, etc, being kept alive nowadays, many cars draw some power. However, many on here refuse to believe that and insist its only Corvettes. Oh well.........

 

Are you capable of connecting DC Amp meter in series with your negative battery terminal?

Your battery should "not" be dead in that short period of time.

 

Thanks Chuck.
The car is an 09 coupe.
I have a tender/trickle charger and have used it before, but that's not really the point.....
In my opinion, 3 weeks is ridiculous for a battery in a car to go dead. The system is FLAWED, period. The electrical design is flawed. The soft wear is flawed. The inferiority of both shows in thousands of posts over this forum each year.
No car battery should go dead in 3 weeks because of "parasitic drains" from various systems.

Now I will have to take off the cover, open the hood and do this stupid dance every week until the spring. Just another chore to do each week because I did not get what I paid for.

Like so many other products and services we buy, we are expected to just shut up and deal with it. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
OK, I think I'm finished ranting for now.

 

Unfortunately,your opinion (or mine,or anybody else's) really doesn't matter because the fact is these batteries go dead when they sit to long.So,you hook it up to a tender,by some 180 dollar battery that you hope will do better or get a different car.

 

 

I hate to say it, why should a battery be completely dead in 3 weeks, its just unacceptable, but theres really nothing we can do about it , unless you put in a tender, it SUCKS royally!!!!!!

 

Get, and use, a Battery Tender!!!!