I have read a number of posts regarding C6 battery failures within a very short period of time. I posed the issue to my contact and apparently it's being investigated.

My contact has offered to respond to owners directly regarding this problem, and if/when that happens you must agree to keep his/her/their name/address private!

But first I need you to provide me with: (1) your name/email address, (2) specific description of the problem, (3) the VIN number of your C6 car.

See my contact's input below:

Dead batteries are under investigation. It could be the OnStar module
waking up or some other power source such as a radar detector that is left
plugged into the outlet. If you have the ability to forward some VIN
number and names I would be glad to send those customers a note and see if
we can figure out what is occurring.

Please reply to me personally:
Bruce Miller
c5bruce@adelphia.net

 

OnStar...interesting theory. I don't have it in my car and I've never had the slightest difficulty with the battery. I wonder if there is a problem there.

 

i have ONSTAR and a RADAR DETECTOR (wired into the mirror)....my car sat for 3 days and the battery was dead...i know it was in reverse as there was no 3 beep warning

i will send you my information this evening

Doug

 

OnStar in my auto tranny C6 - no battery problem during 3300 miles. Also had OnStar in my 6-spd - 1900 miles - no battery problem.

No radar detector in either vehicle.

EDIT: Also, no Nav in either vehicle.

 

I have since sold my first C6, but I had the problem once with only 500 miles.

No OnStar and no Radar Detector.

 

I don't have Onstar or a radar detector and have been hit with the DBS. However, I think your source is on the right track, something is waking up. I'm starting to suspect the Nav system and would like to know how many that have had their battery die DON'T have Nav.

Here's and interesting exercise for a Nav equipped car to hear the "wake-up" happen. This works best in a quiet garage. Roll down the passenger window and exit the car. Lock it or let it auto-lock. Let the car sit for at least 10 minutes. Then, reach inside the car and gently open the glove box. As soon as the glove box light comes on, you can hear the faint sound of the Nav's DVD spin up and clicking of the DVD being read by the Nav unit. The light going "on" told the car (BCM ?) to wake up, and the Nav responds.

There's something else about the Nav. I have an Eclipse nav unit in my toyota. When you first power it up it takes a few seconds (sometimes a minute) for the GPS receiver to get a "lock" on the satellites. Until the satellite lock occurs, there is a no-gps indicator. On the vette, the GPS indicator comes up immediately. This is not IMO normal behavior for most GPS'. I also own 3 Garmin handhelds and they all take a few seconds to get a lock-on after an overnight power-down. I am beginning to think that the Nav in the vette will periodically (and automatically) update it's GPS location, causing the other systems to wake-up while it's doing it. If this IS happening, what happens if the GPS can't get a satellite lock, does it keep trying until it does (or the battery dies)?

One last note, a service tech on another Corvette board said that each of the cars that were brought to him for dead batteries (3 cars if I recall) were due to the Lojack unit being wired to a circuit that was monitored by the BCM, not letting the car to sleep. Seems to me that if a glove box light could get the Nav unit to respond, there's equal potential for the Lojack (or Onstar, or radar detector, or cell phone...) to wake up the BCM.

 

Terry,

You have mail!

 

No NAV, no OnStar, 3 episodes of DBS!

 

I don't have Onstar either and have been hit with a confirmed case of DBS: confirmed in that it was definitely the car's fault and not the fault of operator. Wasn't the battery either.

Mike

 

I have 1SB package. I didn't want all of those options & gimmicks figuring that I would have less problems in the long run.

 

OnStar does wake up periodically. The analog units we have wake for 1 minute out of each 10 minutes. That's when OnStar can contact the unit to unlock your car. The rest of the time it is sleeping, ie in power conservation mode.

The newer digital OnStar remains on continuously for the first 48 hours after the car is shut down, then goes into the 1 minute on 9 minute off cycle until the battery dies or you start the car. This allows OnStar to unlock your car immediately after a lock out call, instead of having to wait up to 9 minutes to gain access as it does with the analog model. OnStar can get away with this for the digital model because it draws less power than the analog model.

GM's vehicle electrical engineers must have considered this when specifying OnStar for the car. It's the same with any other GM car. So it is unlikely that the normal behavior of OnStar is causing the dead battery problems.

 

So far so good ........no battery issues

No OnStar , do have radar detector but runs on "AA" batteries!

 

I have 1 SB, no nav, no onstar and had battery problem 3 times. Dealer replaced battery, still had problem and dealer could not find problem. Could it be garage door opener frequency, or something else in the house that turns on power in car? Dealer even suggested that idea. I have not pulled 46 relay yet.

 

I have nav and onstar. Only battery problem was not being in reverse! The car has sat in the garage for up to three weeks without being touched and fired right up. No dead battery problems after I learned to make sure to put the car in reverse and that the 3 horn beeps really do mean something!
Jim

 

I don't have Nav or On Star and I have had the DB syndrome even after battery replacement. Interesting thought on the garage door opener. I wondered about that myself. I do leave a garage door opener in my car. Could that wake up any of the computers in the car? That still doesn't answer why it is primarily a 6 spd problem.

 

It is more prominent in the six speed, but automatics do have the problem also it seems. Does anyone know if GM is studying this problem specifically and what areas they are looking into if so? Is there a contact person at GM who if familiar with this problem? It is frustrating that there appears to be no solution for this problem, only conjecture. I have to worry each time I go to start my car if it will start or not.
Has any electical engineers out here considered whether this could be an electrical problem caused by a garage door opener with a rollling frequency? HOwever, this does not address the 6 sp issue though.

 

I think he meant when you program your car to open the garage door, not the remote from the garage door that you keep in your car.

Somehow the garage is triggering your car to use the car battery thru the programmed visor?

 

Just discovered my first case of DBS No OnStar or NAV and it was definitely in reverse. It's only been 3 days since I last drove it.

 

Hit with the dbs last Friday after a 4 day sit in the garage. I do have Onstar and Nav. Car was in reverse (6 spd) and column was locked.
Dealer replaced battery and tested for drain. No drain was reflected at time of testing.
Did remove relay #46 per other posts to determine if the situation will occur again.

 

We went wind up my C6 after an idle week in the garage and DBS had struck!! It was defnitely in reverse. I will jump it and drive it to the dealer for a quick check. I doubt there is any damage or problem with the battery but, are dealers changing them just in case??