On the C6Z board we had a report of a Dead Battery Syndrome. Root cause looks to have been the owner storing the key fob within 20' (or so) of the car when parked for the night.

Has this possible cause been discussed or examined as part of the ongoing DBS trouble shooting?

Here is the C6Z DBS thread.

Ranger

 

Yes I have seen members reporting this as a possible cause, but again not always something that can be replicated...so maybe it has an effect...maybe not.

It seems that the elusive DBS might have several possibilities for what actually brings it on.

 

We called Corvertte Customer Service yesterday to record our complaint and they stated "this is the 1st they've heard complaints, stating Corvettes have a solid performance record and has never heard of any dead battery issues related to this vehicle". Below is an explanation on what is occuring with our new Vette:

We just bought a 2006 Corvette Convertible MXO 6 Speed Paddle Shift Auto Trans, 3LT package, Power Top, DVD Navigation, & On-star last weekend.
In 7 days, we have encountered the Dead Battery issue 3 times.
1st time was during delivery - Dealer stated the batteries are not fully charge at time of receipt.
2nd time At Service Ctr for Protectant Coating - Dealer said it was due to the procedure, not to worry.
3rd time in our garage - worked on Friday, Saturday, didn't drive on Sunday, dead on Monday...
It's been at the Dealer Service Center since Monday. Yesterday they called and stated diagnostics showed something is draining the battery but they haven't pin-pointed what is causing the drain. Today, they called and said while on diagnostics they thought they found the problem, however it stopped and the battery seem fine. They're keeping it for 2 more days to run further tests and hope to find the resolution by Friday. They haven't change electonical components or the battery. The mileage on our Vette is strictly to and from the dealer for these service calls, currently at 147. The FOB was stored over 20 ft away.....and keep in mind this also happenned at the dealer when the FOB was over 30 feet away....

Any advice or suggestions here, as we're no longer excited, too much money spent on our dream car that doesn't start.

 

I have gone into the DIC and reset all the auto features for the fob to manual.My car won't wake up even if the fob is nearby,and the doors will not unlock until I push unlock on the fob or touch the door release button with the fob on my person.I also manually lock the doors as well.There were some posts a while back about the OnStar/Nav system waking up the BCM as the satelite updated,but since I don't have those features possibly someone else will address that.It appears from most posts on '06/A6 cars that bad batteries have been the overwhelming cause.Many of us have installed PriortyStart on our cars just so we will never be stranded until GM figures it all out,and "plug in" to a battery tender when we arrive home.Very cheap insurance for about $100.

 

As far as 06 cars, there have been few come in for DBS. It was much more of a problem with the 05, because of the shift to Rev. issue. Also the required factory tester that we are using, Midtronics, is NOT dependable. So I think that many cars that have had a battery problem don't get the proper Diag. at least the first time in. The old Sun Vat 40 type tester is really the way to go to see how the battery responds to a load. The factory just doesn't think that the battery can be bad. We have to jump through hoops to replace a battery on a stock, non sold and delievered car. Also its Very important to let the dealership know if there is ANY aftermarket electronic parts added on. Lo-Jack, has been an issue as well as other tracking or theft equipment.

 

They tell everybody the same BS. I'm amazed they still don't have anything in their system that even acknowledges all the complaints that have been called in about this.

 

This has been discussed at length in the past, but it is an unlikely cause of DBS. There are plenty of anecdotal reports to the opposite including my own experience with DBS. Both before and after moving the fob.
You would expect this sort of thing to cause problems with automatics with the same relative frequency as manuals, and that has not been the case.
Apparently GM is in the process of investigating various other RF sources that might awaken the car's electrical system after shutdown, causing DBS.

 

afaik this is about as much progress that has been made on this issue.

this is the first I have heard of the issue on an '06 Z06. the majority of the information I have seen shows a majority of the DBS issues have been with '05 mn6s. focusing on the 'shift to reverse' requirement.

afaik the number of non mn6 '05 dbs issues seem to fall into the, unfortunately, acceptable range of 'bad' or 'low charge' batteries.

the shift to reverse requirement seems to be the one constant, even though we all claim to have shut her down correctly.

some information points to two sensors in the tranny. one for the reverse lamps and one for the column lock/safe to proceed to shut-down procedure. the order of the sensors are 1 (reverse lamps) 2 (column lock). it may be possible that if the second sensor is engaged but not fully seated and the vehicle iexperiences a shock (from shutting the door, etc) that the contact for the second sensor becomes unseated and the car does not completely shut down. but, until they actually find the cause and develop a resolution we are just guessing.

most '05 mn6 dbs victims have resorted to purchasing a new aftermarket battery (optima, etc.) and or using a 'priotity start module'.

i also believe we have each developed our own shut-down process by which we will each swear to. I for one have resorted to shifting to reverse, backing up just a tad, then pressing the off switch. I never lock the wheel, so far, that hasn't caused any ill effects. Even though I have a new battery and my own shut down process I still have that small little fear that she won't start if she's been sitting for a week or more.

btw: check this thread, C5-Bruce has some good information related to this issue.

 

I have postulated just that:

My theory post #6:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...29&forum_id=74

By my reasoning, your shutdown method is successful because you simply take more time in your shutdown procedure and exit.

 

sorry about that, i didn't mean to leave you out.

that may be so but i sure would love to hear that they find how to reproduce it and a resolution. even if all they do is give us '05 mn6 owners a 'priority start coupon'. at what point are they willing to cut their costs and give us '05 mn6 owners some sort of piece-of-mind while they continue to research the issue.

it's not like it's a creature comfort feature that is periodically failing, it's the whole car. no battery, no start, no start, no car, pretty simple.

i know, i know, i'm preaching to the choir, just nod your head and smile, that's it, i'm ok now.......

 

I love that 'prioritystart coupon'!
It's a great idea, and would at least tend to satisfy us, to some extent, on this forum, but out in the real world they wouldn't have a clue.
I can't think of any reason except maybe cost, as to why all cars shouldn't have something like prioritystart built-in.

 

We made a battery that had a switch on the top of it so if your primary battery went dead, you could switch to the "back-up" battery that was built inside it. The problem was that people would forget to switch it back and the "back-up" battery wasn't designed to run your car off of. We also made a battery for Sears that turned it self off when the voltage dropped. It also had a remote like your garage door opener (in fact it was the same remote and could be used to open your garage door), but people would not carry the remote with them and then the battery would turn it self off and the car would not start. The state of charge in most car batteries is only at about 60%, so it would trip the "turn off" function if the car was not used much and you would loose your radio stations and such every time you drove it.

The technology is there to build what you want into the battery and there is unused capacity in the computer system in the car to do what you want, but the battery guy says it's the electrical system guys problem and the electrical system guy says its's the battery guys problem and in the end it becomes the consumers problem.