I've developed an issue over the last week and I need to find a fix. On Thursday I went to start the car and only got a click. Not the dead battery clicking but just a single click and wouldn't attempt to turn over. After pressing start several times it finally engaged and started right up. It did it 3 times that day and hasn't happened before or since. Today I went to leave my house and the voltage on the dic was right at 11 volts. I took it to advanced and had them check the battery starter and alternator. The battery checked out fine and the starter and alternator were a little low on voltage (in the 11s) after doing a few searches all I could come up with was the starter solenoid being loose. I am going to try to get under there tomorrow to see if I can figure the issue out but wanted to get the forum opinion on my issue!
Thanks in advance.

 

I'm thinking I read that 11v is borderline for starting the engine. I've also read of too many "the battery tests fine" reports to trust them. I'm going to slide to the "battery is being a stinker" side and suspicion the battery as starting to go away to battery heaven.

Even though my car is driven very often during the week, I have had times where it sat for a week or so and I had problems starting the darn thing. I've gone to a battery maintainer that I can hook up via the magnetic connection and just hook it up when I park the car. I have total peace of mind that the darn thing will start when I push the button.

Here's my setup: http://www.ls2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=908428

Elmer

 

Two clarification questions....

When you went to leave your house and the voltage was at 11...was that engine running or before starting it?

What do you mean that they checked and the starter voltage was a little low?

 

A battery that reads 11 volts is a DEAD battery! A good battery should read something over 12 volts before you start the car.

Tom

 

Were you able to find anything out today, 1quickTXVette?

Sarah (Assisting Kelly)
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

Thanks for all the suggestions and help guys! I was on my way to my friends house to diagnose the problem and stopped to get us some food. In the drive through line I watched the voltage start creeping down a tenth every few seconds. It got down too low and killed the car. I pushed it out of line and we ended up having to get under it in the parking lot to try to figure it out. I checked the starter solenoid and noticed a loose connection at the ground contact point. The connection was pretty chared and crusty as well. We attempted to put a wrench to it to tighten it up and it instantly broke the contact bolt off of the solenoid. Over time I guess it just lost its good connection to at the starter and created a short and has been draining the electrical system. Being the contact was broken and had a dead battery I had no way of starting the car so I had to call a tow truck to take it to a friend's house with a lift. We put it on the lift and got the starter out pretty easily. I called around to the local parts stores and nowhere stocks a starter for my car. Tomorrow I will call Chevy and hope that they stock a starter, if not maybe a local battery shop can just put on a new solenoid. I am thinking that after I get the starter replaced that it SHOULD fix the issue.

 

I think that WILL fix the issue.

 

I called Chevy this morning to check on the availability of a starter. they have them in stock but they want a whopping $500!!! for a starter! That is outrageously expensive. Autozone and the other parts stores have a replacement for just over $100, but they dont stock them and wouldn't have one until the end of the week. I called a local battery shop to see if they could just put a new solenoid on mine and they said to drop it by at lunch today and they should be able to do that for me.

 

We're just up here in Lubbock, we could have one to you tomorrow on Fedex ground. It's not as cheap as autozone, but it's OE and in stock. . .and it's not $500.

 

Thanks for the reply! I think I should have it all figured out now. I took it to a local battery shop and they replaced the solenoid and tested it with success. I will be putting it back on the car this evening and everything should be good to go. If not I will figure it out and will give you guys a call if any additional parts are needed for the job or in the future.

 

Okay guys here's an update and I also still need some help and opinions if any of you gurus are still online tonight. We got the starter put in and the car started right up. I went to drive it around to see if everything was working correctly and got a few blocks before the problem started happening again. The voltage started creeping down once again and barely made it to back to the garage in time before it would've died on me again. We put jumper cables on it and let it sit for a bit and it seemed to charge back up but would creep back down slowly once again. I am thinking it has to be the alternator is not keeping everything charged and that the starter connection was just a coincidence that it was loose at the same time the alternator is going bad. I have an A&A kit on the car and was hoping one of you guys will know if I can get to the tensioner without taking any of the supercharger apart. I barely made it back home from a friend's shop before the voltage got too low so I may have to call another flat bed to pick it up to take it to the battery/alternator shop and hopefully they will be able to diagnose the issue and get it running right. What do you guys think!?

 

Try and turn or move the battery cable connections to see if one of them is loose.

Pull off the battery cables and check to make SURE there is no corrosion or acid buildup at the battery connections. My negative cable drives me nuts with corrosion. I replaced the battery suspecting a gas leak around the terminal.

Check Alternator output.

Load test the battery.


Those would be my choices for trouble shooting.

Elmer

 

Okay guys here's an update and still no luck. We bought a remanufactured alternator from autozone and got it in started the car up and it is still not charging the battery back up. We checked the voltage at the alternator and it checked out at 5v 12v as it should, so the pcm should be sending the correct signals to tell it to charge the system. What else could it be guys.

 

those symptoms scream dead cell in the battery to me.

 

The alternator should be putting out at least 13.2 volts when the engine is running, not 12.

 

OK,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Here is your charging system schematic:

 

Disconnect the battery. Use an ohm meter and measure the resistance from the POSITIVE battery cable end to the BATT terminal on the back of the alternator (under the rubber boot) You should have ZERO OHMS!

The fusable link could be blown

Check FUSE #2 15 Amp in the under hoof fuse panel and make sure that it isnt blown and it actually has BATTERY power when the battery is reconnected. The fuse powers PIN D which is the FEED BACK for the alternator

Pin B is the generator TURN ON circuit and Pin C is the Field duty cycle control.

 

By 12v and 5v I was referring to the signal coming into the alternator from the Ecm. One wire is 12v another is 5v and the ground is of course 0. I just had the battery load tested again and this time it failed and I received a new battery. When I tested it on Saturday all it said was it required it a charge but this time it registered to replace the battery. The alternator put out 0v whether the car is on or off last night so I feel like the battery isn't the problem. Can a defective battery cause the alternator to put out 0v or would it still be putting out the full 13.2 voltage with a bad battery pointing to the battery not being the issue at hand?

 

If you read the BATT terminal on the back of the alternator to chassis ground with a DC Volt meter,,,,, What does it read (ENGINE OFF) and (ENGINE RUNNING)??

Bill

 

engine off and engine running volt meter shows 0v at back of the alternator to ground. When the battery cable on the alternator is removed with engine running, it shows 4v.