battery going dead

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Sep 22, 2014 | 07:06 PM

terrymccoyc6

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Racer

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From: belleville IL

battery going dead

I came home from the corvette caravan parked my 05 with 139000 miles.Went out later that day and the car was dead. I ended up buying a new battery and the car started,went out 20 min. later and again would not start.there is no power, lights will not come on, doors will not open nothing.Charged the battery again, and it started, little later dead again.Car does have headers. What could be draining the battery so fast.

Sep 22, 2014 | 07:20 PM

RicK T

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From: Ventura County, Calif

Could be many things. You need to do a draw test with the car powered down (approx 20 minutes after shutting off). You have to set up a multimeter to measure current draw from the battery while systematically pulling fuses to see what is drawing the current. The powered down draw should not exceed 28 milliamps (.028 amps) and should ideally be below 20 milliamps.

Sep 22, 2014 | 08:18 PM

terrymccoyc6

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Racer

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From: belleville IL

dead battery

Thanks Rick. I had my son-in-law come over and do the test. There is a huge draw down and it seems to be comming from the starter switch. I'm going to charge it again and the remove that fuss and see if it still drains the battery.

Sep 22, 2014 | 09:24 PM

timd38

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From: Hudson WI

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Do you know if the car has been flashed with the latest updates?

Sep 23, 2014 | 09:35 AM

terrymccoyc6

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Racer

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From: belleville IL

battery

NO it's never had that done.

Sep 23, 2014 | 08:12 PM

timd38

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From: Hudson WI

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Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymccoyc6

NO it's never had that done.

Not sure if the dealer will do it for free or not, but West Bend Dyno outside of Milwaukee can do that for you, not sure of the cost, but my bet is that is less than what the dealer would charge.

Sep 23, 2014 | 09:30 PM

Dano523

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Quote:

Originally Posted by timd38

Not sure if the dealer will do it for free or not, but West Bend Dyno outside of Milwaukee can do that for you, not sure of the cost, but my bet is that is less than what the dealer would charge.

The flash update is TSB#PIC4188E, and my or may not luck out with them reflashing it for free. What the reflash does is allows the car to go into sleep mode correctly (if you have a problem) and its the RCDLR that is re-flashed, not the EBCM.

Also, take a look here to see what safety updates need to be done, and depending on the list that they have to do, may throw the TSB update in for free.

https://recalls.gm.com/#/

Also, the gas cap is warrantied for ten year/120K,
GM# EOI7238,
So if the gas cap is about had it, add it to the list of items that need to be addressed as well if you need to take the car to the dealer.

As for if you are drawing major amps through the starter, then chances are that is a starter problem in itself.

If you want to trace it back to either the starter or the ignition switch wiring to the starter causing the problem, then leave the major positive wire connected to the starter, and pull the starter switch wire and check for amperage draw. If pulling the starter wire drops the amperage pull, then it's a EBCM problem instead (RCDLR reflash is not going to solve that).

Sep 24, 2014 | 08:09 PM

terrymccoyc6

Thread Starter

Racer

Joined: Nov 2006

Posts: 262

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From: belleville IL

dead battery

Found the problem. Under the drivers the wire for the heated seat broke then grounded under the carpet that caused the battery drain.Thanks for all replies.