Just discovered your forum, hoping someone with more experience/car knowledge can help me out. My 2016 Corvette is my daily driver (when there's no snow) and has about 56k miles on it. The other day I drove to the gas station about 5 minutes from my house and when I restarted the car, I noticed an ever-so-slight lag when I started it, interior light dimmed more than usual. I thought it was odd, but proceeded to drive about 25 minutes down the highway to my destination. When I arrived, I turned it off, then back on and it seemed to start as normal. So I turned it off and went about my business. 3 hours later when I came out, I was able to unlock the door and get in, but did not have enough battery power to start the vehicle. I got a jump start and was able to drive home, and when home, I turned off, and back on right away and it restarted. Let it sit overnight and the next morning the battery was dead again, couldn't even open the door.

Searching the forums here, I see a lot of people commenting that the batteries tend to die quick and the fact that I got nearly 5 years with mine is good, but I'm wondering, is this actually a battery issue? It seems the battery does charge when driving, and then will work after turning off if I restart it right away. But if it sits for a while, it won't start so I'm wondering if I have an electrical issue that's draining the battery. Maybe the battery just no longer has much capacity for a charge and that's why it is draining when off? I let it sit for a week as I was extremely busy with work and during this time, the battery never went COMPLETELY dead as the alarm light on the dash continued to flash. When I popped the trunk with the manual key, the alarm tried to go off but there wasn't enough juice to honk the horn and it just clicked at me a bit.

So, I'm not much of a "car guy", does someone with experience think it is worthwhile to replace the battery myself and give that a shot? It seems that I'm due for a new one anyways and I don't mind buying one, just trying to figure out what to do. Also, if I do replace the battery, would it be alright to just get the correct one from an Auto Zone/O'Reily Auto Parts or should I get a battery from the dealer?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

-Brad

 

Your battery is definitely on the way out. Replace it sooner than later. I see no reason to go to the dealer for a battery unless they will price match Autozone or OReilys. You could do it yourself if you want. The Grand Sport/ Z06 have the battery in the rear trunk. They can be a pain in the butt to get out of the hole they are place in. Do a search on here and you will find step by step instructions on the GS/Z06 replacement. Good luck!

 

If it's the original battery, it's most likely time for a new one. Even though it's your daily driver, you should still use a trickle charger for the times she has to sit for a week........ The C7 has lota of parisitic drain on the system with all of its electronics.

Replacing the battery yourself is not a difficult job, just a little time consuming. Regardless of who replaces the battery, be sure to reconnect the vent tube, or you could get battery gasses accumulating in your trunk (If a convertible), or rear hatch area - NOT A GOOD THING......

 

Forgot to mention there are some good how to stickys on battery replacement in the forum

 

http://netwelding.com/Battery_Issues.pdf
Props to JerryU



Elmer

 

Awesome. Thanks guys. I'll give it a shot later today. And Elmer, thanks for the PDF link!

-Brad

 

Several people have posted about doing their own battery change and said "Never Again".
Others said it was inconvenient but not a big deal.

 

New battery installed, everything went pretty smooth. I've replaced batteries before and with the exception of the mounted fuse panel on top, and the vent connection, everything was pretty straight forward. After replacing it started right up and I went out for a 30 minute drive. I'll find out if it starts tomorrow if this was indeed the entire problem.

Thanks again!

-Brad

 

And, make sure when you get a new battery that the cable connectors are cleaned, as well.

 

I would bet that the battery was the problem and tine will tell if that was the case. Five years on a battery is a pretty good run anymore.

 

You should of run a parasitic current draw on the battery before you connected the last cable (-).

This test would have left no doubt if the issue is the battery or the cars electrical systems.

 

^^^
I'm not sure it's that simple.
We had a C5 that kept killing the battery, dealer discovered that something electrical in the car would suddenly "wake up" many minutes or hours after everything shut down, and start draining the battery from that point.

 

New battery did the trick. It has started right up for 2 days after sitting overnight (old battery I couldn't even unlock the door after it sat overnight). Thanks again everyone for the suggestions. I never ran the Parasitic Current Draw test, but google tells me that's something I'm capable of, so I'll remember that for next time.

-Brad

 

5 years is my personal battery replacement period. No matter what. It is just not worth it to me to take a chance on being stranded. Replaced the battery in my wife's 2015 MustangGT in Oct 2020. I know car batteries are not Li Ion but for whatever reason they tend to die like one. Good now and dead an hour later. The OP got a hint of it going but modern cars have a much reduced 'warning' effect. They start so quickly, and so many have a button that you push and release vs a key you have to turn and hold til it fires, we don't get as much of a warning it is getting weak as we used to. I am glad that the OP's battery solved his problem.