HELP!!! No electrical power on C7
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 193
Likes: 13
From: Mesa AZ
HELP!!! No electrical power on C7
Need help, guys!
I pulled my new 2014 Stingray - less than 750 miles - into the garage on Friday night and everything was perfect. Shut it down and walked away. Went out to get in it this afternoon and the door wouldn't open. Assumed the battery ran down somehow, so I put it on a charger. A couple hours later, it was fully charged and still NO power whatsoever, anywhere. What happened? It was fine when I parked it. I suppose I'm going to have to call Chevy roadside and have it flatbedded to the dealer, unless this mysteriously disappears the same way it mysteriously appeared. Not happy with GM electrics right now.
Any ideas on what could've happened? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Chris
I pulled my new 2014 Stingray - less than 750 miles - into the garage on Friday night and everything was perfect. Shut it down and walked away. Went out to get in it this afternoon and the door wouldn't open. Assumed the battery ran down somehow, so I put it on a charger. A couple hours later, it was fully charged and still NO power whatsoever, anywhere. What happened? It was fine when I parked it. I suppose I'm going to have to call Chevy roadside and have it flatbedded to the dealer, unless this mysteriously disappears the same way it mysteriously appeared. Not happy with GM electrics right now.
Any ideas on what could've happened? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Chris
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,960
Likes: 1,106
A basic cheap DMM (digital multi-meter) is something everyone should own, even one of the el cheapo $6 units from Harbor Freight will cover the basic needs.
Measure the voltage at the battery terminals with the charger disconnected and also at the connectors themselves (put the probe tips on the cable connectors). Your battery may have an open cell. If you have reasonable battery voltage at the connectors then a flatbed to the dealer is likely.
Measure the voltage at the battery terminals with the charger disconnected and also at the connectors themselves (put the probe tips on the cable connectors). Your battery may have an open cell. If you have reasonable battery voltage at the connectors then a flatbed to the dealer is likely.
Racer
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 495
Likes: 50
If you don't have a multi meter. Plug something in the accy port in the back of the car like a phone charger to see if it works. If it doesn't have power it almost has to be the battery or ground connection. If it does have power you can check for power at the fuse box up front. On the back of the fuse box between the box and the firewall is a little black hinged cover that supplies power to the fuse box and will tell you whether power is getting from the back to the front.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 193
Likes: 13
From: Mesa AZ
Thanks for the replies, gentlemen...
I plugged an old phone charger into the 12V socket in the trunk and it lit up. However, there is NO other power, anywhere else in the car. I have no reason to believe that the battery itself is not perfectly fine.
I'm going to mention this and I'm not sure if it means anything to anyone. I used my standard charger that I bought at Autozone to charge the battery up to full yesterday. But at one point during the process, I decided to unhook that and attach the optional Corvette charger (which charges through the 12V socket) that came with the car. When I plugged that in, the lights on the charger came on normally but there was this very loud, rapid clicking sound coming from somewhere under the car. Obviously, charging your battery with the factory charger shouldn't sound like that, so I disconnected it right away. Does this tell you anything specific?
This is not a cool situation in a brand new 80K car. Thanks again!
I plugged an old phone charger into the 12V socket in the trunk and it lit up. However, there is NO other power, anywhere else in the car. I have no reason to believe that the battery itself is not perfectly fine.
I'm going to mention this and I'm not sure if it means anything to anyone. I used my standard charger that I bought at Autozone to charge the battery up to full yesterday. But at one point during the process, I decided to unhook that and attach the optional Corvette charger (which charges through the 12V socket) that came with the car. When I plugged that in, the lights on the charger came on normally but there was this very loud, rapid clicking sound coming from somewhere under the car. Obviously, charging your battery with the factory charger shouldn't sound like that, so I disconnected it right away. Does this tell you anything specific?
This is not a cool situation in a brand new 80K car. Thanks again!
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,940
Likes: 42
From: shavertown Pa.
What you might try is removing the battery cables for about 15 min.
The ground side is easy the power side is a bit involved because it has to do with taking off that whole piece with all the wires on it.
Loosen the main bolt on the post, then on either side of the battery there are 2 clips, if you stick a flat screwdriver in between the battery and the holder for the power center piece pry out slowly and lift.
Then have something like a rag you can stick in the place where the power side, it will want to fall back into place, the rag is to keep it from touching.
This resets everything hope it resets your problem.
The ground side is easy the power side is a bit involved because it has to do with taking off that whole piece with all the wires on it.
Loosen the main bolt on the post, then on either side of the battery there are 2 clips, if you stick a flat screwdriver in between the battery and the holder for the power center piece pry out slowly and lift.
Then have something like a rag you can stick in the place where the power side, it will want to fall back into place, the rag is to keep it from touching.
This resets everything hope it resets your problem.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 193
Likes: 13
From: Mesa AZ
What you might try is removing the battery cables for about 15 min.
The ground side is easy the power side is a bit involved because it has to do with taking off that whole piece with all the wires on it.
Loosen the main bolt on the post, then on either side of the battery there are 2 clips, if you stick a flat screwdriver in between the battery and the holder for the power center piece pry out slowly and lift.
Then have something like a rag you can stick in the place where the power side, it will want to fall back into place, the rag is to keep it from touching.
This resets everything hope it resets your problem.
The ground side is easy the power side is a bit involved because it has to do with taking off that whole piece with all the wires on it.
Loosen the main bolt on the post, then on either side of the battery there are 2 clips, if you stick a flat screwdriver in between the battery and the holder for the power center piece pry out slowly and lift.
Then have something like a rag you can stick in the place where the power side, it will want to fall back into place, the rag is to keep it from touching.
This resets everything hope it resets your problem.
Going to be interesting when I call roadside assistance to have it taken to the dealer...it's sitting in my garage, about 3 inches of clearance between the passenger side of the car and the garage wall, with the parking brake set and no power to release it. Oh boy!
Last edited by killshots; Aug 23, 2015 at 12:33 PM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 193
Likes: 13
From: Mesa AZ
OK, I was foolishly trusting the charger that told me the battery was fully charged, as well as the fact that this is a brand new car that I just bought 3 months ago. However, I just managed to dig up a multimeter and found that the battery is sitting at 3-4 volts, so it appears that I've found the problem. Now I just have to convince the dealer to give me the warranty battery to install myself so they don't have to tow the car for such a simple task. They're usually prohibited from allowing owners to perform warranty-related tasks.
Still very strange, though. The car was perfectly fine when I drove it on Friday and then, all at once, it was so dead that it couldn't even take a charge. And I didn't leave any accessories on, it just DIED. Weird.
Still very strange, though. The car was perfectly fine when I drove it on Friday and then, all at once, it was so dead that it couldn't even take a charge. And I didn't leave any accessories on, it just DIED. Weird.
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Drifting
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,767
Likes: 338
From: San Diego CA
OK, I was foolishly trusting the charger that told me the battery was fully charged, as well as the fact that this is a brand new car that I just bought 3 months ago. However, I just managed to dig up a multimeter and found that the battery is sitting at 3-4 volts, so it appears that I've found the problem. Now I just have to convince the dealer to give me the warranty battery to install myself so they don't have to tow the car for such a simple task. They're usually prohibited from allowing owners to perform warranty-related tasks. Still very strange, though. The car was perfectly fine when I drove it on Friday and then, all at once, it was so dead that it couldn't even take a charge. And I didn't leave any accessories on, it just DIED. Weird.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 193
Likes: 13
From: Mesa AZ
Thanks to all who chimed in with advice on this issue!
Last edited by killshots; Aug 24, 2015 at 03:53 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 4
From: Massapequa NY
My local dealer (Superstition Springs Chevy in Mesa) was actually really cool about it, they just wanted to get me taken care of and weren't worried about the cost. They offered to just give me a new battery at no charge to take with me since that was what I asked for, but they wanted me to bring the car straight back to them so they could check everything out for me. I said that since they wanted the car anyway, I'd be willing to instead just jump it to bring it to them if that's what they wanted, and they said yes. It's there now and they are replacing the battery and making sure all else is perfect for me. Great people in that service department.
Thanks to all who chimed in with advice on this issue!
Thanks to all who chimed in with advice on this issue!
