djmz51

Every time I start my car from day one it says low battery.

What is the cause and fix to this. They just replaced my alternator and I am still having the same problem.

Thank you for any input.

falconhulk

Why did you buy a car that had an issue from the time you drove it at the dealer?

BELVIN20

I would be guessing that the alternator was not the problem. If the battery has not been replaced, that is what I would do next, good chance battery was bat from the start.

djmz51

because the dealer said "oh its fine...it will go away with driving. Its just because it sat on the lot"

no the battery was not replaced. they replaced the alternator but not the battery.

tony abbski

I had the same message and issue shortly after taking delivery of my '16 3LT.
I charged it up for several days, on different occasions, but the message kept returning. Finally took it to the dealer who said the battery tested fine, but there was "a wire that was supposed to be connected to the positive terminal-but wasn't ". Never did speak to the tech about what that meant - however, after a few days the message hasn't come back.
May be a place to have them start looking on yours?

EcoBrick Bob

A friend in Iowa also had this problem with his new 16' Z51. It turned out that the wire that senses the battery voltage was never hooked up properly at the factory. It is located at the back of the car near the battery.

TEXHAWK0

Are you getting voltage readings on the driver information center?
IF not, that would be a clue.

pbvending

Just bought a '14 Vert, has same issue. Dealer replaced the battery, gauge reads just over 14 Volts after start and will settle back to 13 after a few minutes drive time. but still reads low battery after startup? Guess I will go search for this mystery wire??

rfoletta

I had the same problem when I picked up my used 2015 Z51 from the dealer and they also said it was because it had been sitting on the lot for awhile. They don't know what they are talking about.
I took it to the Chevy dealership to apply a recall fix and also investigate this "Service low battery" message and they also could not figure it out. They said it had to do with the batteries in the key fobs which was bs.
This is the only thread that I have found that actually hinted at the real problem by Tony Abbski above.
In my case there was a wire that was supposed to be connected to the Negative battery terminal and it was broken off.
I simply replaced the connecter on the end of the wire and re-connected it to the terminal and fixed the problem.
So I would suggest you look at all the wires around the battery and make sure there are none that are broken or disconnected.
Thanks for helping me fix this problem.

Monroe BOCES

2014 C7 "Low Battery" Just replaced OEM battery and got the dreaded "low battery" message. Found a small voltage sensing wire had broken off the positive power lead when I changed the battery! Simple crimp and everything was OK. Thanks for the help!!

Americanfastlane

Thanks y’all for the information. I found the signal wire at the ground had broke cause the low battery.

bobeast

I know this is an old thread but +1 on that little black ground wire having been broken off during the last battery change. I'm going to extend the wire a bit to provide some strain relief. Had I not stumbled across this thread, who knows how many parts the mechanic would have replaced and charged me for!

Pmazurko

My 2017 did the same thing.....Service battery light would come on. After charging battery and driving for awhile it needed charging again! After reading here I found the black wire to the Negative was broke off. Stripped it and put a new end on and connected to post under the nut. PROBLEM FIXED!!!

Pmazurko

THANK YOU. Mine was broke off. Stripped wire and put a new end on. FIXED!!!

Catfish4818

The fact that a number of posters have found the same source for their problem tells me that techs (or anyone) who performed a battery change at some point in their car's past were a little heavy-handed in their process, and a little lax in their attentiveness. Wires will not break or disconnect all on their own.

gpotski

I just pulled my car out of storage and got the "low battery" message.
I had replaced the battery 2/9/22 and have had it on the battery tender since.
Battery tender lights indicated "all systems go."
Searched this forum, found this thread, and sure enough, the wire connected to the negative terminal had broken off (presumably when I did my battery change in February).
Reattached it and problem solved.

Thanks Corvette Forum!! Again!