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Low battery warning message

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Old Apr 27, 2026 | 08:53 PM
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Default Low battery warning message

I just picked up a low mile 2016 Z06 2LZ M7 of my dreams and it was displaying this Low battery message. I was thinking, oh no, an alternator now? Battery? So I checked the corvette forum and saw many threads. People had changed batteries and alternators and still had the message. Then someone said check the little black wire. Well that was my problem. As soon as I opened the battery compartment I saw the broken wire (see pic). Lucked out and had a spare ring fitting and crimped it on. Bolted it back on and took it for a rip. Message is gone. Sweet. Here's the funny thing. I got all the service records for this because the 1 owner bought it new and did all his service at the dealer I bought it from (traded it in on a new C8 vert). I looked at the records and saw the owner reported the Low voltage message to the service writer (September 2025). But it didn't show any corrective action. So they didn't even [know how to] fix it. I'm assuming he put a new battery in it because it's a die hard Gold but that's not in the service records. Starts really healthy. So anyway this forum rocks. I saved a lot of time and money today.






Last edited by Zjoe6; Apr 27, 2026 at 08:59 PM.
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Old Apr 28, 2026 | 09:06 AM
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YEP, the "Little Black Wire"! That's why I would never take my car to the dealer. I replaced my battery, it isn't rocket science. You can see the little black wire connected to the negative cable as soon as you remove the cover.
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Old Apr 28, 2026 | 12:30 PM
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I was pretty happy to see that message gone. This sat at the dealer for a couple weeks after trade-in. It went through their internal used car inspection process. While I'm happy they did an oil change, they completely failed at addressing this. I'm thinking whoever did the last battery swap broke it. Maybe the owner did it himself or he let Batteries plus do it.
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Old Apr 28, 2026 | 09:45 PM
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I'm guessing they're lazy, instead of unbolting the grnd cable from the clamp, along with the little black wire, the tech just unbolts the clamp from the battery post and pushes everything out of the way because of the lack of space, often damaging the little wire. Just my opinion.
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Old Apr 29, 2026 | 08:46 AM
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GM should have lengthened the black wire a couple inches to avoid this common problem.

But at $0.001 / inch, GM could have gone broke!
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Old Apr 29, 2026 | 03:08 PM
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[QUOTE=Tinkertech;1609611651]GM should have lengthened the black wire a couple inches to avoid this common problem.

But at $0.001 / inch, GM could have gone broke![/QUOTE
Seems like big afterthought on their part. Is there a grounding lug somewhere, where that wire could be relocated to, so it wouldn’t have to be removed with the battery cable?
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Old Apr 29, 2026 | 04:46 PM
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The little black wire is not a grounding wire. It is a sense wire used to determine the charge of the battery.
The voltage that this wire senses and sends to a module and then the module determines how much output the alternator needs for the car to run all the electronics

Last edited by Tinkertech; Apr 30, 2026 at 06:27 AM.
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Old Apr 29, 2026 | 05:02 PM
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Thanks, I guess you learn something new everyday.
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Old Apr 30, 2026 | 01:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Zjoe6
I just picked up a low mile 2016 Z06 2LZ M7 of my dreams
you've been on here for a while haven't you?

I thought you already had a Z?
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Old Apr 30, 2026 | 01:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Tinkertech
The little black wire is not a grounding wire. It is a sense wire used to determine the charge of the battery.
The voltage that this wire senses and sends to a module and then the module determines how much output the alternator needs for the car to run all the electronics
I wonder why I never got a message.
I didn't replace my battery until it was over a decade old and I noticed it was cranking slower than it should, so it must have been going bad.
but I never got any message, I didn't even know there was supposed to be a message.
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Old Apr 30, 2026 | 03:38 PM
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Originally Posted by rtv900
you've been on here for a while haven't you?

I thought you already had a Z?
Just got my 10 year badge last year. There are people that have been on here a lot longer.

I buy and sell vettes often. This is my 3rd C7 Z. Before that I had 3 C7 Grand Sports. And before all of that a 2004 C5 Z (that's where Zjoe6 came from).
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Old Apr 30, 2026 | 03:42 PM
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Originally Posted by rtv900
I wonder why I never got a message.
I didn't replace my battery until it was over a decade old and I noticed it was cranking slower than it should, so it must have been going bad.
but I never got any message, I didn't even know there was supposed to be a message.
After all I just went through, that's bizarre. You're saying you had a broken wire right? Or just that your battery was 10 years old? My message disappeared immediately after I fixed the broken wire. The previous owner reported it to the dealer last September, so who knows how long he had been dealing with it. Probably since he had the battery replaced, the person who probably broke it. I replaced my battery on my last Z. I didn't break the wire. Wasn't getting the message. Just wouldn't start anymore.

Last edited by Zjoe6; Apr 30, 2026 at 03:49 PM.
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Old Apr 30, 2026 | 04:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Zjoe6
After all I just went through, that's bizarre. You're saying you had a broken wire right? Or just that your battery was 10 years old? .
no I didn't have a broken wire, but the battery was cranking noticeably slow to the point where I decided to just replace the battery before it even failed.
Just saying that the way that wire was described (being some sort of charge state indicator for the car) I would think it would see the battery issue.
But I guess the warning message is strictly meant for a complete failure?

meh, who knows.
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Old Apr 30, 2026 | 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted by rtv900
no I didn't have a broken wire, but the battery was cranking noticeably slow to the point where I decided to just replace the battery before it even failed.
Just saying that the way that wire was described (being some sort of charge state indicator for the car) I would think it would see the battery issue.
But I guess the warning message is strictly meant for a complete failure?

meh, who knows.
Yeah who knows is my response too. That's all in their software for the ECM/BCM etc. Who knows what all triggers that message. The broken wire is the only one I know of.

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Old May 6, 2026 | 01:48 PM
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I replaced my battery 1.5 yrs ago. I have to say that OE battery w/o any handles is bear to get out of there. No fun lifting it one handed while the other hand moves the cables out of the way.
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Old May 6, 2026 | 02:01 PM
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Originally Posted by CraigStu
I replaced my battery 1.5 yrs ago. I have to say that OE battery w/o any handles is bear to get out of there. No fun lifting it one handed while the other hand moves the cables out of the way.
tell me about it
if that thing was 5 pounds heavier I don't think I could have gotten it
All you can do is basically squeeze the sides of the battery as hard as possible with your finger tips and rely on friction to hold it while lifting
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Old May 8, 2026 | 10:13 AM
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You can remove the battery in 2 simple ways:

Battery strap that grabs ahold of the battery posts.

Cave man way, two vice grips, one on each battery post. Watch out for shorts, ZAP!!!!!!!!!!!
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