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I need some technical help please.Changed the battery but car wont start although is fully charged.I moved the metal plate attached to the positive post,noticed some small sparks tightening this plate,interior lights turn on but doors wont open,no horn and wont turn over,cant find a photo of the top of a c7 battery to see if the connections are lined properly
Note the arrow pointing to the small green wire attached to the battery ground cable connector. That should be black on a car that hasn't had the wire broken. The dealer mechanic had to add some wire so mine wouldn't keep breaking. It is easily damaged when changing the battery as it is too tight. It is a battery sense wire and when broken will give you battery charge warnings on the DIC.
Thanks ,seems the connection is fine,horn works ,radio,lights and can open driver door not passenger ,car doesn't turn over or even go into accessory mode
You have no idea if the battery is fully charged unless you do a load test.
The fact that it won't turn over would indicate you have a cell/cells which cannot be charged and remain in their mostly uncharged high impedance state. The high internal resistance makes if possible to run some low current draw circuits but not anything requiring serious power output.
Either try another battery or unhook one of the terminals on your current battery and connect another battery with a set of jumper cables.
The nature of lead acid batteries, of the type used in cars is they may be a one and done if fully discharged.
If you own a volt meter you will probably observe a large battery output voltage drop when attempting to draw any significant power as in trying to turn the motor over, power the headlights etc.
Take your voltmeter and see if you have 12V at each of the terminals on the metal bus. There are some fuses there (2 visible in your picture). You mentioned sparks - maybe you popped a fuse.
Lol,I wished it would be that easy,That is a picture prior to placing the negative terminal.It seems to be electrical like half load available and not enough to start the car,Im going to look at the fuses,are they at multiple locations,did see the ones in the motor bay but probably elsewhere they is a second location?If I Cant fix it will have to tow it to the dealer but im afraid of the whole towing process with these lowset cars.
Fuse blocks are under hood passenger side, rear to the left of the battery, and the fuses on top of the positive battery terminal. Look in your manual or online manual for assignments.
Also, as noted above, a new battery still needs to be load tested before you accept it. I had a bad one off the shelf last year.
Last edited by RonC7; Aug 12, 2017 at 08:11 PM.
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Take your voltmeter and see if you have 12V at each of the terminals on the metal bus. There are some fuses there (2 visible in your picture). You mentioned sparks - maybe you popped a fuse.
Good luck,
Ron
Thanks,im going to check the voltage at the fuse terminals ,if they are gone,any idea how to switch them out?Also where will i find them at the dealer,only,thanks a lot for your help
I don't know - never had to change one of the battery top fuses. I'm sure someone has had to deal with them before. If I recall correctly, one of the fuses is something like 500 amps for the starter.
Seems reasonable that battery fuses are required on vehicles that have a remote mounted battery. My Acadia also has a fuse assembly on the positive terminal. That battery is located under a hatch in the floor behind the passenger seat.
Yea batteries are a pain sometimes and yes even when you buy them new have them load test them before you leave store. My car was throwing a code saying "unstable voltage" car would start and everything fine but kept throwing that code. I cleared code charged battery for 24hrs started car and it threw the code again. I removed battery took it to get load tested and it tested fine. I bought a new battery anyways and tested it before I left store and it was fine. FYI new batteries will have much higher cranking amps like almost twice as much. I put in new battery cleared code and it hasn't thrown the code anymore.
Using volt meter old battery would show 12.5volts new battery is 12.8 volts. Idk but I guess those couple of bolts were enough for it to quit throwing code.
The "small sparks" part concerns me. It easily could be a blown fuse or fusible link. The fuse's are easy to check visually. The fusible links not so easy as most are hidden or under the carpet.
The earlier Q re: warranty is a good one. If you are certain you have a good battery and that it is hooked up correctly a tow to a dealer will get your problem diagnosed is short order. With a warranty that is an easy low cost option. Without a warranty the cost of the tow and the fix are higher.
And don't assume that it is only an amateur that can blow a fuse or a fusible link. I had the driver seat rocking fix done on my C6Z by a top tech at a top dealer. Removing the seat and replacing it was enough for them to do something to the fusible link below the drivers seat that it blew in less than 50 miles. Luckily the car drove (doors just wouldn't open and interior lights wouldn't come on) so I went back to the dealer and they had it fixed while I ate lunch nearby.
Did you clean the terminals (with emery cloth or other) of the new battery just to make sure you have good connections?
As already noted, until you check the voltage across the fuses, you are just guessing.
I checked the voltage at the battery fuses and Im getting 12v
but it seems Im getting a "partial load" since the doors dont open ,cant place car in accesory mode, but can turn on the radio,lights,horn.I guess will have to go to dealer but im worried about the towing process since it is stuck in park with the front in a garage have to move it from the back:rolle yes:
I checked the voltage at the battery fuses and Im getting 12v
but it seems Im getting a "partial load" since the doors dont open ,cant place car in accesory mode, but can turn on the radio,lights,horn.I guess will have to go to dealer but im worried about the towing process since it is stuck in park with the front in a garage have to move it from the back:rolle yes:
Read your manual you can release it by taking a cover off by the shifter.
I need some technical help please.Changed the battery but car wont start although is fully charged.I moved the metal plate attached to the positive post,noticed some small sparks tightening this plate,interior lights turn on but doors wont open,no horn and wont turn over,cant find a photo of the top of a c7 battery to see if the connections are lined properly
what year is the car ?
Is it a base c7 or z06 if it is a 2015 or newer?
if it's a newer car 2015 bought in September or later this seems as though it would be covered under warranty
Battery replacement
