Car completely died, came back, and died again...
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Car completely died, came back, and died again...
Was driving along, all good and the power completely died. Everything went dead immediately without any warning. I pulled over - checked the battery cables (wiggled them) and all seemed tight. i got back in the car power was there and it started right up. I turned around and headed back home when the same thing happened again. Again, went and wiggled the cables, started the car and drove back home.
This seems like either a bad battery or a bad wire but the cables seem fine. Anybody else ever deal with this and what are your recommendations? (The car is an 06 with 118000 miles but always garaged and taken care of.)
Now I'm nervous to drive it...
This seems like either a bad battery or a bad wire but the cables seem fine. Anybody else ever deal with this and what are your recommendations? (The car is an 06 with 118000 miles but always garaged and taken care of.)
Now I'm nervous to drive it...
#2
Burning Brakes
Car Quits
Was driving along, all good and the power completely died. Everything went dead immediately without any warning. I pulled over - checked the battery cables (wiggled them) and all seemed tight. i got back in the car power was there and it started right up. I turned around and headed back home when the same thing happened again. Again, went and wiggled the cables, started the car and drove back home.
This seems like either a bad battery or a bad wire but the cables seem fine. Anybody else ever deal with this and what are your recommendations? (The car is an 06 with 118000 miles but always garaged and taken care of.)
Now I'm nervous to drive it...
This seems like either a bad battery or a bad wire but the cables seem fine. Anybody else ever deal with this and what are your recommendations? (The car is an 06 with 118000 miles but always garaged and taken care of.)
Now I'm nervous to drive it...
#3
Race Director
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You said you wiggled the wires and they seemed all right. Were they tight, as in not moving at all? Have the cables been off recently and were the cone nuts put back on?
#4
Safety Car
Thread Starter
All the cables 'seem' tight (from the top of the engine bay anyway...). The battery is only a year old so it too should be fine. If the connection went bad causing it to die and my 'wiggling' it restored it momentarily, would that indicate any kind of code, even when all is good when I check it on the innova scanner?
#5
Burning Brakes
Could be bad ground
There were no codes at all. The car was fine then completely died. When I checked the cables, nothing at all was loose but then the car started fine. I drove for about 5 minutes and then it all repeated. Started it again and am now home.
All the cables 'seem' tight (from the top of the engine bay anyway...). The battery is only a year old so it too should be fine. If the connection went bad causing it to die and my 'wiggling' it restored it momentarily, would that indicate any kind of code, even when all is good when I check it on the innova scanner?
All the cables 'seem' tight (from the top of the engine bay anyway...). The battery is only a year old so it too should be fine. If the connection went bad causing it to die and my 'wiggling' it restored it momentarily, would that indicate any kind of code, even when all is good when I check it on the innova scanner?
#7
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Thats good to know. I loose everything. Completely dead. When I wiggled the wires, both times the 'connection was back and all was fine - until it died again...
#11
Melting Slicks
A couple of things point to it being either a bad ground or lose/bad connection/wire versus a bad battery or alternator. Normally a running vehicle will not lose all power and stop running due to a bad/weak battery (bad alternator, yes). If the battery or alternator were bad, you wouldn't be able to restart the vehicle by simply giggling the wires. Good luck tracing it down
#12
Safety Car
Thread Starter
If a bad ground, is the check just on the battery terminal and where the cable is ground to the car? (in other words, just check those 2 locations)?
If it were a bad POSITIVE cable, could that cause the same scenario and how difficult is that to check/replace?
If it were a bad POSITIVE cable, could that cause the same scenario and how difficult is that to check/replace?
#13
Race Director
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If a bad ground, is the check just on the battery terminal and where the cable is ground to the car? (in other words, just check those 2 locations)?
No, multiple ground locations depending upon the circuitry, but always good to start initially at the negative battery cable first...............
If it were a bad POSITIVE cable, could that cause the same scenario and how difficult is that to check/replace?
No, multiple ground locations depending upon the circuitry, but always good to start initially at the negative battery cable first...............
If it were a bad POSITIVE cable, could that cause the same scenario and how difficult is that to check/replace?
#14
Burning Brakes
Bad Ground
A couple of things point to it being either a bad ground or lose/bad connection/wire versus a bad battery or alternator. Normally a running vehicle will not lose all power and stop running due to a bad/weak battery (bad alternator, yes). If the battery or alternator were bad, you wouldn't be able to restart the vehicle by simply giggling the wires. Good luck tracing it down
to webdzynes
You need understand that if your alternator is good your car would keep running with dead or weak battery. But a bad ground will kill the ignition/car. There are many grounds but you say if you (wiggle) the battery cable it starts again I would start with the battery ground cable. Work your way from there. Also have the battery checked anyway can't hurt also the alternator. If the alternator has a bad diode it would act like a bad ground. this would show up in an alternator test.
#15
Instructor
I just had a very similar issue. I took off the battery cables and found a lot of corrosion underneath not visible without taking them off. Cleaned them and the battery posts and the problem is completely gone.
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Landru (02-25-2018)
#17
Instructor
to webdzynes
You need understand that if your alternator is good your car would keep running with dead or weak battery. But a bad ground will kill the ignition/car. There are many grounds but you say if you (wiggle) the battery cable it starts again I would start with the battery ground cable. Work your way from there. Also have the battery checked anyway can't hurt also the alternator. If the alternator has a bad diode it would act like a bad ground. this would show up in an alternator test.
#18
Safety Car
Thread Starter
What would you guys guess I can expect to pay to have a chevy mechanic check for these things? The positive cable looks like it gets buried underneath the engine... (I'm not well versed in this stuff..)
#19
Burning Brakes
Do you have a digital meter? check voltage drop from the battery post to the cable end. Cables do just disappear under engine. It is a two man/woman job to route cables.
#20
Burning Brakes
Dead battery
I’m retired from the auto parts business. 35 Year’s I’ve sold over 11.000 battieries in the last ten years at my two stores. Tested many of them. If the battery has dead short. It could and would kill the car. Other wise the alternator will provide enough power to keep the car running.