Battery Dead/Electrical Problem

[SVTLght99]

Ok you guys, im dumb founded on this problem. Its my dads 00 L. On Wednesday my dad started his truck with no problems what so ever. He comes home, parks it and wakes up on Thursday to find his truck doesnt start. No dome light, no power locks, no nothing. He puts the key in the ignition, turns it and nothing. Not even a clicking noise, just COMPLETELY dead. So this morning I try to find the problem. I place jumper cables on both his truck and the other vehicle im boosting it with and before I can crank up the other vehicle, I hear clicking noises coming from his truck. Its like if its not grounding maybe shortening out or something. So I go to crank up the other vehicle and let it idle for a bit until his battery gets juice. I start his truck and it works. I take the cables off both vehicles. But then ive noticed when I turn his truck off, the odometer reads nothing but dashes (-------) instead of instantly shutting off. And after a couple of seconds, it shuts off and all the needles on the gauges drop. Unlike my 99 L, i turn the vehicle off and the needles automatically drop and the odometer off. Ive also noticed that his overhead outside temperature reading and compass stays on and doesnt shut off when i turn the vehicle off. Also, the ac still works and blows with the ignition off. Could this be a ground wire im missing and its draining the battery? I find it hard for my dads L to be having this problem at 51,000 miles. My dad seems to think its the battery but I dont think so. Can any of you help? Thank you

[Beaudee]

Check main wires to battery(+,-).Could just be corrosion @ terminals.Replace battery with an AGM gel battery (Orileys,way better than Optima best battery/warranty out there for $ in my opinion)which has a 7 year warranty.Get it runnin (with new batt.)check volts to ensure gettin charge from alt.

[Silver_2000]

no clue BUT I had a 1 year old optima red top do the SAME thing in my C6 last week
I exchanged the battery

[Beaudee]

no clue BUT I had a 1 year old optima red top do the SAME thing in my C6 last week
I exchanged the battery

Red top Optima is the worst battery you can buy,.Double the money for double trouble,3 year warranty and double price.The only optima bat. worth speeking about is the Yellow deep cycle which is 3X the cost of a AGM and lesss than 1/2 warranty.Batterys do wild ghostly stuff when there life ends.I ate 2 red tops before i learned LOL..

[dboat]

theres been a lot of traffic about how Optima batteries have gone downhill after their move to Mexico. Sears Platinum is a good AGM offering as of now.. you could go really high end and get one of the new lithium auto batteries.. they weigh half as much as a regular battery.

[Silver_2000]

sears AGM are even higher $$ than Optima

And they claim to have no batteries of any type to fit the car .....


lithiums start at $600

Not that worried about weight ....

Less expensive for me to loose weight ;-)

[L8 APEX]

I have been happy with my Vatozone Platinum AGM. Easy nationwide warranty and $160 bucks. Sam's Club also has an AGM offering from Energizer for the same price.

I have had the best luck checking batteries with a load bank tester. I bought a cheap $40 years ago. It has been very accurate. That way I can see CCA capacity and voltage. I have had several bad cells show up under a load but look fine on a charger or static voltage test.

Odyssey/Deka has a warehouse in Carrolton that sells to the public. I have bought several AGM deep cycle boat batteries and diesel truck batts from them. I think that is also where Donnie got his lightweight Z06 battery.

[OptimaJim]

SVTLght99, let's start from the very beginning- if the battery in your dad's truck is so deeply-discharged that it needs to be jump-started, that battery needs to be fully-recharged with a battery charger as soon as possible. Relying on an alternator to recharge a deeply-discharged battery can lead to a cycle of dead batteries and jump-starts, until either the battery or alternator fails.

Fully-charged, your dad's battery should measure about 12.6 volts. If it can hold close to it's maximum voltage when totally disconnected from the truck for 12-24 hours, it should be fine. If it holds voltage when disconnected, but drops voltage when connected, there is probably an electrical issue with the truck that is discharging the battery. You can also measure the parasitic draw on your dad's truck as explained in this video (http://youtu.be/-yPlx4MBNRU).


Our YellowTop batteries are AGM batteries and while they may be more expensive than AGM batteries that use recycled lead (we still use 99.99% pure lead), they are not three times the cost. The warranties on our RedTops and YellowTops are all three years, free replacement. If any battery is going to fail from a manufacturing defect, it is likely to do so well within the first year of use, if not the first month. Beyond that,warranties largely serve a marketing function.


While I understand individual experiences can vary, the quality of our batteries has always been excellent and the batteries we are making today are the best we have ever made. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty now are only deeply-discharged and work fine, once they are properly-recharged. This is a trend that is only going to increase as more AGM products come into the marketplace with the rollout of OEM start/stop technology. Most of these AGM products will use recycled lead, which is still better than a flooded battery (which also uses recycled lead), but won't offer the performance or lifespan of an AGM battery that uses pure lead. If anyone has any questions about our products, I'll do my best to answer them.


Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries (http://www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries)

[Silver_2000]

Jim

Thanks for the reply
Im guessing that you found this in Google or did someone report it ?

Doug
Server Admin

PS in the case of my C6 red top issue I found nothing that was on draining the battery. No lights nothing. The car had been sitting for maybe 2 or 3 weeks.

After jumping it from my other car - I let the car run for 10 minutes in the garage then drove it for 20 minutes. After that amount of charging the battery didn't have enough power stored to open the electric doors on the C6 vette.
Im my old school view that amount of driving should have imparted SOME kind of charge.

It may have benefited from a long slow charge but my charger (http://www.batterychargers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductName=94026842), that has an AGM function on it, was cycling in a very odd way when I attempted to use it to charge the battery.

Thanks again for the feedback

Doug@svtlightnings.com
doug@nloc.net

[Silver_2000]

Looks like Optiima now makes thier own charger

http://www.optimabatteries.com/us/en/shop/charger/

But at $200 its a little steep

especially when compared to
http://batterytender.com/products/automotive/battery-tender-junior-12v-at-0-75a.html

[SVTLght99]

I havent got around to check the truck since i posted but tomorrow i will check it out. My only issue is, i charged the battery and it works fine. But then, when i turn the truck off, the odometer still reads (------) prior to shutting off. Then the AC still blows. I will check out the battery and alternator. But could a faulty battery still have the ac/heater working without the truck on is what im asking.

[L8 APEX]

Dashed out odometer used to indicate a loose tuner chip on the PCM in the passenger kick panel.