# Cold weather... The Battery is dead...Opps.. No its not!



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Yes, not on a Cruze though. A tiny bit of corrosion on a cable was enough to get a car to make intermittent contact when hot under the hood, leaving it with what SEEMED to be a dead battery.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

That can happen on any car and you don't need to see any corrosion on the terminal. You used to be able to buy little washer looking felt pads to place under the connection that would stop this problem. Shows you how easily a car can be stopped.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Looking forward to your report after a few days.


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## NYCruze2012 (Jan 16, 2012)

I was told by the dealership they were having problems with the 525 amp batteries and upgraded to the 650 amp. A lot of the 525 amp batteries were shorting internally and also did not meet the power needs of the heavily optioned Cruze.

Sent from my last surviving brain cell


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

After driving GM vehicles for years, what happened to the side terminal batteries as long as I can remember? Have a top terminal battery cleaner for years, female for the battery terminals and male brush for the terminals. And yes, even a dull coating can cause this kinds of problems.

First thing I noticed about my new Cruze, the terminals were bone dry. Cleaned them and coated with silicone grease that helps prevent corrosion.

This same problem dates back to the Model T days, still using lead acid batteries. The side terminal batteries were a lot more difficult to clean and wouldn't dare over tighten them. Could break that terminal to side case seal causing acid leaks. Was happy GM returned back to the old style top terminal battery. Can hold the cable to relieve the stress off that top terminal.

So how come the Cruze is not greasing the terminals?

Do not feel putting that large terminal block on top of the battery was a wise idea, those terminals should also be greased.

Always remove the negative terminal first and put it back on last. Only two problems I had, my smart phone wasn't paired anymore, no big deal. And my tire monitoring system when blank, but came back after a couple of miles of driving.


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

After todays road running, I think this was my entire issue.. Never seen voltage drop below 13.5 volts from the DIC all day... It mostly either was at 14.2 to 14.6 or 13.6 the entire day... Phone, GPS, and DRL all going...
no issues at all starting the car all day.. Never had the sound of trying to start the car with a low battery..

Over-all.. I'm glad that, this issue is behind me. Mind you, today, it was 70 degrees out, and the other day, it was maybe mid 50s...

I wonder if my dealership would replace that battery, and install the bigger one, as a factory exchange or something, due to the size...


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

NickD said:


> After driving GM vehicles for years, what happened to the side terminal batteries as long as I can remember?


Both of my Saturns, my Corvette and even my '85 Caddy all had the classic GM side post batteries. I miss them... that rubber cover did a great job keeping corrosion away. I never had to mess around with the terminals, always a secure connection once the screw was tight.

In all those years I never had any issues with the side mounts. Looks like I'm in for some terminal maintenance with the Cruze. Maybe I'll coat them with dielectric grease. 1.5 years in and no issues yet.


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

Yeah I've seen this issue many times, but not on a Cruze.

Most notably, we had a 1982 GMC 6.2L diesel on the farm that did exactly what you described; started up fine one time, wouldn't even turn over an hour later. Fortunately, in a pinch, sometimes just loosening the connections to the battery and wiggling them a bit and re-tightening them was all it took to get it to start until we got somewhere we could do a proper maintenance on it.


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

Well.. Shucks....

Had to replace the battery today... Had the same issues as before. dealership said, when they pulled the battery, and checked it for CCA.. it read 0.... When the car was running, it was reading 15.1 (meaning that the alt. was working overtime)

I had that crappy 525 CCA battery in there... And, because I've got over 50K on my car now, the replacement was my expense. $154.85

The good thing... It now has a 2 year, replacement, full coverage, and 4 more years pro-rated coverage... Told'em I'd be in each year for a new battery.. 

The new battery is 47PG 88865243 is the item number... 643CC, so, I'm assuming its a 600 cold cranking amp battery..

old battery pic..


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

643 C.old C.ranking A.mps........a very high available ampherage battery for a very small engine.

Rob


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

The stock Cruze batteries are 438 CCA, and I don't reckon they have much left by the time the voltage drops on down to 11.5.

Overkill on capacity is not a bad thing. 

FWIW, they replaced mine with one of the 525's. I don't expect too long from it either.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

I love overkill.
Engine should flip on its back with that battery.

Even the stock one is rather high for the displacement......rule of thumb is twice CID.....So this......uh....off the top of my head, 83 CI engine would get by with a CCA around 300 or less if there was such a thing, ha ha.

If it didn't have HVAC it could get by with a battery for a Gold Wing, heh heh.......actually, the tuner croud does just that for weight reduction.

Rob


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Robby said:


> If it didn't have HVAC it could get by with a battery for a Gold Wing, heh heh.......actually, the tuner croud does just that for weight reduction.


Hey! Who you calling a tuner? I have one of these Goldwing batteries in my Vette! 

Odyssey PC680

Works great, HVAC too! Just don't sit with the engine off and the radio going...


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

newsguy99 said:


> Been going on for the last few days... But, here's the deal..
> 
> A few days ago, I get in, to start the car up the first time of the day.. It starts, but, sounded like the battery was low.
> After the entire day, of stop, starting the car, I get to my last stop.. I spend about 45 minutes waiting around, and finally get everything ready to go... Go to start the car, and again, it sounds like the battery is low, and makes the slow engine turn over noise.
> ...


Sounds like you got a dead cell or two in your battery. Mine did the same exact thing in my LT when I had it not too long ago before I traded it in. Im going to say that's what it is. Mine read good voltage but when I took it into my dealer, they told me it was a bad battery. I couldn't believe it.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Pleased to see the battery in my Cruze has a 60 amp hour rating, CCA is somewhat ridiculous as are these mickey mouse digital impedance testers.

If they insist on using only CCA ratings, should have an environment chamber cool it down to 0*F and use a carbon pile load tester with an ammeter to make sure it can deliver that rated current while maintaining the specified current for the given time period while still maintaining the specified terminal voltage. Not some mickey mouse impedance tester that strictly goes on open circuited terminal voltage.

A battery is more than a box, has hundreds of components in it in a series parallel complex circuit all welded or soldered together. One poor joint can render a battery as worthless. 

Will never buy another battery from Walmart again, refused to honor their warranty because that stupid POS said it was good.

A long term question with a battery is it discharged or simply bad. For a fully charged battery should show 12.9 volts at 25*C ambient temperature after the surface charge is removed. This is accomplished by putting a 10 amp load on the battery for ten seconds. Then it should be able to produce its rated CCA rating for at least 30 seconds while under full load while maintaining at least over 9 volts for that duration. And should do much better at this when at room temperature.

Had a similar argument with my Fleet Farm store that adopted this mickey mouse tester, but saw an old Sun VAT-33 covered with dust in the corner. Demanded he use that, but didn't know how to work it. So I did, explained this battery was showing 12.9V after the surface charge was remove. But as soon as I cranked up the carbon pile load to only 50 amps, the terminal voltage dropped to zero. That's when I got a new replacement battery under warranty. But also elected never to buy a battery from Fleet Farm again. Don't like dealing with idiots.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

NickD said:


> Don't like dealing with idiots.


Better grab a rifle, the dog and some non-perishables and head up to that cabin in the hills... idiots are everywhere and they're coming to get us!


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Blue Angel said:


> Looking forward to your report after a few days.





newsguy99 said:


> Well.. Shucks....
> 
> Had to replace the battery today...


Batteries are gaining a well deserved reputation as one of the least reliable parts in a car over the long-haul. True, we all expect our batteries to die eventually, but QC issues are resulting in more and more premature battery failures all the time.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Blue Angel said:


> Batteries are gaining a well deserved reputation as one of the least reliable parts in a car over the long-haul. True, we all expect our batteries to die eventually, but QC issues are resulting in more and more premature battery failures all the time.


The Cruze's makes 3 OEM ones I've had to have replaced under warranty in <2 years. Oh, and the Autozone Duralast batteries are useless junk. 3 of those in 2 years before I gave up and bought something else.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

newsguy99 said:


> I had that crappy 525 CCA battery in there...


Is your new 600 CCA battery physically larger than the 525? The adjustable battery tray in the Cruze looks like it could hold a positively MASSIVE battery.



jblackburn said:


> The stock Cruze batteries are 438 CCA, and I don't reckon they have much left by the time the voltage drops on down to 11.5.


Just went down to the garage and checked, my original battery is 525 CCA. I guess I'm screwed! 

Mine's sitting at 12.2V with the key turned forward. I don't have a multi-meter to get a key-off reading.

I wonder if the Canadian cars got a larger battery (colder climate) if some people's Cruze only had a 438 CCA model?


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

I've not even looked.. its been freezing cold out, and rain, sleet and some snow on top of that... I'll check Friday and see (if the weather heats up, and clears up)


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

Here's both batteries, new one, then the old one.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

newsguy99 said:


> Here's both batteries, new one, then the old one.
> View attachment 49409
> View attachment 49417


Clamp is corroded, hold down nuts not greased, terminal cover is loaded with dust, and acid on the fender sidewall.

You call this clean? LOL, get down and give me fifty.


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