# Oh No, Not Again. Dead as a Macerel



## spike (Jul 26, 2013)

About March this year, I posted that after approximately 6-7 days of not using the car, the battery was completely dead. The dealer diagnostic revealed, to my suprise, the wrong radio was installed in the vehicle. The radio apparently has some significant play with the computer that caused the issue ? I do not recall any other information, but it was "fixed" and all was good. Now after sitting unused for about the same amount of time, it is dead AGAIN :wub:. Anyone else having issues like this ? As of this moment, the Cruze is still in my driveway awaiting the dealer to open (Mon morning). So, I do not know yet what they will do. I suppose many would know, but I did not, the transmission locks and your NOT getting the key out without using the "transmission unlock" by the gear shift - which, I have not tried. The low voltage on the computer will cause all sorts of crazy actions (wipers coming on, then stopping,....ect) I did disconnect the battery and try to charge it. My 15 Amp charger kicked out after about 30 seconds. So, I would guess the battery is a dead short. Coincideence ? Still "something" wrong in the electronics ? :cussing:


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

As for the shifter, page 9-25 in your manual.



> Shift Lock Manual ReleaseThe automatic transmission has an
> electric park lock. The key must be
> in the ON/RUN position, and the
> brake pedal pressed so the shift
> ...


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Generally, if your chargers' circuit breaker pops, that is an indicator that the battery itself is indeed shorted internally. (since it was disconnected from the car)

Odds are the earlier electrical issues caused internal damage to the battery.

Rob


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

My vote is bad battery


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## spike (Jul 26, 2013)

Yes, my suspicion is an internally shorted battery since the charger went to overload protection. Hopefully, it is just the battery.... I entered this post to see if others were having any weird issues WRT batteries or other issues that drained / caused the battery to die.


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## spike (Jul 26, 2013)

The dealer replaced my battery and all was fine for awhile. A couple of months went by, and after sitting unused for 3-4 days, the car barely started. I had left the DIC set to battery voltage and before the starter enguaged I saw 11.2V. As mentioned, it did start. Since I was close to an oil change interval, I took my car in yesterday. They are going to let it sit for a few days to try and replicate the problem. 
I check the forum occasionally to see if anyone else was having an issue similar to mine - that is, something drawing the battery down while the car is "off". ? 
One thing I noticed was the NUMEROUS ground/chassis connections near the battery. Guess there is a good reason for this ? Could have saved a fortune on wire costs alone ! My service guy explained there are many "Modules" that can run psuedo independently and that the issues could be a bad "module" - whatever that means.


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## Green (May 14, 2014)

One thing I might wonder about is this since its recent (and hasn't left my memory yet  ) :

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-s...al-coverage-14311-negative-battery-cable.html

Other then that it sounds like it may be an unusual parisitic drain (something other then theft system or radio keep alive things)


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## bigluke (Aug 18, 2013)

If you want to do some diagnostic by yourself you can unplug the battery overnight for couple of days taking voltages before and after it been plugged , and then leave it plugged couple of days with taking voltages when parking the car and before you start it again. This way you can see if power drainage occurs.


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