# dead battery



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Wow. Strange how it just gave out like that.

Can you try hooking it up to a battery tender? I've raised several flat batteries back from the dead with a tender and some time.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

yes strange indeed


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Obvious question - was anything left on that could have drained? Did you have it tested to see if it is still good but just low?


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

no didn't leave anything on. Its on the battery charger now. I tried to jump start it. nothing. Having it towed to dealer tomorrow.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

The description lines up with a shorted cell……one of those things that can happen at anytime.

Usually the culprit is vibration, causing a chunk of the antimony to flake off and fall to the bottom of the cell…..sometimes it gets caught between the separaters and shorts the plates from the bottom.
This immediately kills that cell but since it is connected to the other five, they end up feeding the short circuit till all the cells are dead or dying.

A real long winded way of saying the battery, after 83000 miles of vibration and under hood heat, has signed off.

Rob


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## neile300c (Jul 8, 2014)

are you getting it towed to the dealer for a new battery? I would think you could get it a lot cheaper elsewhere ....


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

neile300c said:


> are you getting it towed to the dealer for a new battery? I would think you could get it a lot cheaper elsewhere ....


I believe that it's a fairly unique battery. May not even be a stock item at all dealerships.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

It is a AGM or Absorbed Glass Mat type battery….diesel specific in this case.

Rob


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

I'm taking battery out and having it tested after work. If Rob is right its the cheaper fix.just wouldn't think a two year old battery would be toast.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Had some batteries that lasted over 20 years, some, hardly a month, Cruze lasted 33 months, but had to find a dealer that knew how to test it to replace it under warranty. Developed internal shorts with a high self discharge rate.

Lead acid batteries are over 200 years old, major problem is trying to find somebody that is knowledgeable. Hundreds of internal corrections. Ha, way back then a six volt battery with three cells, had three individual cells connected in series. If one went bad, just replaced that. Now you have to get a totally new battery.

Prefer changing them myself, use a 12 volt power supply to keep everything hot, provided the battery didn't go completely dead, so nothing gets reset with all these electronics. Also clean all the terminals and use silicone dielectric grease to retard corrosion. But first step is to use and inductive pickup ammeter, got one that reads down to 10 ma, to make sure their is no parasitic draw. 

Also have thing such as a capacity test, lead acid batteries that are fully discharged more than once can only have about 20% of the capacity left.

Most important aspect of a battery besides starting your vehicle is to filter out the transients developed by the alternator. Never was a problem before since they added all these extremely voltage sensitive electronics. Minor cases would get glitches, worse case would be to fry them, but they blame this on your vehicle getting old. 

You have to have a good battery and very clean connections, or could cost you an arm and both legs.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

Had battery tested. Tested good normal wear. After putting it back in the car started after they charged the battery. I did notice the outside temp reading was gone from the radio. Wonder if sensor shorted out and drained the battery. Any well its at dealer now.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Keep us posted Gator.. Are you still covered under warrsnty and what are you driving in the meantime?


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

No warranty is over. 83300 miles. Have a 2015 Sierra I'm driving but its leased so got to watch the miles.200 miles a day to and back from work. Thats the reason I bought the CTD . I was driving 2002 Silverado I just sold.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Wow, '15 Sierra. Nice. Does it have an eight speed?


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

No its a six. 8 is in the denali. But I think 8 is in all models 2016.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Wow, great garage shot there Gator! A great looking fleet, for sure.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Wish my garage was double wide.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Me too.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

Actually triple wide






new a






nd old pickup


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

My dream was a 36 wide by 24 deep garage. Sad to say, but for me one measure of a successful man is the size of his garage.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

Dealer called car was dead again this morning. After testing found the battery to be bad. Guess autozone test was faulty but did save me a tow Bill by charging it. New battery 200.00 . autozone battery was 197.00. So dealer didn't hurt on price


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Is the temp back?


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

He said it was but I'll update when I get the car back tonight after work. Around 9 pm. Glad it's only the battery and not electrical but two years and its done. Little to soon. Same factory battery but comes with a warranty that isn't linked to mileage.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Glad to hear that you got the same factory battery. I'm honestly surprised they had one in stock. I wonder if it's used in another application.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

Had to track it down at a few different dealers but autozone and advance auto both had them in stock. It's a GMC Buick dealer not Chevrolet so they don't carry cruze items,but if they would of dropped the diesel in the Buick Verano which is the cruze platform would of been great


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

Picked car back up from dealer. Part 88864542 battery 179.99 and 65.00 labor not bad.yes outside temp is back on the radio


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Just ran that part number. Our diesel battery is also used on current ATS and CTS models. 

It's also the the battery used in my DTS. So it's not quite as rare of a battery as I thought.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Tomko said:


> Sad to say, but for me one measure of a successful man is the size of his garage.


I suspect Robby is the winner there.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Gator said:


> Had to track it down at a few different dealers but autozone and advance auto both had them in stock. It's a GMC Buick dealer not Chevrolet so they don't carry cruze items,but if they would of dropped the diesel in the Buick Verano which is the cruze platform would of been great


The Cruze diesel is basically a Verano.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

diesel said:


> The Cruze diesel is basically a Verano.


I agree its the same car but it might take a different battery. I don't know. I do know the diesel should of went in that model also. The Verano probably uses same as gas version Cruze.


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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

Tomko said:


> My dream was a 36 wide by 24 deep garage. Sad to say, but for me one measure of a successful man is the size of his garage.


I've never measured, but the tax man says mine is 28x24. The 28 is pretty comfortable, although I guess I wouldn't mind another half-bay for the kids bikes and things so I wouldn't need to be paranoid about them scratching vehicles getting them out. The place I'd really like the extra square footage is in depth. I could do a lot with another 6 feet on the back for tools and work area.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Oh boy... My garage is 19 x 10.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

50' X 50' airplane hangar……still not big enough…..peaceful though………it reminds you of its dimensions when the gas bill comes in.

Little one is at home….24' X 24'…..way too small.

Rob


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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

Robby said:


> 50' X 50' airplane hangar……still not big enough…..peaceful though………it reminds you of its dimensions when the gas bill comes in.
> 
> Little one is at home….24' X 24'…..way too small.
> 
> Rob


Glad I don't heat mine. I have a little diesel/kerosene/heating oil bullet-shaped heaters like you used to see on NFL sidelines in the 80s that I fire up when I'm doing work on the cars. My heating cost for the whole winter is probably about 15 gallons of fuel. Just have to make sure I don't screw up and dump the red stuff into the Cruze. That could get me in some hot water.


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## titanman2789 (Oct 27, 2013)

Gator said:


> I'm taking battery out and having it tested after work. If Rob is right its the cheaper fix.just wouldn't think a two year old battery would be toast.



Late to this here but a google search brought up this thread.

My cruze diesel - 3 months after purchasing - it would sometimes not start. Took it to the dealer and they say there is nothing wrong. It took 3 trips to the dealer and they finally figured out there was a bad cell in the battery. So they replaced it under warranty. Now 1.5 years later looks like I have a dead battery and car won't start. These batteries from Chevy are total crap. More than likely it's the same thing - bad cell in the battery. What a pain...


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

I've had Delco batteries last over ten years. But GM sold off the battery business some time ago and now they're made by Johnson Controls. People have subsequently observed that the quality of the stock battery has declined. 

Best battery available on the market today is Odyssey. But they're not widely available and you'll pay a premium for that quality.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

I had a friends car towed to my house so I could look at the battery problems. The car died at a UDF in the cold rain on Friday night. After buying a new battery for it, the problem turned out being a bad top post connector. After recharging the battery and replacing the connector, the car started and I was able to drive to owner's house. He is yet to try it today. Hopefully all is well. His car is a 2003 Mit Eclipse I know battery problems can be difficult to solve. But a 2 year old battery should still be good. Have yours charged and load tested. That should tell what is going on.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Tomko said:


> Best battery available on the market today is Odyssey. But they're not widely available and you'll pay a premium for that quality.


My independent Delco place recommended Interstate. I haven't gone though enough batteries to say how good they are, but I've been satisfied with their performance so far. I can safely say they're not utter crud.


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## BradHerr (Sep 29, 2013)

My wife let my CTD sit for 4 days and the battery was low enough not to crank the engine. I jumped started it and found nothing left on. I took it by the dealer and they didn't have time to look at it. I took it back home, let it sit for two weeks and it started fine. It has had this two week rest between drive cycles for a few months and hasn't needed jumped since. I guess I will be putting a battery in it before winter sets in. 


-Brad


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## theonlypheonix (Oct 8, 2015)

Its beginning to appear this dead battery issue is a common problem with these vehicles. My 2015 Cruze diesel was 2 weeks new, 200 mi on the clock, left it at the airport for 7 days, came back to a stone cold dead battery with nothing left on!! OnStar not working (had cell phone) and call roadside assistance. Battery was so dead they could not jump it with their portable battery tender, had to jump it with their tow truck and let it charge for ten minutes before it would even turn over.

Since then I've been constantly watching the DIC voltage display and surprised to see the irregular voltage variations (anywhere from 12V to 15v) depending on the load. The really odd part is the lighter the load the lower the voltage? With just the ECM running, running lights on, radio and HVAC fan on 2 or less the DIC voltage will display down to 12V which is a discharge level for the battery. I can run the car at hwy speeds for an hour and the DIC voltage will remain at low levels with the stated load. If I was to turn the fan speed to 3 or higher or turn on the head lights the voltage will increase to 14.2 to as high as 15v depending on how much load is turned on using the various accessories. You read about the newer cars having a "smart" ALT regulator but the reality appears as though the "smart" algorithm has a BUG in it therefore the underlying cause of what we see in the batteries randomly going dead at times when the battery otherwise checks out good on a load tester. I still need to connect an external DVM to actually measure whats happening at the battery terminals. There is also a theory that periodically discharging a battery extends battery life?:dizzy:


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

theonlypheonix said:


> There is also a theory that periodically discharging a battery extends battery life?


I'm not aware of one that applies to car battery chemistry.


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