# Fluctuating Voltage on my 2014 Cruze TDI



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

KarlZap said:


> So I noticed while driving at highway speed for a while the battery voltage is either 12. or 12.2. If I slow down the battery voltages increases (contrary to normal) and everything straightens out for a while and then it will happen again.


My thought is slipping belt. But I'd think it would show up if you turn on the headlights or some other heavy load.

Another is that you might be having a battery cell shorting out. Each cell is 1.5 volt. 

Lastly, do you have anything directly connected to the battery? The Cruze uses current sensor on the negative lead. If done wrong, it could confuse the computer about how much current is going into the battery.


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## KarlZap (Jun 30, 2015)

Nothing going to the battery... I checked the belt tension myself and it is fine. I am thinking battery also, if the dealer does not fix it I will have the battery checked. But the battery sits at 14.3 VDC when not running. And diesels don't draw much current, I will be happy to see what the problem is.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Ask the dealership to check for outstanding recalls and service bulletins. I wonder if your negative battery cable is bad.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

obermd said:


> I wonder if your negative battery cable is bad.


He said they changed it already. So unless they did it wrong (perhaps didn't feed it though the current sensor), or installed a bad cable. ....


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

When cruising my battery indicator is in the low 12 range, but if the lights are turned on it jumps to 14+. In three years it has been consistent in my Holden CTD.


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## KarlZap (Jun 30, 2015)

Thank you for the posts. The car is in the shop now and I have a loaner gas Cruze. I am confident that they will get it this time.
Interesting that a diesel owner also runs in the low 12V range until turning on the headlamps. Diesels draw very little current to operate, which normally makes the task of voltage regulation much simpler. Anyhow when I just turn the auto-headlight on (running DRL's) the symptoms worsen, last time it zeroed my mpg over 50 miles display.
When the dealership repairs this problem I will post all that was done.
I would never own a gas Cruze after owning the diesel, they are like 2 different cars. No wonder the diesel is so much more expensive.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I'd expect at minimum 12.6V at the battery at all times the car is running and able to supply power. Anything less than that indicates a battery not fully charged. However, the car's internal systems may show something lower due to voltage drops in the wiring.

It appears that 13.6 is the "float charge" voltage - a charging voltage that a battery should be able to handle long-term without problems.


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## DECruzer (Jul 19, 2015)

Looked at my display when running on the highway today and it read 12.2 volts. Eh, I'm not worried. I'm thinking that the alternator just puts out lower voltage when not actually charging the battery or running a lot of accessories. It would just ramp up as needed. And there isn't an ignition system to run...LOL.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Volts. Amps. Watts. 

They're all interrelated. Volts are being dropped for some reason - and that reason is invariably fuel economy. Less drag on the engine, lighter gauge wires = lighter weight wires, etc. 

i suspect that that NickD can shine a light for us.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

DECruzer said:


> Looked at my display when running on the highway today and it read 12.2 volts. Eh, I'm not worried. I'm thinking that the alternator just puts out lower voltage when not actually charging the battery or running a lot of accessories. It would just ramp up as needed. And there isn't an ignition system to run...LOL.


Turn the lights on and see if it changes.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Cruze gas uses the CS series 120 ampere output alternator that was introduced in the 1985 models, was made in the USA, have no idea where its manufactured now, but guessing not in the USA. Can only assume the diesel uses the same alternator but would have to find a diesel around here and open the hood to find out.

It depends on getting a good ground through the frame, Your vehicle can't be that old, but corrosion occurs in the bolts. Real simple test is to run the engine, turn on everything, head lamps, blower motor, rear window defroster with the engine running at 1,500 rpm. Put a lead of a voltmeter on the frame of the alternator, the other directly to the negative terminal of the battery. should read less than 0.1 volts.

Can to the same thing for the positive terminal of the alternator to the positive terminal of the battery, but will give this less than 0.3 volts under close to full load conditions. Reason for this, the voltage regulator has a four pin connector, one of the pins, is the S terminal that stands for sense or more appropriately voltage sense. It should be connected with a separate wire directly to the positive terminal of the battery, but to save a couple of cents, tied directly to the alternators B+ lead so sensing also the voltage drop of the rather thin battery cable. NEC rules do not apply to automotive. 

Yet another test is to connect an oscilloscope directly across the battery terminal to check the ripple voltage, should be around 150 mv, what's an oscilloscope? One open diode in the alternator really confuses this S terminal, so the output current can drop by 60%.

Problem can be within the alternator itself, they don't repair these, just replace it with a new one. Regulator is held to the rear case half with two screws, for all I know, one screw is loose causing your problems, but have to know how to solder before taking this apart, what is a soldering iron?

Above test can be done ten times faster than I can type them with a knowledgeable person. What is a knowledgeable person? Certainly not one that says, dey all do dis. 

Ha, a slipping belt with a 100 ft. lb tensioner? If that was the problem, that belt wouldn't last two seconds.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Gas Cruze is 130; diesel is 140 amp.

It's normal for voltage to fluctuate when driving since the alternator will kick out during acceleration or when it detects a charge is not needed; however this sounds like a shorted battery or voltage regulator circuit. 

14.3V with ignition off??? That's way too high.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Sounds like the CS-140 that has provisions for an external thermistor that can be mounted near the battery for far superior voltage regulation. Generally only used in more expensive vehicles. Poor thermistor connections may cause these voltage fluctuations. 

Whatever it is, only takes a few minutes to find out. DIC voltage can also go crazy, real voltages have to be tested at the battery with a real voltmeter.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> 14.3V with ignition off??? That's way too high.


Depends on when you measure it. Batteries have a surface charge that will show a elevated voltage for awhile after shutdown.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Surface charge would be wiped off in less than ten seconds by switching on the head lamps. But 14.3 volts is very high, maybe 13.3 volts.

Is such a thing as an NTIS traceable voltmeter for proper calibration, no guarantees if you purchased one made in China.


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## TheRealHip (Sep 1, 2014)

I got the diesel also. So the car has been sitting in the garage for a couple hours. Just the heck of it I got out the voltmeter and checked the battery. I get 12.5 volts. I have never had any problems with mine. Don't know if this helps you or not.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

TheRealHip said:


> So the car has been sitting in the garage for a couple hours. Just the heck of it I got out the voltmeter and checked the battery. I get 12.5 volts.


12.6 is what I'd expect, but 12.5 is close enough. Anything much above that is probably a surface charge or something charging it (like when the car is running).


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Whatever the problem is, now I have to dig deep into this, 2012 2LT just started doing this today with 40K miles on it. Has all the symptoms of the alternator completely shutting down, this should never happen as the DID voltage is dropping down to the battery voltage. 

And to make matters worse, its erratic. Stepped on the clutch, switched off the ignition opened and closed the drivers door quickly, put the ignition in run, released the clutch to restart the engine and it remained stable again.

After glancing over the shop manual, give me a half a year to find all the related circuit diagrams. Something about a Hall Effect transistor somewhere in the negative battery cable circuit that detects circuit current to control the five modes of operation. PWM varies between 5-95% in normal operation, but can drop to 0%. Without doing tests, 0% typically kills the alternator output, but won't know until I test it.

Maybe I should trade it off.


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## MoonlitKnight (May 25, 2015)

Wow! My 2015 is crusing at anywhere between 14.5 and 15. Now it only
has 5000k on it, but maybe that is a little high.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

NickD said:


> Whatever the problem is, now I have to dig deep into this, 2012 2LT just started doing this today with 40K miles on it. Has all the symptoms of the alternator completely shutting down, this should never happen as the DID voltage is dropping down to the battery voltage.
> 
> And to make matters worse, its erratic. Stepped on the clutch, switched off the ignition opened and closed the drivers door quickly, put the ignition in run, released the clutch to restart the engine and it remained stable again.
> 
> ...


Hey NickD, 


We understand you're trying to come up with a solution yourself, but you've had little luck so far. So sorry for the trouble you've had and we certainly don't want you to trade in your Cruze. If there's anyway we can assist on our end please feel free to send us a private message.


Amber N.
Chevrolet Customer Care


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Chevy Customer Care said:


> Hey NickD,
> 
> 
> We understand you're trying to come up with a solution yourself, but you've had little luck so far. So sorry for the trouble you've had and we certainly don't want you to trade in your Cruze. If there's anyway we can assist on our end please feel free to send us a private message.
> ...


Out of warranty, would have to get a mortgage on my home to take it to a dealer. Identifying this as a POR problem power on reset for the Body Computer Module, four of them that controls the alternator. Rebooting the system like a computer corrected it. 

Really playing games with this thing, in my opinion, adding a lot of complexity in an attempt to reduce alternator load, when the best way is to switch off all unneeded loads. Did they doing any test by reducing the voltage 1.3 Volts to learn if this really does decrease alternator load? Never was a problem before, sure is now.

What causes problems like this, the POR reset capacitor is too small, augmented by slightly dirty relay contacts. So my first step would be to find the point contact relay that is causing this, and could be done in seconds, if GM went back the old way and put the entire charging circuit on one page. But as it is, scattered bits and pieces all over 3,000 pages of shop manual.

Help would be to get a decent manual like GM use to have, and really don't need thousands of safety information repeated over and over again.

Point contact relays are over a hundred year old problem, but I gather these kids designing this stuff don't know this. Overly complex and point contact relays are the problem. But I do know how to reboot the system.

And why flash code in the BCM? Doesn't have a thing to do with emissions. Would certainly love to talk to your engineering department and put reliability first. And you will still be covered by liability if the entire safety section was in one section of the manual, not scattered all over the place.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

NickD said:


> Something about a Hall Effect transistor somewhere in the negative battery cable circuit that detects circuit current to control the five modes of operation.


That's the little ring that the thick half of the negative cable goes though. It's right in front of the battery.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Guess I knew that, was frustrated, POR all leads again to that main ignition relay, pulled and tested it again, contacts are fine, but could have a stutter in it. Drove the Cruze several times and all back to normal again. Should get those Panasonic relays i a couple of weeks, on back order, hopefully will solve a lot of problems.

A friend with a 2004 VW Golf 1.9L diesel spent 450 bucks at his VW dealer to tell him the reason why is cruise quit working is the ECU is bad. Wanted 1,300 bucks for a new one, 400 bucks for a used one. Told him I would look at it, very typical the connectors have a bad solder joint, but the cover was sealed so tight, would break it and then he would be walking. But I found him a used one for 100 bucks, waiting to find out if this solved his problem.

Son calls with a Troy-Bilt tiller, replaced the drive belts, but with the engine running won't go anywhere, has a worm gear drive, 80 bucks for the drive gear, another 80 bucks for the driven gear, but could be just a broken key in that driven gear. Too much for him, is going to drop it off. Always something. Don't know until I look.


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## theonlypheonix (Oct 8, 2015)

KarlZap said:


> I hope someone can help me, I tried the dealer once,they changed the negative battery cable, maybe they will get it right the second time...
> Anyhow after driving at 75 mph for a while I will use my directional and the car goes crazy on me. The power steering sometimes goes out, the stabiltrack goes out, the entertainment system goes dark and it has even reset my best mileage. So I noticed while driving at highway speed for a while the battery voltage is either 12. or 12.2. If I slow down the battery voltages increases (contrary to normal) and everything straightens out for a while and then it will happen again.
> There seem to be MANY Cruzes out there with this problem but have not read of one solution. HELP!


Hey KarlZap, Ive been seeing the same thing on my 2015 cruze diesel since 200 miles on the clock. Replacing the (-) battery cable does nothing for this. What I've noticed with min load (running lights, engine controller, radio, HVAC fan at 2 or less) the DIC voltage will slowly drop down to 12.0 to 12.1 V. (even at 60 + MPH). This would normally be a discharge condition for the battery since it appears to stay at that level during the extent of my drive. If the fan is turned up to 3 or higher the DIC voltage will slowly climb to 14.6 volts. I've seen it go as high as 15V. 

I need to connect a real volt meter to the battery to see what's really happening at the terminals. From what I read the Alt is claimed to have a "smart" regulator. May be they intentionally want a discharge cycle to extend the battery life, hmmmm? My idea would be that this is a "BUG" in the "smart" charging algorithm, if one even exists? 

Another special service notice ???


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Friday, I removed the ignition relay, tested contact resistivity and it was excellent, 0.001 ohms. But has been working fine ever since. Made the comment to my wife that relay is in a dark solitary type space, and maybe begging for a little human contact.

Could try pulling yours and holding it for awhile, even give it a kiss. Also could try rebooting your Cruze. Feel this a problem GM should look into, if that battery goes dead, will be left stranded in some God forsaken place.

Old way of doing this was to use a real ignition switch, that fires a voltage to the L terminal, this positively starts up the alternator, and once it starts stays that way, the stator voltage is used to keep it on. Only way to kill it, was to stop the engine. 

Most important job of the alternator is to keep the battery charged and compensate for ambient temperature. It must decrease the charging voltage 12 millivolts for 1*C increase in temperature and vice-versa. 

This smart charging is BS, and probably the reason why the Cruze eats up batteries so quick, wonder what idiot dreamed this up?


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## theonlypheonix (Oct 8, 2015)

Now with all the posts of Cruze batteries going "dead" and experiencing this first hand with my 2 week old Cruze , I got out my NIST traceable DVM and confirmed that the DIC voltage readings are surprisingly accurate when compared against DVM readings taken at the battery terminals. With the engine at idle and a DIC reading of 12.3 v my DVM at the battery terminals read 12.27v and increasing the load on the battery (turn HVAC fan full speed and headlights on and engine still at idle) the voltage did increase from the low reading of 12.3v to 14.4v on the DIC and my DVM now read 14.45v. So at least on my vehicle there is close correlation between DIC voltage and a traceable DVM at the battery terminals.

With that said I'm left with the question as to whether it was GM engineers intent to allow the periodical battery discharge by allowing the voltage to drop as low as 12v when otherwise a fully charged AGM battery would only maintain a charged state with a voltage of greater then 12.8 volts!!!:question: Note that I've read that the Cruze ALT has the capacity of 150 amps which would otherwise be capable of keeping the battery fully charged. Now we're back to the question of this so called "smart" algorithm which allegedly is the technology applied on our Cruzes?:signs053: Smart what? :uhh:


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## au201 (May 18, 2013)

theonlypheonix said:


> Now with all the posts of Cruze batteries going "dead" , I got out my NIST traceable DVM and confirmed that the DIC voltage readings are surprisingly accurate. At a DIC reading of 12.3 v my DVM at the battery terminals read 12.27v and increasing the load on the battery (turn HVAC fan full speed and headlights on) the voltage did increase from the low reading of 12.3v to 14.4v on the DIC and my DVM now read 14.45v. So at least on my vehicle there is close correlation between DIC voltage and a traceable DVM at the battery terminals.
> 
> Wuth that said I'm left with the question as to whether it was GM engineers intent to allow the periodical battery discharge by allowing the voltage to drop as low as 12v when otherwise a fully charged AGM battery would be maintained only with a voltage of greater then 12.8 volts!!!:question: Note that I've read that the Cruze ALT has the capacity of 150 amps which would otherwise be capable of keeping the battery fully charge... we're back to the question of this so called "smart" algorithm which allegedly is the technology used on our Cruzes?


Good to know that's it's accurate. As far as I know, they did program periodic discharge, similar to what apple does with its computers: when their laptops are plugged in, they charge to 100% and then they let them drop to 95% before charging back to 100%. They do this the entire time they're on the charger to avoid overcharging the battery and save energy. This is kin to what GM does to avoid overcharging the battery as well as save fuel. Whether or not it works as well in the car as it does in the computer, I'm not quite sure. 


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Do diesels have a different battery chemistry than gassers?


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## au201 (May 18, 2013)

ChevyGuy said:


> Do diesels have a different battery chemistry than gassers?


That's a good question. I know GM uses the same charging system in all of its gassers. From what I've seen in this thread, the diesel seems to act the same way (not sure how much sense that makes though seeing as how diesels are often harder to start). I'm sitting in our 2010 Camaro (original battery) right now and he headlights are on but no blower fan and the battery is reading 12.4 volts or thereabouts. 


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

au201 said:


> I'm sitting in our 2010 Camaro (original battery) right now and he headlights are on but no blower fan and the battery is reading 12.4 volts or thereabouts.


What happens if you give it a little throttle? 

I've been watching the DIC in my car. I do mostly short trips (2-3 miles). But it's usually around 14. Sometimes 13. I don't remember ever seeing "12 land" except just after start-up.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

The reason I ask about chemistry, I thought our cars were "maintenance free" flooded cells, not AGM.


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## theonlypheonix (Oct 8, 2015)

Easy to tell if you have an AGM battery, this battery in a diesel will have a label on the top with group size 94RAGM. Here is one company's idea of properly charging an AGM battery:
AGM Charging : Technical Support Desk

The table below (of typical AGM voltages) from the above Rolls web site gives you an idea of battery voltage of an AGM battery over temperature and charge.

Note the float can be as low as 13.29v but it does not explain lows of 12v (state of discharge) one will see on the DIC with a load, especially if the battery has been charged and only drawing min float current from the ALT. The express goal of this company's algorithm is to maximize battery life!! So now what does this say about how the AGM batteries are being charged in our vehicle and the owners short battery life as claimed on this site??:whatdoyouthink:. The AGM batteries in my 2005 F350 are over six years old, charge (old technology) at a voltage of 14.2 V(min load or high load) load and still cranking this 6.0L diesel at temps of -15 F without block heater on. The Cruze is suppose to have a "smart" charging?:signs053:


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## au201 (May 18, 2013)

ChevyGuy said:


> What happens if you give it a little throttle?
> 
> I've been watching the DIC in my car. I do mostly short trips (2-3 miles). But it's usually around 14. Sometimes 13. I don't remember ever seeing "12 land" except just after start-up.


Turned on blower fan and A/C and the voltage rose to 12.6...turned everything off again and watched while driving, stayed back at 12.4 for about 15 minutes of my drive before going to 13.7 for the remainder of the drive. 


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Regardless of what kind of battery the vehicle is using, if that alternator is not working, will not get a charge. What use to be a very simple circuit, 12V from the ignition switch through a 194 bulb with a resistor acrossed it in case the bulb burnt out to the L terminal of the alternator, this is all you needed to switch it on. Another lost battle was using a linear voltage regulator that would keep the voltage constant with varying engine speed and electrical load. This would vary the field current in proportion, but did require using a power transistor on a heat sink, oh my God, about a half a buck more expensive.

To get buy with a dirt cheap transistor, had to be switched constantly on and off, each time switched off generates a transient voltage, don't worry, the battery will filter this out. Can be as high as 150 volts that would fry all the vehicles delicate electronic components. So actually used avalanche diodes in the main rectifiers to clamp this voltage down to a more reasonable 22 volts. If you switched to a cheap made in China rectifier, would even get these kind of diodes. But that is okay, reason why your vehicles electronics fried up, its getting old. 

We were able to use a linear voltage regulator in aircraft applications because that constant field switching was interfering with communications systems. Unfortunately about 98% of the cost of these voltage regulators was to pay for product liability insurance. 

Same problem in automotive, but how the harnesses were designed was more of an art than a science, get that field current too close to any ECU wiring would result in cross talk, very important to put those harnesses back exactly as they were installed. An inch can make a difference.

Another drastic change was putting the regulator inside of the alternator, should be placed near the battery for proper temperature compensation, but this required more wiring, given a budget, so corners had to be cut. Regulator is fooled by the internal heat of the alternator, but could add an internal fan to help a little bit. But this drove the Delco battery guys nuts. Undercharging, far worse down south, batteries were sulfating. 

Cruze is way over complex, ECU monitors engine parameters, and fires commands to the BCM via a data link, BCM has five different modes of operation depending on the loads. Have no logical reason for why they are doing this except creating new problems that never existed before. 04 Cavalier, and maybe even later never had these problems.

Then these microcontrollers, ha, marketing always said use them, only 89 cents, but never considered the length of time to write the firmware. Self correcting firmware can be written, but rush to market prevented this, then storing this most valuable code in electrically erasable read only memory. Difference between a logical one or zero, is an infinitesimal difference in gate trapped electrons. 

Then a whole handful of these controllers have to be reliable reset the program counters to zero so this is where the program starts in sequence, if not, get a mess that I feel is the major problem. Could, or at least correct this by rebooting the system with a prayer.

Battery is the worse load, if discharged by sitting for awhile like parked at an airport, it will take all the current the alternator can deliver. Worse thing to do is your impatient after waiting in long lines at the airport, rev that engine, get more current output and will fry the rectifiers. Should let the engine idle where the alternator current output is low to prevent this, least for 20 minutes.

Believe they tried to cure this with all this smart logic, real cure would be to install larger rectifiers and heat sinks, use to do this, but firmware is cheap, so they say.

Another major problem is always hot, anti-thief and remote entry are the major causes of this, always drawing extra current to keep these circuits hot further discharging a battery. We use to have a rule, when the ignition was off, zero current drawn from the battery. Even radio can turn itself on, use to have to be in accessory or run mode to run the radio. What is the logic behind this?

That ignition relay in the fuse/relay box under the hood seems to be one of the causes of this problem, really has a huge load on those contacts for such tiny contacts. If this doesn't properly reset all those controllers, tends to go crazy. 

All these are new problems that were never problems before.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

ChevyGuy said:


> The reason I ask about chemistry, I thought our cars were "maintenance free" flooded cells, not AGM.


The cruze diesel standard battery is an AGM.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

theonlypheonix said:


> Easy to tell if you have an AGM battery, this battery in a diesel will have a label on the top with group size 94RAGM. Here is one company's idea of properly charging an AGM battery:
> AGM Charging : Technical Support Desk
> 
> The table below (of typical AGM voltages) from the above Rolls web site gives you an idea of battery voltage of an AGM battery over temperature and charge.
> ...


You can't optimize for everything. For GM, the CAFE average is far more important than battery life so the charging system in the Cruze is optimized for fuel economy, not battery life.


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## theonlypheonix (Oct 8, 2015)

obermd said:


> You can't optimize for everything. For GM, the CAFE average is far more important than battery life so the charging system in the Cruze is optimized for fuel economy, not battery life.


No need for OnStar then! Arrive at a remote airport on a red eye flight to a car with a dead battery and OnStar is totally USELESS. For the cost conscious corp bean counter and the CAFE set, Save even more $$ and put in cell phone cradle instead of OnStar system to save BIG $$ on the MPG due to the weight reduction!! LOL

The cost is penny's for charging correctly when done in millions of units and made by children in China!


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

obermd said:


> You can't optimize for everything. For GM, the CAFE average is far more important than battery life so the charging system in the Cruze is optimized for fuel economy, not battery life.


What about 0.000000001 mpg? If you want to decrease alternator loading, switch everything else off, including the 
DRL's.

What really puts a load on that harmonic balancer pulley is that single belt drive to the alternator, we did extensive test on this, around 110 ft-lbs of torque on that tensioner, the alternator really doesn't need this much, and certainly the water pump sure doesn't need this either and puts an extensive load on the bearings to wear them out much quicker.

But the AC compressor needs this, should use not one but two belts, but the bean counters say, we could only use one. Less tension on the alternator and water pump would result in much longer bearing life, expect these problems as well.

Trying to correct this with software is tantamount to be totally stupid in the eyes of this very experienced engineer and sure is creating a lot of additional problems that never existed before.

Hope the engineers that bend over to marketing read this, sure would love to have a debate on this subject, and this is indubitably shortening battery life as well. And worse off, can leave you stranded in some God forsaken place. This is very poor engineering! And dealing with a subject that is well over a hundred years old!


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## mfreeman (Nov 30, 2015)

Hi, I have 2013 and my car radio black out and back on. Then different things on my dash lights up like I losing power. Has anyone had this problem and is there a recall on the car.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

mfreeman said:


> Hi, I have 2013 and my car radio black out and back on. Then different things on my dash lights up like I losing power. Has anyone had this problem and is there a recall on the car.


Not a recall, but there is a special coverage for people experiencing this: Special Coverage #14311: Negative Battery Cable. Note that there is no directive for the dealer to confirm the symptoms.


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## Jamesrh406 (Oct 30, 2018)

Anyone have a solution to the charging issue? My 2014 CTD is experiencing this issue. New alternator, battery, and negative battery cable. Could someone please update me on their resolution, please. I’m at a loss, no luck with GM at this point. Out of warranty and tired of changing parts!!! Please help


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

:moved: to Gen I diesel discussion


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

Jamesrh406 said:


> Anyone have a solution to the charging issue? My 2014 CTD is experiencing this issue. New alternator, battery, and negative battery cable. Could someone please update me on their resolution, please. I’m at a loss, no luck with GM at this point. Out of warranty and tired of changing parts!!! Please help



More specifics on your issue please.


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## Jamesrh406 (Oct 30, 2018)

When I start the car cold the voltage is anywhere between 13.4 14.8 volts. When driving the car it will drop down to 12.2V, If I let off the gas pedal it will go up to 13.6-14.5v until I step into the pedal again. I don't understand if I am missing something. When I had it a GM to test everything, They said the battery was testing bad. I forced them into the negative cable replacement. I have already replaced the Alternator, now the Negative cable, and battery. I remember seeing that people have replaced battery after 3+ years. My question is; Did that solve your problem and for how long?? Now that I have changed everything the voltage issue is still odd. I understand that the Cruze has the smart voltage regulation system, controlled by the ECM. But, Isn't the system suppose to be between 12.6(float) voltage and 14.5volts? It the alternator putting out 12.2 volts for long periods of time (hwy Drive) 
de-charging the battery and not good for the new battery I just replaced? I hope you have some insight for me. 
Thanks for your help
2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel 37500 miles.
New Battery
Alternator
Neg cable


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

Jamesrh406 said:


> When I start the car cold the voltage is anywhere between 13.4 14.8 volts. When driving the car it will drop down to 12.2V, If I let off the gas pedal it will go up to 13.6-14.5v until I step into the pedal again. I don't understand if I am missing something. When I had it a GM to test everything, They said the battery was testing bad. I forced them into the negative cable replacement. I have already replaced the Alternator, now the Negative cable, and battery. I remember seeing that people have replaced battery after 3+ years. My question is; Did that solve your problem and for how long?? Now that I have changed everything the voltage issue is still odd. I understand that the Cruze has the smart voltage regulation system, controlled by the ECM. But, Isn't the system suppose to be between 12.6(float) voltage and 14.5volts? It the alternator putting out 12.2 volts for long periods of time (hwy Drive)
> de-charging the battery and not good for the new battery I just replaced? I hope you have some insight for me.
> Thanks for your help
> 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel 37500 miles.
> ...


From this description, your charging system is functioning as designed. Mine does the same thing, runs up into the 14’s when needed then drops off to 12.1 or so for extended periods, depending on conditions and electrical demand.

You’ve addressed the two main culprits already, the battery and the negative battery cable. When either of those components begin to fail a variety of symptoms surface including Service Stabilitrak, Power Steering assist failure, intermittent radio quirks, etc. 

I had all the above symptoms and replaced the negative battery cable. That was last year and it’s been fine ever since. 

As for the factory battery, I replaced it after 40 months even though it was still working. The only symptom I had was a slightly weak crank on cold mornings. The new battery has been in for several months and works great.

Check out this thread (Post #13) for some great detail on how the charging system works.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

I have a 2012 Holden Cruze diesel and when I first star it is on 14.6 and in daytime is settles at 12.6. When the lights come on it jumps up to around 13.


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## NewCarBuyer (May 13, 2017)

This system is called Regulated Voltage Control(RVC) and its a load of crap IMO. I know people who have had dead batteries the next morning after a long trip. I am not saying its directly related to this system but it sure makes me wonder. The voltage on my car(2018 Cruze) is all over the place as well and runs low 12's(volts) when on the highway. I am always afraid I will have trouble starting the car if it sits for a few days. The only way around this foolish system is to drive with the lights on and the volts should remain around the 13.8 area.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

NewCarBuyer said:


> This system is called Regulated Voltage Control(RVC) and its a load of crap IMO. I know people who have had dead batteries the next morning after a long trip. I am not saying its directly related to this system but it sure makes me wonder. The voltage on my car(2018 Cruze) is all over the place as well and runs low 12's(volts) when on the highway. I am always afraid I will have trouble starting the car if it sits for a few days. The only way around this foolish system is to drive with the lights on and the volts should remain around the 13.8 area.


I bought my car new and once left it stand for 22 days when I went on a cruise around Australia. When I got home it started straight away, so the system seems to me to work fine.


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## DerekW_BIMninja (Sep 1, 2019)

Jamesrh406 said:


> When I start the car cold the voltage is anywhere between 13.4 14.8 volts. When driving the car it will drop down to 12.2V, If I let off the gas pedal it will go up to 13.6-14.5v until I step into the pedal again. I don't understand if I am missing something. When I had it a GM to test everything, They said the battery was testing bad. I forced them into the negative cable replacement. I have already replaced the Alternator, now the Negative cable, and battery. I remember seeing that people have replaced battery after 3+ years. My question is; Did that solve your problem and for how long?? Now that I have changed everything the voltage issue is still odd. I understand that the Cruze has the smart voltage regulation system, controlled by the ECM. But, Isn't the system suppose to be between 12.6(float) voltage and 14.5volts? It the alternator putting out 12.2 volts for long periods of time (hwy Drive)
> de-charging the battery and not good for the new battery I just replaced? I hope you have some insight for me.
> Thanks for your help
> 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel 37500 miles.
> ...


Hey James!

Did you ever get any answers on your question about the voltage? I just replaced the alternator in my Cruze Diesel because the battery was dying and now it’s doing the same thing again. I would love to hear if you found a resolution to this. 


Thank you in advance,

Derek W


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

DerekW_BIMninja said:


> Hey James!
> 
> Did you ever get any answers on your question about the voltage? I just replaced the alternator in my Cruze Diesel because the battery was dying and now it’s doing the same thing again. I would love to hear if you found a resolution to this.
> 
> ...


you have a drain somewhere

my blind spot sensors were my culprit


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## DerekW_BIMninja (Sep 1, 2019)

I replaced the alternator before I got on here and found out that the alternator on the Cruze Diesel does not provide constant voltage. The battery tested fine so I didn’t think that was the problem. I read into the the threads on here and saw that the cold cranking amps for the Diesel factory battery was not up to specs (I’m not sure where to find that spec). The battery that was in the car was an AC Delco with a 765 CCA rating. I went with an Interstate battery that had an 850 CCA a rating. It was not something I requested, it was just the battery that they show in their system that is for the Cruze Diesel. 

After changing the battery everything is finally running smoothly. Before the battery went completely dead I had noticed several sluggish turn overs. In hindsight it makes sense that it was the battery but I had the battery tested 3 times ( by O’Reilly, Autozone, and AAA). The AAA guy input the CCA rating and other info on the battery and still said it tested good. So I replaced the alternator unnecessarily and replaced the battery which put me at around $560usd out of pocket but everything is good now.


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## jkhawaii (Feb 12, 2016)

the charging system is very advanced on the cruze. it varies the voltage depending on load, it also acts a little like a hybrid, charging the battery on decel. That said, you seem to have another problem.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

The voltage meter on the DIC has jumped around between 12 and 15 volts on mine since it only had 30k miles on the car (when I bought it). It's fine.


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