# 2012 chevy cruze- electrical problem.



## cnrobinson (Jun 21, 2016)

On my way to work yesterday while driving all of my inside electrical such as radio, dash lights everything cut off but my car was still running. I made it to work which was only like 10 minutes from when the lights cut off. When getting out of my car I noticed a burning or hot wire smell coming from under the hood, no smoke just a smell. I began researching and went to check to make sure all the cables were properly hooked to the battery during my lunch which was 4 hours after I arrived at work, everything under the hood was still hot to touch and the smell was still there. When going to leave that afternoon about 4 hours later my car would never crank, no lights, no electrical power what so ever, the key is stuck in the ignition and the car is not able to be moved out of park. We tried jumping it for over 30 minutes and nothing. The battery was tested and the cables attatched to the battery were tested, all getting good fire and had good connection, however something is killing the battery as soon as it is charging. They came to tow the car to the Chevy Dealership this morning and I am waiting to hear back from them. My keys are still stuck in the ignition, my car wouldn't even lock we had to manually lock the doors lastnight and he had a hard time putting it on the roll back because of it being stuck in park. Its like the entire electrical system is dead. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem as well? I have had nothing BUT problems with my car since I got it, its been issue after issue after issue, now this...


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## BrandoFisher117 (Mar 14, 2016)

Have you had the negative battery cable TSB performed on your Cruze?


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

I don't believe the issue with a bad negative cable would result in no prior symptoms and a bad smell with zero response to the ignition. You have a short it sounds like. Try to locate the short and go from there 

The shift lock can be unlocked with the proper key and persuasion via the key hoke to the right of the shifter, the little black plastic cap

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## cnrobinson (Jun 21, 2016)

They towed it to the Chevy Dealership this morning and they cant get it to do anything either... waiting on them to call me back to let me know something. I'm to the point if they can get the **** thing running long enough for me to get somewhere and trade the bitch in Chevy wont have to worry about me anymore. Chevrolet has forked out more money into fixing my car under warranty than the thing is worth. Its a Lemon they just don't want to admit it. You would think after them having to replace and pay over 5k in parts just this year they would get tired of paying.


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

cnrobinson said:


> They towed it to the Chevy Dealership this morning and they cant get it to do anything either... waiting on them to call me back to let me know something. I'm to the point if they can get the **** thing running long enough for me to get somewhere and trade the bitch in Chevy wont have to worry about me anymore. Chevrolet has forked out more money into fixing my car under warranty than the thing is worth. Its a Lemon they just don't want to admit it. You would think after them having to replace and pay over 5k in parts just this year they would get tired of paying.


Absolutely, I had one more warranty repair in mine left before they'd take it back lol

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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

cnrobinson said:


> They towed it to the Chevy Dealership this morning and they cant get it to do anything either... waiting on them to call me back to let me know something. I'm to the point if they can get the **** thing running long enough for me to get somewhere and trade the bitch in Chevy wont have to worry about me anymore. Chevrolet has forked out more money into fixing my car under warranty than the thing is worth. Its a Lemon they just don't want to admit it. You would think after them having to replace and pay over 5k in parts just this year they would get tired of paying.


Have the dealer look up the negative cable product update.......the warranty was extended to 10 years 120k miles.

Your description matches the bulletin and the dealer is NOT advised to try to reproduce the concern.......all based on customer complaint.

Someone will post the service operation number......read it and see if you agree.

Rob


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## BrandoFisher117 (Mar 14, 2016)

If Robby and I are talking about the same thing, see http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM507523/SB-10057574-8899.pdf

Edit: TSB #14311


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

BrandoFisher117 said:


> If Robby and I are talking about the same thing, see http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM507523/SB-10057574-8899.pdf
> 
> Edit: TSB #14311



Thanks...that is correct......Special Policy #14311.

O.P......I might add......after jolting my old memory a few times, I have seen this same behavior if a battery shorts out internally.

Hope I'm not confusing anyone......so, two possibilities.

Rob


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

Robby said:


> Thanks...that is correct......Special Policy #14311.
> 
> O.P......I might add......after jolting my old memory a few times, I have seen this same behavior if a battery shorts out internally.
> 
> ...


I agree with the battery internal short, but if a voltmeter red 12-14 volts across the terminals I don't believe there's a short. 

The builtin refers to messages and alerts or function going on and off, I have the factory cable (if it's not broken don't fix it kind of deal lol) so bear with me, I don't mean to argue I just want to open the door a little. If his functions and electrical response to the car was completely cut off, is there still a possibility of the negative terminal b3ing the cause? 

I'm an electrician by trade so I'm just trying to apply what I know day to day to this, I don't mean to question those who know more than I lol so please don't be offended.

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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

At that age a ground cable and/or battery would not be unusual. If the battery finally ended up open, it might appear to take a charge, but still be a bad battery.

On the wilder side, a bad diode in the alternator could do wonders - shorting out the system even when the car is turned off.

Insufficient information to arm-chair troubleshoot this one. Just have to dig in with a voltmeter and someone who knows how it use it. While the Cruze can be a complex car due to all the computers, I think this this problem is pretty simple.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Chevy_Country said:


> I agree with the battery internal short, but if a voltmeter red 12-14 volts across the terminals I don't believe there's a short.
> 
> The builtin refers to messages and alerts or function going on and off, I have the factory cable (if it's not broken don't fix it kind of deal lol) so bear with me, I don't mean to argue I just want to open the door a little. If his functions and electrical response to the car was completely cut off, is there still a possibility of the negative terminal b3ing the cause?
> 
> ...


Good.....You as an electrician should be able to visualize this.

Where the cable enters the battery terminal it is crimped.....no solder, just a cold crimp.
It appears to be copper coated aluminum and course stranded.
The crimp, according to Chevy, was applied below a specific specification and as the cable ages (moisture/heat/cold/yada yada) a resistance at the crimp develops.......still feels tight but evil things happening within.

The various computers (and the radio darn near is one) will not tolerate 'dirty' current and will just shut down for a moment.
Most reports were the radio went blank, all instruments went to zero as though the key was shut off, but the engine keeps running.
In a moment, all the dash warning lights come back on, the instruments recover, sometimes the abs light or service power steering light remain on until the next key cycle.
Sometimes a 'lost communication' code will be stored.

So, a perfect looking cable is essentially open (high resistance exceeding the ecm and bcm tolerance) 

Chevy determined this failure is not 100% of the build and takes a few years to create havoc......so, they provided a service bulletin and extended the warranty for the component.

Hope that helped.....my typing finger (yes, only one) is sore.

Rob


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

Robby said:


> Good.....You as an electrician should be able to visualize this.
> 
> Where the cable enters the battery terminal it is crimped.....no solder, just a cold crimp.
> It appears to be copper coated aluminum and course stranded.
> ...


Yea thanks! That's a more thorough description than even Chevrolet posted themselves lol, thanks for the elaboration. So if the OP had prior symptoms that either weren't noticed, ignored, or misdiagnosed and treated as something else, this cable could most certainly be the cause. The original poster hadn't mentioned of intermittent electrical failures just prior or in the past but they may have as well. It would be terrible luck for the first syptom of the bad cable to cut total power and response off completely and not intermittently, however mixed with another problem or if it affected a particular circuit in the ECU, perhaps the starter motor, it's also possible lol.

Some more food for thought, I believe there's a chance that even if the cable was replaced under warranty and they may have said you're all set (and continue to look for other explanations), you could have had another faulty cable installed. They could be looking for a zebra when they've been hearing a horse all along.


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## BrandoFisher117 (Mar 14, 2016)

The only reason I mentioned the cable earlier is because with all of the electrical issues, our Cruzen are computers on wheels. I tried to give the easiest explanation before going into specifics. So if there was any confusion, I apologize.


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

BrandoFisher117 said:


> The only reason I mentioned the cable earlier is because with all of the electrical issues, our Cruzen are computers on wheels. I tried to give the easiest explanation before going into specifics. So if there was any confusion, I apologize.


No need! I wasnt too familiar with the negative cable issue, but I could explain the symptoms, I just wanted to understand it a little better lol

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