Dead battery

[Chrish051873]

Hey all

Went to start my sonic the other day and nothing happened. No lights no ding. There was not a lick of juice in the battery.

I do have 2 amps and a line out converter along with the ultragauge.

I have checked the amps, they are shutting off but as for now I have disconnected them from the battery.

I have also disconnected the ultragauge.

Before I unhooked the amps
I brought the sonic to the dealer, explained what happened. They ran this test on the battery and said that GM would not warranty the battery unless the printout from this machine said it was faulty

It tested good, so now the car is sitting for another 3-4 days and I'm going to try to start it. If it doesn't start how should I approach my dealer ?

Thanks
Chris

 

[sx sonic]

Well if the battery tested good, then it is not the source of the problem and the only thing you could convince them to do is charge it up for a few hours.

From the sounds of it you have a parasitic draw and you've already done some trouble shooting. The most likely culprits are
1. Door not closed all the way. 2. Trunk/hatch not fully closed. 3. aftermarket audio system. 4. Poor battery connection.

Those are the most common and likely culprits.

If this happen with all the aftermarket stuff disconnected all it would take to have the problem diagnosed is requesting a parasitic draw test. Which usually takes less than an hour to confirm if there's a problem and then whatever time is required to track down the proble

If I were in your shoes i'd leave the radio and UG disconnected and be very concious about removing the key and shutting the doors for a week or 2. If it still dies take it to the dealer because there is a problem. If it doesn't you might not have latched a door that night or you'll have to do more work on the stereo.

 

[GeneralZod]

The wife constantly runs the battery down cleaning the Caddie and vacuuming all the cereal snack bits everywhere from the kids. Of course all the lights are on and the stereo. So I jump it and plastidip tiger stripes or off road in her parents yard.

seeing my kids faces in the rear view mirror as the truck goes sideways throwing dead grass in the air is priceless. So was my father-in-law's face. Don't worry, all their grass was killed by the saltwater flooding from Sandy.

 

[Papasonic]

Normally it is very difficult to run the battery down on a Sonic. There is a Battery Power Protection feature built in that shuts the interior lamps off after a few minutes if the key is turned off.
There is also the Retained Accessory Power feature that allows the power windows, sunroof, and the audio system to operate 10 minutes with the key off, or until a door opens; then shuts off the power. Even the headlights turn off automatically on vehicles with the auto headlight feature.
Chrish051873, If you don't already have a battery charger or maintainer; you may benefit from having one, especially with a sound system such as you have.

 

[GeneralZod]

Normally it is very difficult to run the battery down on a Sonic. There is a Battery Power Protection feature built in that shuts the interior lamps off after a few minutes if the key is turned off.
There is also the Retained Accessory Power feature that allows the power windows, sunroof, and the audio system to operate 10 minutes with the key off, or until a door opens; then shuts off the power. Even the headlights turn off automatically on vehicles with the auto headlight feature.

Not if you cycle the ignition. People and my wife have a way of ruining engineered features to protect them.

 

[Papasonic]

Not if you cycle the ignition. People and my wife have a way of ruining engineered features to protect them.

Yes, I'm sure there are ways to circumvent the systems. I know that I have worked on my Sonic with the doors open, and soon the interior lamps go out. It seems as though I would have to try specifically to run the battery down.

 

[sx sonic]

Bah I somehow managed to forget about the doors being part of the auto off, feature while being fully aware that the lights and radio kick off after ~10min.

So that brings the likely culprits to 1. Key being left on. 2. Aftermarket stereo/alarms. 3. Module not going to sleep.

 

[TheAsianSensation]

This happened to me...ended up being a dead cell in the battery...took three trips to the dealership to get the battery to show the fault

 

[TracyJ]

Same here. Just replaced alternator a week ago with genuine GM. Wife took it to the mall this past Saturday. Came back to car and no warning/start up lights, nothing. No power at all. Put jumper cables on and started right up. Took it to Autozone and was told it was a voltage regulator which is built in the alternator. Before taking out and replacing I thought I would take to one more shop and have it checked. Everything checked out fine. Guy said it had a parasitic draw. Hooked it to an ammeter and read 3.75 draw but then would only hold there for a second or two before going down to 0. Wondering if the meter may not be working properly. HELP!

 

[ChrisJ]

Same here. Just replaced alternator a week ago with genuine GM. Wife took it to the mall this past Saturday. Came back to car and no warning/start up lights, nothing. No power at all. Put jumper cables on and started right up. Took it to Autozone and was told it was a voltage regulator which is built in the alternator. Before taking out and replacing I thought I would take to one more shop and have it checked. Everything checked out fine. Guy said it had a parasitic draw. Hooked it to an ammeter and read 3.75 draw but then would only hold there for a second or two before going down to 0. Wondering if the meter may not be working properly. HELP!

You had the alternator replaced with a new GM Alternator, or a rebuilt unit?
90% if not more of replacement alternators are rebuilds and very often don't work right. At least that was my experience back when I actually worked on my cars. I once had to go through 5 rebuilt alternators to get a good one.

It looks like a new GM alternator at rockauto.com is $250 assuming it's similar to the Cruze as they don't list one for the Sonic.

If you paid $50-80, it's a rebuilt unit.

 

[TracyJ]

Yes ChrisJ it is rebuilt. I bought it from work, General Motors Parts warehouse. 140.00. Had an automotive shop here check the battery and alternator and said both were good. They said the car seems to have a parasitic draw. Every time I hook a multimeter to the negative cable and one to terminal, (the negative cable is unhooked from the post), it gives a 3.7 reading that stays for a couple of seconds then goes back down to 0. Don't know if its the multimeter acting up or something else.

 

[ChrisJ]

Yes ChrisJ it is rebuilt. I bought it from work, General Motors Parts warehouse. 140.00. Had an automotive shop here check the battery and alternator and said both were good. They said the car seems to have a parasitic draw. Every time I hook a multimeter to the negative cable and one to terminal, (the negative cable is unhooked from the post), it gives a 3.7 reading that stays for a couple of seconds then goes back down to 0. Don't know if its the multimeter acting up or something else.

A draw for a few seconds is likely normal.
The computer and other circuits get power, do their thing then shut down like normal.

 

[ahtoxa]

90% if not more of replacement alternators are rebuilds and very often don't work right.

Did you piss off the parts guy or what?

When I wheeled the Xterra, I went through alternators like underwear. The alternator was located fairly low on the engine and midwest mud wreaked havoc on it repeatedly. After a good muddy/sandy dunking, the bearings would often make noises.

I got so good at replacing the alternator, that I lengthened the wiring for it, so it's easier to drop down. The entire swap took me less than 30 minutes, which included dropping down two 1/4" steel skid plates, cursing from the mud falling into eyes and ears, replacing alternator and then drinking a beer.

I have replaced 11-12 alternators on my truck alone, plus about 7 on other club members' Xterras.

The whole point is that out of all those swaps, I've seen 1 bad replacement unit. The others were killed by wheelin.

Oh, and the local junkyard gave me a discount on used alternators because I often bought 2-3 at a time to use for me and for club members in a bind.

 

[ChrisJ]

Did you piss off the parts guy or what?

When I wheeled the Xterra, I went through alternators like underwear. The alternator was located fairly low on the engine and midwest mud wreaked havoc on it repeatedly. After a good muddy/sandy dunking, the bearings would often make noises.

I got so good at replacing the alternator, that I lengthened the wiring for it, so it's easier to drop down. The entire swap took me less than 30 minutes, which included dropping down two 1/4" steel skid plates, cursing from the mud falling into eyes and ears, replacing alternator and then drinking a beer.

I have replaced 11-12 alternators on my truck alone, plus about 7 on other club members' Xterras.

The whole point is that out of all those swaps, I've seen 1 bad replacement unit. The others were killed by wheelin.

Oh, and the local junkyard gave me a discount on used alternators because I often bought 2-3 at a time to use for me and for club members in a bind.

Don't know, don't care.
The alternator I went through 5 on was for my 87 grandprix so that was a 1980s GM alternator which is known for being able to even weld without problems. Once I found a good one I didn't have issues.

The second time I change one and went through two was a 1992 GM, which again was known for being one of the best.

The problem is when they allegedly rebuild these they seem to more often than not miss bad windings. It'll work fine at higher rpms but drop off rapidly at or near an idle.

Welding with older GM alt : weldernator finish and test - YouTube

 

[Anarkii]

This happened to me because of a wrong default setting with the Ultraguage.

Power options
Power On = Mode 2 (default)
Power Off = Mode 3 (if revs under 500rpm, UG turns off) - This is the setting you need to change, once its done, the Ultraguage will no longer drain your battery.

If you show torque, for some reason Torque 2 shows more accurate result.

Thats all I can think of, feel free to add to this post if you think there is more important information for the Ultragauge.