dbrunone Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Hey guys, long time since I've posted here. Anyway I had a weird problem the other day that hopefully someone can provide some insight with. Car is 2007 LGT Spec. B, 135k (on original clutch...unrelated brag). The other day I went to start up the car to go to work. Got in, stepped on clutch, turned the key. Dashboard lights up like normal. Normally it goes ka-ka-ka-ka-vrooom, but this time it did one solid normal speed "ka", then suddenly EVERYTHING died...no dash, no lights, no starter, no radio, nothing, totally dead. Opened the hood and put a voltmeter on the battery, reads about 12.5v. I thought that was weird, figured I'd blown a main fuse or something, but I was late for work so I put a trickle charger on the battery anyway and drove my truck to work. Came home that evening, took the charger off (it was on "float" by that point), and the car starts up PERFECT. Everything indicated that the car had lost power for some time....radio presets gone, Nav system asking for date/time, etc. Checked out terminals and cables going to fusebox/starter and block, everything looks relatively corrosion-free and tight. Put an ammeter on it to check for trickle discharge (maybe short somewhere), nothing. No bulging cells or anything weird with battery either. Re-connected everything and let it sit for 2 days, started up just fine after that time. So just to be on the safe side, I put a new battery in it since the other one was 4.5 years old anyway (both Optima Red Tops). Drove it to the store and back today (30min), ran perfect and voltage is 12.7 when I got back, so I think the charging system is fine. Question is, WTF happened? My dad suggested an internal short in the battery, but I'm not so sure. What else should I be looking at here? Any suggestions?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Clean the battery terminals. That should be done once a year before winter, its part of my Fall check in early Oct. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrunone Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Good thought on the terminals, however that would not explain the sudden drop in power from all to nothing, and also how the car worked just fine after charging the battery and not touching the terminals at all. I do use a trick that I learned a long time ago, coat the positive terminal with a thick grease like axle Grease, this prevents air from reaching the terminal and corrosion building up, it worked like a charm and no corrosion was present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted March 14, 2016 I Donated Too Share Posted March 14, 2016 I vote with your father this sounds like a bad battery. Charging it just bought it back to life. If it stayed dead before you started to charge it and ran away in your truck then I am more confident in that. I am glad you changed the battery and I would not suspect another issue - otherwise if you do, I would start looking at some of the master relays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Good thought on the terminals, however that would not explain the sudden drop in power from all to nothing, and also how the car worked just fine after charging the battery and not touching the terminals at all. I do use a trick that I learned a long time ago, coat the positive terminal with a thick grease like axle Grease, this prevents air from reaching the terminal and corrosion building up, it worked like a charm and no corrosion was present. Been telling people about the grease on the terminals for a years on here. That works well but can be messy at times. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrunone Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 I vote with your father this sounds like a bad battery. Charging it just bought it back to life. If it stayed dead before you started to charge it and ran away in your truck then I am more confident in that. I am glad you changed the battery and I would not suspect another issue - otherwise if you do, I would start looking at some of the master relays. But that's what bugs me....it WASN'T dead. Battery still read 12.5v on the multimeter before I put the charger on it. Maybe I need to be looking at grounding connections or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted March 14, 2016 I Donated Too Share Posted March 14, 2016 voltage means very little... AMPS are what make the world go round and the voltage under a load may have dropped considerably. In short... you can still show 12+v on a bad battery with dropped cells. A basic multi-meter can't tell you the true story. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/619YMTPydIS._SL1100_.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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