Why is my battery dying?
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 335
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From: northern cali.
Why is my battery dying? I have a 06 Z06 and I'm going crazy trying to figure out what is happening to my battery.I lock it and make sure everything is off.However it still dies after 1-2 days of not driving it sombody tell me what is wrong.I don't really want to take it to the dealership but I think I'm outta options
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TECH Resident
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 818
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From: Iowa
try taking it to a dealership and have them test the battery, i work at a dealership and we dont charge anything to have the battery tested or you could even try taking the battery to a parts store(mostly autozone and advanced auto) some have battery testers where they put a certain load on the battery to insure good cranking amps or you could have something draining the battery like a light or something still plugged in,it sounds like a bad battery though.
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 335
Likes: 0
From: northern cali.
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On The Tree
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 125
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From: Texas
Sounds like some sort of parasitic draw on the battery. If the battery is in fact good- there could be a control module in the vehicle that is not "going to sleep" properly. Put a multimeter on the terminals on AMPs and see what it is reading- each vehicle is different but it shouldnt be more than 2-3 milliamps. If more- then you are going to have to pull each individual fuse-only one at a time mind you-with the meter still hooked up and see if the amp reading drops. If it does then you have isolated what circuit the short to power is in or what control module is malfunctioning. Ive read somewhere of the grounding post being bad on the C6's but who knows....I only work on Apache helicopters haha 
Man-Crush Warning
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 755
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From: abq,nm
+1. You need to have the car in reverse when parked. That goes for any year C6. Your sales consultant should have explained that to you. And it is also in the manual.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2011
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Corvette battery drain The Corvette Z06 has a static current drain that is way above normal drain currents. I have measure 65- 70 mA in my 2008 Z06. This will be the cause for a battery death in the 1.5 to 3 week time frame depending upon charge, battery condition and temperature. The profile usually has a 5 - 6 A drain for about 5 minutes plus minus and then goes to another lower plateau, and eventually to the 65 - 70 mA plateau in sleep mode. Typically most vehicles are less than 3 mA, usually 1 mA. Hope this helps.
Jim
Jim
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Dark SS, you are correct, 1 -2 days does not make sense. Either battery is far gone to begin with or something is not shutting down. The current drain that I noted would easily last 2 weeks w/o incident witha known good battery.
Best
Jim
Best
Jim
11 Second Club
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 300
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From: Central Florida
Do a parasitic drain test. Hook a multimeter (in ammeter mode) in series with the battery with the car off (undo the (-) battery cable, hook the meter in series). Let the car sit for a couple of hours so everything goes into sleep mode and/or powers down. At that point, read the amp draw on the meter. It should be something like 200... maybe 300 mA, but I'm not sure of that number for your car exactly. If it's over 400-500 mA, you have a significant parasitic draw and that's what is killing the battery when the car sits.
At that point, go into the fuse panel and one-by-one, pull fuses until the amp draw goes away (don't put them back! Keep pulling fuses until the draw disappears from the meter or you may wake the car from sleeping). Take note of which fuse you pull that finally kills the parasitic draw, as that will tell you what circuit is causing the draw. Troubleshoot it from there. Good luck... let us know what you find.
At that point, go into the fuse panel and one-by-one, pull fuses until the amp draw goes away (don't put them back! Keep pulling fuses until the draw disappears from the meter or you may wake the car from sleeping). Take note of which fuse you pull that finally kills the parasitic draw, as that will tell you what circuit is causing the draw. Troubleshoot it from there. Good luck... let us know what you find.
As suggested, I'd check the battery first. It's 5 years old.
The need to keep the shifter in reverse for battery drain was for 2005 only. Keeping the car in reverse is to help keep it from rolling away.
The need to keep the shifter in reverse for battery drain was for 2005 only. Keeping the car in reverse is to help keep it from rolling away.
When the car is in reverse (2005-2006) it turns off some sensors that were draining the battery while the car was parked.
However, it's always good practice to park in reverse. We all know GM doesn't know how to make a proper hand brake.
However, it's always good practice to park in reverse. We all know GM doesn't know how to make a proper hand brake.
