I have a 2002 WS6 Firebird with 40000 miles on it. I have done nothing to the car other than fluid changes and battery replacements. I live in a hot climate so three years for a battery for me was pretty typical when I drove it to work with covered parking. From 2010 on, I don't drive it to work, the battery lasts about 5 years, and it gets used 12 to 24 miles per month but sits in the garage a lot and not on hot pavement or in the sun.

The first time my battery died in around 2005 when it was pretty new, was a pretty typical experience. Worked great one day, and then next morning, the car clicked, and I replaced the battery, and everything was fine.

In 2008, I'd turn the key and nothing would happen as in nothing: no chiming, no instrument lights, no cranking. I'd turn it to off, and try again, and the car would start right up. I googled for the problem and found stuff about the chip in the key being the wrong ohms, and a whole lot of stuff that sounded expensive, and with it being out of warranty I did nothing. Also, sometimes the car would start, and stall out, and then on the second start would be fine. After a month of this, I went to start the car and got the click. I replaced the battery, and these problems never happened again.

Until. . .

2009 (that last battery was crap). I was leaving work, and the car cranked slow and ran rough at idle. It wanted to stall. I had to be somewhere so I drove with two feet to keep it from stalling, and where I was going was a 12 mile freeway drive so I thought for sure the car would get enough juice if it was the battery, and I left the car running when I got where I was going, and left quick, and headed home. After that, the car didn't have the slow start, but it was back to doing the start, stall, start and run. Then it went to start, stall, start and run rough. Then it went to start, stall, start run and then it chimed and all the instrument lights went on and then off, over and over. I started to head home and was going to call out sick. Then the car stalled. I started it, and everything seemed fine, so I went to work. After work, I got home, and took the battery in to be tested. They said the battery was "fine" and just needed charged. I did that, and the problems with the rough idle just wouldn't go away. Again, I thought it was going to be expensive so I ignored it.

Then I learned about a load test for a battery. The store did that after I begged, and then said it failed, and gave me a new battery with a nice prorate, and the car substantially drove ok except for one bad start up after a movie. It wasn't too long after the battery change. I thought maybe the car hadn't fully relearned it's settings because the battery was out for over a day while I messed with the trip to the autoparts store. After that night, the car never acted up again.

In 2014, the car started to do the start, stall, start run, and I preemptively changed the battery.

Then in 2018, I started to get a crank with nothing that sounded like it was starting up, and on a second try it would start up. I didn't think much of it because it was happening after sitting for a month at a time because I was taking long vacations. I thought it was reasonable that if the fuel lines lost pressure that maybe a full month was just too long to not be started. That's the only time it ever seemed to do it.

Now, about a month ago, it was doing the start, stall, start run, but it didn't seem to really be running just right. Then it threw codes P0171 and P0174. The person I was visiting had a code reader. I only had to drive 3 more miles to get home, and had a trip planned for a month, and figured I'd replace the battery when I got home and all would be well like all the other times.

When I got home, the car clicked. I expected it. I called a friend to bring me a battery. I took my old battery out. The friend took his dear sweet time, and called and said he couldn't bring it until the next day. Fine. However, the battery was out for a long time with NO juice to the electronics.

I replaced the battery. The car cranked. I stopped. I cranked again. The car would idle to 1000 and down to about 300, and up again. I shut it down, and tried it again, and the car started right up. The check engine light didn't come back on. I thought it was cured.

I drove the car about three days later. It ran AWFUL. It was idling up and down, and when put in gear, it would stall. Not in gear, and turning on the A/C would make it stall. I thought it had to learn things again, but this time was different because when it relearned before, it only seemed like it would stall but never did. This time it would stall. I tried to drive it around the block because there were two of us, and I could have pushed it home and back in the driveway (I'm on a small block.)

Eventually, the car started to not stall at idle. I could turn on the A/C. Seemed to act normal while accelerating in drive. I was still afraid it, but traffic was light, and I drove it three miles to the store. The check engine light stayed off. I was starting to feel more confident.

I left the store, started it right up first try. Then the engine fan changed speed a little, and the car felt off, and the check engine light came on. I do not know if it's a different code. I haven't checked that yet because the time before, I borrowed someone else's code checker.

The car has about 5 miles on it since the new battery was put in.

The questions: as a car ages, does it take longer to relearn it's settings? Can a car having forgotten its settings cause it to throw a code?

It's very possible that two things are wrong with the car: the battery and something else. However, all the other times I had trouble that I thought were major, they all got worked out when proper voltage was maintained, but an extended period of time. I'm hoping that someone can confirm that these Firebirds just hate weak batteries, or a time line to wait before I start shelling out money to get it diagnosed.

 

Are you using a gas Stabilizer? I'm guessing the fuel isn't that great if you only put a few miles on it per month.
Take a look at the info in the link below. The issues you're having are possibly related to the codes you mentioned.

Common Causes of P0171 and P0174

 

No.

When it threw the code the first time, the car was low on gas, and I just happened to be on the way to the gas station. The car took about 9 gallons, and I think the capacity is 13.5 gals.

I probably drive the car more than I reported. A typical month can be between 12 and 24 miles a month, but my car gets about 18.5 miles/gal. In the last 12 months, I used 47 gallons. I don't know how long gas has to sit before it gets too old. That's close to three fillups a year. The oldest gas in the tank at a max would be about 4 months.

 

I would invest in battery tender if I were in your place.It would keep your battery at full charge and eliminate the thought of it being a low battery.I just had to drive my car over a 100 miles to get the emissions to reset to ready.All because my battery went dead just sitting.But mine ran fine after a charge.Now own A tender.

 

I do have a trickle charger. The thing is that my old battery was 5 years old. It currently has a NEW battery reading 12.62 There comes a point that they don't hold a charge anymore, and there is just something about this car and what happens to a battery installed in it that even if a multimeter reads 12.6, it really can't deliver that voltage for long. That's why I wasted a month that prior time because the store tested it, and it really needed to be loaded tested for the real problem to show.

I'm encouraged by your "100 miles to reset" part of the story.

Even with a trickle charger, in this case, it might not have mattered because I'd already removed the battery thinking my friend was on his way, and he cancelled until the next day. The computer was without power for at least 12 hours. I didn't want to put the old battery back in. I didn't even think to.

 

IMO learn more about batterys so it gets easier to tell whats going on

do you know how to tell if a battery is good?
There are two ways a batt can fail in general to our senses:
1. voltage failure
2. load failure

Most of the time, a bad battery will show up immediately as a #1 voltage failure. That is, a $5 device called "multi meter" from harbor freight tools (sometimes they are 'free' giveaways) can be used to tell potential difference "voltage" between + and - of battery when used properly.
A fully charged batt will read 12.6 or more.
Anything 12.5 or less you think of "needs to be charged"


This is for starters and all the supplied info I would present if I wasn't being a tal0n today. This is the beginning of his post: Now there are also rules of the electrolyte involved, you can pump a charged ion that doesn't actually have to become a solid part of crystalline lead lattice atoms, anything in solution on the "other side" counts for a while, before ions settle as solid lattice, charge can be extended to beyond 12.6 almost 13.0 13.1v is typical "surface charged" after a car is shut off from running at 14.6v from an alternator for a while. A strong surface charge would allow you to crank an engine for a while and still show over 12.7v+ on the battery, "surface charged". Regular wall-chargers often shut off when a battery reaches some voltage so 'over-charging' and 'surface charging' is kept to a minimum I think? This is where it varies from manufacturer how the circuit is designed to regulate the battery voltage over time. A typical charges seeks to reach a maximum voltage, say 14.6v from an alternator for example. Always 14.6v all the time would probably hurt a battery, but nobody leaves the car on for 24 hours+, also the PCM since 02 regulates the alternator to prevent this, many turn down their alternators to 12.65v-12.8v ranges for fully charged batterys in order to prevent high voltage overcharging situation which might deteriorate the battery. At wide open throttle we turn the alternator off completely and use battery surface charge 13v to run a drag race. Then bring the alternator back on when the race is over. Yes, technically 14.6v is 'superior' for reaction of injectors but technology has progressed since 2002 to the point where it no longer matters if we have a 2000cc injector and 12.5v to work with, the injector driver is still smooth and can achieve reasonable idle w/ gasoline since like 2005~ 1200rwhp injectors daily driver.

So bottom line, 12.6v to 13.0v at the battery is a 'good' battery. Now why did I use quotes...

oh @!#* So the other thing, #2 load failure. Sometimes, it happens, a battery say thing like 12.6v but when you try to USE that battery to power some device the voltage just disappears, drops instantly and the device fails to turn. Some circuits and some batterys can show a very high voltage, but lack the ability to sustain current under load. Likewise, some very small voltages (9v is very small) cam pack a deadly quantity of current under load.So you can't ever tell by just the voltage how powerful a circuit or battery really is. You can just look at a 2.5v AA battery and know it can't really hurt you. But one of those can provide amplified 250,000 volts and produce flames/electrical discharge with a simple $5 device from ebay. So it can actually hurt you, and if you put six of them together you get near a ~12.5v+ car battery voltage. a very small battery though. And it would produce a mighty strong spark. But still not able to turn over a typical 4 or 8 cylinder engine with a starter. We know intuitively (I think so) you cant start the engine with six AA's, yet it would also show us ~12.5v to 14v if tested with the meter just like car battery.
So we must distinguish the #2 load of a circuit from it's #1voltage
https://electronics.howstuffworks.co...h/battery6.htm
For car battery is depends on type and who makes it, if they have one of these:






As with most things if you spend some time looking at a couple charts you will realize your goal and how it works.
DC cycles- only want to pull about 10% of the battery capacity to start the car and get it going. Then alternator will charge it back up right away. And you can get 2500 cold start cycles minimum guarantee per manufacturing specification. So get a large enough battery that very little is used to start, size the battery too large and keep it charged and it should last a long time, according to this data.
A battery discharges a given rate while sitting. So you can go 70% or 50% just by letting it sit. Look how poorly lifespan at 50%, that is what 'kills' a typical battery like ours