The other night I got a check engine light so I disconected the battery.the next night I hooked it back up & the car would'nt start,not even lights or nothing.The headlights popped open at first then stayed up.It was like the whole car was dead.I connected a battery charger for awhile & voltage was sitting at 12.5 volts at the battery & 10.5 at the alternater,car still dead.I didn't know what to do. The next morning I hooked up a portable booster to just the car cables & the headlights went down.I put in a new battery & voila,everything is good .Isn't that wierd that I can have good voltage & it still isn't good enough.There must be an internal short or something.
I've never had a problem with my battery but I've read a few threads stating similar experiences. Now watch my battery will die on me now that I've said this
Poof is right. My 02's battery died/column locked after being off the Battery Tender for just a week or so.
My car is comming off the tender next week after a modded winter storage. The last thing I need is to be miles away from home and have the battery go on me. Now I'm nervous.
Poof is right. My 02's battery died/column locked after being off the Battery Tender for just a week or so.
Yep, happened to me 2 weeks ago...battery went out on me so I thought it was the steering column lock. Went to advanced auto anways and picked up battery and did the lock recall that week as well.
Did you test the alternator to make sure it's charging? If not, you'll run down the new battery and likely damage it. It's easy enough to check, or take it into AutoZone or any of those places and they can put the machine on it and check the alternator/regulator function in a minute or two.
I had the same problem on my 02 Z about a week ago. Came back to my car after shopping, and the car was dead as a doornail, absolutely nothing worked. Triple A came and gave me a jump start. On my way home, the ABS light, then active handling service lights came on. I was like WTF? Then a few minutes later the car starting acting weird and the service engine light came on. I made it home, turned the car off, then back on, but it was dead as a doornail again. I disconnected the battery and took it to sears. They checked it out and told me the battery was no good, it was very weak and there was a bunch of dead cells. Picked up a new battery from Chevy and everything has been just fine.
If that OEM battery is 2.5 to 3 yrs old. Don't wait. Get a new one. Mine only made it 2.5 yrs. and I thought I'd been watching it and keeping it on battery tender etc. Then, without warning, one day-like the man said- like turning off a light switch. Toast. You can choose to learn from our experience or you can ignore it and surely you too one day soon will then be "experienced", but we'd never say we told you so.
I don't get it. If there's been that many failures you would think GM would issue a battery recall.
Is it a failure due to an inherent flaw or normal wear & tear by GM's standards? I agree 2.5 years or so on a battery is the shortest I've ever encountered. My story is similar to the others, come out one morning and nothing- couldn't even unlock the doors w/ the keyfob.
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The next morning I hooked up a portable booster to just the car cables & the headlights went down.I put in a new battery & voila,everything is good .Isn't that wierd that I can have good voltage & it still isn't good enough.There must be an internal short or something. 
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