Manager Forum

2005 CTS is our personal vehicle we purchased in 2009 with 14,000 miles on it. It's a great car except that it is getting it's fifth new battery since we've owned it. Without warning the batteries go from good to bad instantly. Charging voltage is 14.6 to 14.7 volts constantly. Starting system checks good. Cables are like new. With the last new battery, we replaced the battery insulation blanket. Any ideas?

Have you checked the parasitic draw yet? Sounds like some computer is not going to sleep.

We have checked for parasitic draw several times. No problems found and the battery will go from fully charged to dead in the time it takes to fill the car with gas. Also the battery will not recharge at all after the event.

Voltage looks good. What is the amps? Possible not generating enough amps to recharge completely?

Now I'm not sure on this particular application but I've had some where I had to order specific from the dealer. There are a few batteries that are super special and all aftermarket will have one that will work but isn't specific. Those particular batteries will overwork and the debris will get high enough to internal short. I've seen OEM batteries that are wider and the cell groups are almost 4" higher than others,

Thanks for your ideas guys. We will do more exploring and if we find a definitive answer I will post it.
Larry

The TSB's on this are very interesting reading. The draw's like Ric stated play an important part in this car. It appears that if this car has all the bells and whistles that have a lot of KAM involved it will tear apart a battery in no time if it isn't driven on a somewhat daily basis. There are a few other things I'm beginning to remember on these beauties. We've run into a few issues where relays have been damaged do to multiple low battery issues. The contacts may be damaged and will not release much like the points us old timers would run across because of weak condensers. They would blacken and melt a bit and then lock together. I got into the habit of when we were running into battery issues like this was after the battery charger was on for a while before I turned the key to start it I would run my fingers across the relays to feel for heat. If one was stuck causing a battery draw it would be warm - hot. Once the vehicle was started it was given a chance to trigger and may reset.

Will the battery charge with it unhooked from the car. Have had this cars do some werid things. Need to check for draw over night if u can. If u have a metter that will do min max leave it on all night and see what the high pint of draw was. Had one that the alternator if it stoped in one spot would kill the battery. Have had onstair kill batterys in a few hours.