Car completely dead

[sdgdf]

Was driving tonight and the car seemed normal, then it just shut down completely. No power anywhere. Turn the key, no aux power. No power door locks. Key fob does nothing. Can hook up jumper cables, nothing.

Earlier in the evening my ignition switch was acting up big time. Major weirdness with it. And it had been behaving differently for a week. Could that be it?

 

[Syrup]

When was the last time you changed the battery?

 

[sdgdf]

When was the last time you changed the battery?

1.5 years ago, believe it was October 2018. When the previous battery died it gave me a lot of warning, the interior lights were progressively dimmer over a couple weeks, then it wouldn't crank.

Just hooked up a charger and on 2 amp slow charge it reads 75% charge on the battery?

Didn't get to post this earlier as I was typing on my phone and had to conserve its battery. What I thought was the ignition switch was electrical gremlins? For instance, when I'd unlock the doors the radio would turn on (like when you turn off the car and it stays on until you open a door). Also the cigarette lighter cut off, and when I turned the ignition off and back on it worked again. Also after that happened the display (backlight??) on the radio (non-touchscreen) went black but the text was still there and the controls still worked.

I've also had an issue for a couple weeks now. When I used to turn the ignition to run and then start the car, the dome lights would stay on. The past couple weeks, as I'd cycle the ignition from off to run the dome light would cut off inbetween. Also I swear at one point while driving last week my headlights cut off for a split second.

I haven't checked the connections at the battery, but I swear its tight. Tried wiggling them, but haven't actually disconnected and reconnected yet.

Car also has a $50 walmart battery in it.

Was also using an ancient DC-AC adapter from the 90's to charge my phone. Been using it for months.

I read on the forums here that the radio fuse can cause problems?

 

[Syrup]

The battery should last more than a couple years, but weird stuff happens like this when it goes bad. If you can have it tested at an auto parts store, that would eliminate it as a potential cause.

 

[gnonne]

Also, check the batteries in the key/remote. If they go bad it may cause odd errors due to the theft-deterrent system thinking you have a bad key.

 

[sdgdf]

Battery was on 2A trickle charge all night, charger showed full when I woke up. No change. Removed cables, cleaned them, and reseated, no change. I doubt its battery/alternator, I've owned a lot of older vehicles in the past and had alternators and batteries go out a few times and this doesn't seem like any of that. Right now next thing is pulling the battery and trying a new 1. I don't see how its a bad battery though unless it somehow got disconnected on the inside? I've never had a car with a typical bad battery where you could charge it all night, turn on the 50A starting function on the charger and still get nothing.

I also pulled the fuse panels and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

What's the deal with the theft prevention? Does that kill everything if it sees the key fob as wrong?

Also, the car broke down outside a bar last night. A couple patrons had worked as service advisors at the nearby Chevy dealership. They said it could be the ignition switch? They indicated that if it goes ALL power can get cutoff, not just switched key power?

 

[sdgdf]

The battery should last more than a couple years, but weird stuff happens like this when it goes bad. If you can have it tested at an auto parts store, that would eliminate it as a potential cause.

I guess this is where I should admit I'm a part time Uber driver. I've been over a lot of bumpy ass roads over the past few months, a couple bad potholes, etc. I was in the middle of a pickup when it broke down.

Also, I didn't cover this earlier, but the car has ZERO mods. Its been extremely reliable and basically didn't need anything at all (besides normal maintenance) until 60-70k miles. No aftermarket stereo or anything. It has 115k miles right now.

 

[sdgdf]

After much troubleshooting today, here is the culprit:

Does anyone know what this part is? Its some weird bracket/fuse that's part of the positive terminal connector. Traced lack of power at interior fuse box to here, after contacting the wire connected to it directly to the positive terminal power came back on across the entire car. Is there a part number on the sticker on it?

 

[sdgdf]

I think I found it here:

https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-junction-block-96954323

It seems to be part of this larger junction block.

 

[gnonne]

About the same price here: https://www.gmcarpartsonline.com/p/...tchback/Junction-Block/49176954/96954323.html
But this one is in Cincinnati.
$50 does not sound too bad for a dealer-only part like this, but if you need one right away, maybe a wrecking yard will let you pick one for $20 off a low mile car. GM parts sites show all Sonic years with 1.4L use the same part.

 

[gnonne]

Does it run with this part removed/by-passed? Might be OK while you find a new one.

 

[sdgdf]

Does it run with this part removed/by-passed? Might be OK while you find a new one.

When I bypassed it the interior lights/etc came on, haven't tried starting it yet. Originally wanted to go by the Chevy dealer and see if I could get the part today, but I did manage to find a thread on here mentioning it from a couple years ago. Person in there said they even had an employee discount and it came out to like $140. So I ended up ordering it off Ebay for $64 shipped. Could've gotten it cheaper and/or went with the GM parts sites but they wouldn't really say when it'd be here. Ebay indicated what I bought should be here Thurs/Fri.

Friend of mine said I could bypass it semi-permanently by rigging up an 8 gauge wire to connect it directly. Going to pick some wire up today and see if I can get a temporary solution with that. Do you or anyone else here think it'll cause problems? I didn't want to go this route but I don't want to be out my car for a while. I also think I should at least rig it up and troubleshoot more and see if it cranks/etc.

 

[gnonne]

You may not need any wire to bypass it. It looks like the heavy cable is attached to an eyelet that bolts onto the fuse block, then the fuse block attaches to the battery terminal. I would try taking everything apart and seeing if you have enough "play" to maybe flatten out the bend on the flat metal attachment and bolt that on where the fuse block bolts on normally.
You will want to try it with the hood up and make sure there is no way the negatively grounded body of the car can contact the positive terminal or any exposed positive wiring.

 

[sdgdf]

You may not need any wire to bypass it. It looks like the heavy cable is attached to an eyelet that bolts onto the fuse block, then the fuse block attaches to the battery terminal. I would try taking everything apart and seeing if you have enough "play" to maybe flatten out the bend on the flat metal attachment and bolt that on where the fuse block bolts on normally.
You will want to try it with the hood up and make sure there is no way the negatively grounded body of the car can contact the positive terminal or any exposed positive wiring.

Ok, I may give that a try tomorrow, I really need the car back by this weekend and have been waiting on the part but the seller on Ebay is taking forever to ship it.