Dead Battery Mystery

[blarpu]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and spent about 15 minutes trying to find a similar thread or post but couldn't. I hope this isn't a repeat!

I'm mostly a weekend driver and I had my car parked for about 4 days in the same spot with no driving. I returned to find that the car wouldn't respond to my key FOB and when I got inside, the whole thing was dead. I assumed a dead battery and a jump did the trick just fine.

I racked my brain to figure out what I could have left on but I'm not one to usually forget to turn off things so I can't figure out what would have killed the battery. Has this happened to anybody else?

I read on another thread that newer models (mine is a 2012 LTZ so maybe it doesn't have this) automatically turn off anything that was left on after 5 or 10 minutes to prevent dead batteries.

The only thing I can think of is that I always use the Auto Lights feature. Is it possible that the Auto feature malfunctioned and the lights never turned off? The last two times I drove at night I waited and the lights turned off with Auto perfectly.

Or do I possibly just have a bad battery? The car is only two years old with 20,000 miles so I think the battery should be OK.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Eric Smit]

could be a dead battery. did you leave a door cracked?

 

[Sonic]

Potentials: Auto lights not functioning properly, radio not turning off like it should when the car is shut off and the driver's door opened, dome light left on, some other aftermarket accessory or add on that remains on when the car is off? Or just a weak battery that is on its last legs? What is the history of the car that you're aware of?

 

[Eric Smit]

all good potentials.

 

[Preloader]

I had the same thing happen once early in my Sonic ownership. It was after sitting for 3-4 days, and it was dead. Jumped it. Hasn't happened since. Might just be a fluke.

 

[Nohotrod]

I just had the same issue this evening. The car sat for 5 days. I had to have battery jumped. I know for sure that no lights were left on. That is why I decided to look into this and came across this forum to find out if anyone had same issue. Mine is a 2013 LT with 10k miles. I will find out in the morning if it starts.

 

[SuperFudd]

Hmmm...
I think I read that Sonics switch from standby mode to some sort of battery conserving mode after awhile. Maybe that feature failed?

 

[Preloader]

Well, every time the door is opened the ECM "wakes up".

One time I was playing with my sunroof, investigating a possible modification. I must have opened and closed the door 30-40 times. Dead battery.

It's true that if voltage gets low enough, it kicks into conservation mode, and won't even attempt to engage the starter.

The benefit is that it only takes a light jump to get going again.

 

[sonic13rs]

We parked at DIA (airport parking) in Feb for 16 days. Started right up. I had my backup battery jumper in back. Did you have a GPS plugged in?

 

[rdss]

I deployed a few times for 3+ months while I had my Sonic and never had any issues with it sitting. I did leave a USB power adapter plugged into the outlet with nothing but the led running in my '10 Sierra and it killed my battery over a 3 month deployment, but my 2-3 week detachments didn't have an effect in it.

 

[Tango71]

One time we had a VW that used to somehow drain the battery. It turned out to be the rear drivers light housing. Inside the housing there was sort of a circuit board printed on to the plastic using metal strips. They were corroded and the corrosion was causing a bridge between two strips. I'm not sure if the sonic is designed this way or not but its worth to take a look at the lights as well. Just because they're not on doesn't mean something isnt happening behind the scenes.

 

[law242]

On the positive terminal there is a big wire that screws on with like a half inch nut and then there is a smaller wire with a 7 mm nut. If that small wire gets loose the entire car becomes a paper weight this has happened like five times to me. It is a major issue I have since used lock washers so it can't happen again. It makes a fully charged battery act 100% dead

 

[Eric Smit]

an Ultragauge will also kill your battery after a few days.

 

[$ub$onic]

an Ultragauge will also kill your battery after a few days.

Really? I have not had that issue.

 

[Eric Smit]

must be the setting I used.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

I deployed a few times for 3+ months while I had my Sonic and never had any issues with it sitting. I did leave a USB power adapter plugged into the outlet with nothing but the led running in my '10 Sierra and it killed my battery over a 3 month deployment, but my 2-3 week detachments didn't have an effect in it.

The sonics power port turns off with the ignition. I have noticed that the USB port constantly turns power on and off while everything else is off.

Blarpu, do you have an iPod or something else plugged into the USB port? Maybe that's your problem.

an Ultragauge will also kill your battery after a few days.

must be the setting I used.

The obd2 port is powered at all times. Even when the ultragauge is off its never fully off. It's always looking for an indication that the engine is running.

 

[Eric Smit]

yes precisely, but there are some different settings for how often it looks.

 

[Nohotrod]

I continue to have dead battery issues. When to dealer and was advised that it most likely do to short trips. Which makes sense as the car does make a lot of them.

 

[lipper11]

I just had an issue on my 2013.came home from work locked the car went in the house. I happens to look out the window about an half hour later and the radio was still on. It's a my link unit. I went out and tried to turn it off ,and it would't, after 3 tries of opening the door it finally shut down. Point being if I haden't of looked the battery would more likely have gone dead.just saying