Cruze went berserk on me---electrical issues??
For roughly the past year my 2011 Cruze LTZ (40k miles and driven in FL) has intermittently stopped responding to my car's remote; for usually no more than 3 minutes the car is completely dead and does not respond to my regular remote or the spare.
Yesterday, I was able to unlock the car as normal, but when I tried to start the car the engine would not start and my check engine light initiated. When I pulled the key out my hazard lights shot on, my trunk randomly opened, and my dashboard switched to show my trip mileage instead of MPH like normal.
On the second attempt, the engine knocked two or three times but started. I drove it around my apartment complex and the radio began switching back and forth from FM band to USB flash drive on its own.
As of this morning it still knocks a time or two but does start. Are these symptoms of an electrical shortage or corrosion somewhere? I had the battery replaced about a year ago and as of last month it tested fine. The only repair I've ever had on it was the locking mechanism on the driver's side door; when I would try to lock the car everything locked except that door. It has worked fine since replacing the locking mechanism.
Any advice here would be great. I'd hate to take it to the dealership knowing I'll be charged $100 to be told they don't know what's wrong. Thanks!
Yesterday, I was able to unlock the car as normal, but when I tried to start the car the engine would not start and my check engine light initiated. When I pulled the key out my hazard lights shot on, my trunk randomly opened, and my dashboard switched to show my trip mileage instead of MPH like normal.
On the second attempt, the engine knocked two or three times but started. I drove it around my apartment complex and the radio began switching back and forth from FM band to USB flash drive on its own.
As of this morning it still knocks a time or two but does start. Are these symptoms of an electrical shortage or corrosion somewhere? I had the battery replaced about a year ago and as of last month it tested fine. The only repair I've ever had on it was the locking mechanism on the driver's side door; when I would try to lock the car everything locked except that door. It has worked fine since replacing the locking mechanism.
Any advice here would be great. I'd hate to take it to the dealership knowing I'll be charged $100 to be told they don't know what's wrong. Thanks!
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Regardless of the age of your battery or it's recent test results your symptoms are classic bad battery or battery cable.
If you got a good price on a battery, my guess is you received a battery of equivalent quality.
Best batteries on the market are Odyssey and North Star. But they don't sell at bargain prices.
Best bang for your buck battery is the Costco Kirkland branded battery. That battery is a true bargain at half the price of those above with 3/4 of their performance.
What you bought at likely 3/4 of the cost of a Kirkland gave you 1/2 the performance = bad value.
If you got a good price on a battery, my guess is you received a battery of equivalent quality.
Best batteries on the market are Odyssey and North Star. But they don't sell at bargain prices.
Best bang for your buck battery is the Costco Kirkland branded battery. That battery is a true bargain at half the price of those above with 3/4 of their performance.
What you bought at likely 3/4 of the cost of a Kirkland gave you 1/2 the performance = bad value.
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I bought the battery at autozone and it was pretty **** expensive. Nonetheless retesting it is on my to do list today. Thanks everyone
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This could also be a bad negative battery cable. http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-g...al-coverage-14311-negative-battery-cable.html
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Check your grounds. If you have access to a multimeter, check the resistance from the top post to where the battery ground cable attaches to the chassis. You should see 0.0-0.1 ohms. If not, check the connections at the battery and chassis.
I had a car some years ago that went nuts like this and it was a loose ground connection.
I had a car some years ago that went nuts like this and it was a loose ground connection.
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Had the battery swapped out at autozone today and it was still under warranty. The cruze not starting and the check engine light have since stopped but the man who changed my battery said the trunk opening and the hazzards turning itself on, along with the other smaller issues I have mentioned point towards electrical issues. Thanks for the ideas of what it could be-- I'll definitely be looking into them.
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The question is - do you have any remaining problems? Unlike older cars, the Cruze is completely computer controlled. Yes, even the hazards and trunk latch. I would take the opinion of the local parts house people with a large grain of salt. What they say is true of older cars where the trunk and hazards are controlled by hardware switches. But that's not how the Cruze runs.
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What he said.
Like a woman, if you're desperate and have nowhere else to turn, taking advice from some random guy at autozone can be necessary. But you have plenty more options at your hand that supersede autozone guy who's only real interest is whatever creates the least work for him and earns him the biggest commission.
Why not tell us the brand of this **** expensive battery that failed in a year so that others can learn from your experience.
Kenny Powers
I have just had the exact same sysmtoms,I have a 2010 CD diesel,I hadn't used the car in a few days and I started to rerun some wiring(just to tidy things up a little)to get some of my accessories running correctly off of the ignition.
I did an initial test of my work,everything work well,then on the next test everything went haywire,lights flashing,hazards turning on,radio changing stations and modes,first I thought I had damaged something rerunning my wiring,as it was getting late and dark,I walked away from them problem(panicking I have to say) I put my battery chargerm on the car overnight,in the morning I checked the battery leads,several of the earthing points,all mine turned out to be was a couple of loose earthing points and a flatish battery.
As someone else said these cars being fully computerised you can not have any fluxuation of voltage or amps,just sends the computer spastic.
I have just had the exact same sysmtoms,I have a 2010 CD diesel,I hadn't used the car in a few days and I started to rerun some wiring(just to tidy things up a little)to get some of my accessories running correctly off of the ignition.
I did an initial test of my work,everything work well,then on the next test everything went haywire,lights flashing,hazards turning on,radio changing stations and modes,first I thought I had damaged something rerunning my wiring,as it was getting late and dark,I walked away from them problem(panicking I have to say) I put my battery chargerm on the car overnight,in the morning I checked the battery leads,several of the earthing points,all mine turned out to be was a couple of loose earthing points and a flatish battery.
As someone else said these cars being fully computerised you can not have any fluxuation of voltage or amps,just sends the computer spastic.
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All this Battery talk and today I'm the proud owner of a brand new 47PS Delco battery replaced under the New Car Warranty with a month to spare. What Warranty would apply with this Battery -12 Months, 18 Months, 30 Months, 48 or 60 Months? Its very hard to find the correct answer for this P.S (Professional Series?) replacement
http://www.acdelco.com/content/dam/..._pdf/ACDelco-battery-warranty-information.pdf
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The fact that you think I'm relying solely on the autozone guy's opinion is cute. I've been driving this car for 4 years now and I think I can tell the difference between a dead battery and electrical issues...my battery was dying, a duralast gold, which perfectly explains the check engine light and car not starting; however anyone with half a brain knows a dying battery should not effect things like hazards or my trunk opening, not to mention the car playing opossum when I try and unlock/lock it from my remote.
It happened again this morning with the new battery in, by the way (my hazards and trunk going crazy).
The autozone guy was not telling me whatever creates the least work for him but rather simply agreed with my opinion on the issue. It's a chevy the reliability still sucks. Shocker it's having problems 4 years in.
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Kenny,
With the exception of the cabin doors and hood release the Cruze is 100% computer controlled. Even the trunk release is controlled by computer. Any fluctuation in voltages and/or current will send the car into absolute fits. GM has acknowledged there's a problem with the negative battery cable and extended the warranty on this part to 120,000 miles or 10 years. This is http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-g...al-coverage-14311-negative-battery-cable.html and does not require the dealer duplicate the issues, just that the owner report them. Your Autozone guy correctly identified this as an electrical issue but he probably doesn't know the underlying cause. Get that cable replaced before you do any other troubleshooting on electrical issues.
With the exception of the cabin doors and hood release the Cruze is 100% computer controlled. Even the trunk release is controlled by computer. Any fluctuation in voltages and/or current will send the car into absolute fits. GM has acknowledged there's a problem with the negative battery cable and extended the warranty on this part to 120,000 miles or 10 years. This is http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-g...al-coverage-14311-negative-battery-cable.html and does not require the dealer duplicate the issues, just that the owner report them. Your Autozone guy correctly identified this as an electrical issue but he probably doesn't know the underlying cause. Get that cable replaced before you do any other troubleshooting on electrical issues.
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Eddy cruze, I Just made a post about the Battery a week ago, the Battery Is warrantied for 30 months, If it goes bad, take it out and bring it into the Chevy/gmc parts counter. no receipt needed, the date code is on the battery itself, just had mine swapped out after 26 months..It will go out again in 26 months as they are **** batteries, then I will get another one for free again....This was my second one replaced for free, last week when I called my service guy he was like NO NO, once your B2B 3/36k runs out so does your battery warranty! BS! I just took it out and brought it straight to a a/c delco parts counter at a GMC dealership.....
So Actually the original warranty of 3 years/ 36K is the best warranty for your 30 Month Battery, unless you drove 37K lets say and your Battery went bad in under 30 months like they normally do, in that case you need to Take the battery out yourself and bring it into the parts counter....And you get a new 30 month warranty everytime...
My LTZ is power hungry with these heated seats, nav, and the other electrical stuff going on, it likes to eat these Delco 47PS (you know what the PS stands for (Piece Shi*) batterys up ever 2 years, it actually really great, I will never have to buy a battery as long as I own this car!
Also I Noticed that my second 47PS battery was 600CCA and now the third one I'm on is back down to 525CCA...Great news for me! better chance its going to go out again quickly!
So Actually the original warranty of 3 years/ 36K is the best warranty for your 30 Month Battery, unless you drove 37K lets say and your Battery went bad in under 30 months like they normally do, in that case you need to Take the battery out yourself and bring it into the parts counter....And you get a new 30 month warranty everytime...
My LTZ is power hungry with these heated seats, nav, and the other electrical stuff going on, it likes to eat these Delco 47PS (you know what the PS stands for (Piece Shi*) batterys up ever 2 years, it actually really great, I will never have to buy a battery as long as I own this car!
Also I Noticed that my second 47PS battery was 600CCA and now the third one I'm on is back down to 525CCA...Great news for me! better chance its going to go out again quickly!
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The trunk latch is controlled by the BCM (Body Control Module aka "computer"). The remote is just a command to the computer.
The external lights are controlled/run from the BCM. The flasher switch is just a command to the computer that run the "flasher" routine in software. (There is no flasher in this car.)
The door locks work like the trunk latch. The command received by the receiver is passed along to the BCM which does the actual controlling.
Anyone with experience with PCs knows that a bad power supply can cause all kinds of illogical and random behavior.
But there's something else to consider: Do you have something plugged into the ODBII port? Perhaps one of those insurance dongles or add-on features? It may be causing problems. Anything plugged in there is on the computer's bus and can cause all kinds of problems if it's less than great.
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ChevyGuy: No, I do not have anything plugged into the ODBII port.
Thanks again for the help everyone. What obermd said regarding the #14311: Negative Battery Cable makes sense as I had been suspecting there was a short or something along those lines for some time now. I will bring this up with the dealership my next trip in and hopefully can put these issues to rest.
Thanks again for the help everyone. What obermd said regarding the #14311: Negative Battery Cable makes sense as I had been suspecting there was a short or something along those lines for some time now. I will bring this up with the dealership my next trip in and hopefully can put these issues to rest.
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I'd prefer to do a voltage test while the car is running. With the meter between the battery terminal itself and the ground screw, you shouldn't see more than 0.1V. Probably a lot less then that.
Since the connection can be intermittent, you may want to check it at different times.
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Yup. Replace your battery and you'll be back to your normal bliss.
I had a similar issue. Battery failed when my wife tried to start it. It's a keyless LTZ. It would try to start, have a complete electrical failure and go black, everything would reset, computer would "wake up" and remember she commanded an engine start, it would attempt another start and continue the cycle. Click. Black. Click. Black. Click. Black. You get the idea. This happened for about an hour before I was able to arrive and disconnect the battery. After replacing it an hour later, she drove home a happy lady. Happy car = Happy wife. (At least for the car ride home.) [emoji38]
I had a similar issue. Battery failed when my wife tried to start it. It's a keyless LTZ. It would try to start, have a complete electrical failure and go black, everything would reset, computer would "wake up" and remember she commanded an engine start, it would attempt another start and continue the cycle. Click. Black. Click. Black. Click. Black. You get the idea. This happened for about an hour before I was able to arrive and disconnect the battery. After replacing it an hour later, she drove home a happy lady. Happy car = Happy wife. (At least for the car ride home.) [emoji38]
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