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Vette scared me silly! Login/Join 
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted
Went to take a short blast to town, car was deader than a hammer. Opened the hood and found it was already unlatched (didn't get it closed all the way the other day apparently) and I assume the under-hood lights running for 3 days was enough to kill the battery.

Jumped it, started right up, showed good voltage at the battery but the idle was wonky, wandering all over the place. "Well, it's cold, so..."

Hopped in, pulled out of the garage, stopped at the end of the driveway to wait for traffic (both cars...) and the idle dropped to the point where the engine died. Car's dead again.

Opened the hood and wiggled the battery cables in preparation for jumping it again, and the hood lights came on, car started. Ah...loose cable. Tightened it, started to drive to town, came to the first corner and noticed the idle dropping and the engine died again. Fortunately I was rolling fast enough to bump start it and drove about a mile up the road figuring the alternator would get the battery up to snuff. Double checked by shoving the clutch in and sure enough the idle drifted down until the engine quit.

Bump started it, turned around and went the hell home. Checked, battery showing 8 volts.

Pulled the cables off, buffed everything with a wire brush, reassembled with a dab of dielectric grease, put the smart charger on it and took a nap.

Went back out, charger showed 100%, battery was showing 14.5x at idle so I drove it to town and back, no issues.

My assumption is that low battery voltage was confusing the ECU which was screwing up the idle air/throttle position sensors. In any event, it's fine now.

I was envisioning the $$$ flying out the window...




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15870 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A Grateful American
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Fuel Injection also not happy with too low voltage.

Being on the edge of "just enough" can give you fits like "run" "don't run", "run" "don't run", "run" "don't run"...

But your on the right track.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
 
Posts: 45201 | Location: Box 1663 Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: December 20, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His diet consists of black
coffee, and sarcasm.
Picture of egregore
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No electronic fuel injection likes low voltage or especially loose battery connections. The stupid side terminal batteries put on GM vehicles for ~40 years are bad for this.
 
Posts: 29738 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Green grass and
high tides
Picture of old rugged cross
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quote:
Originally posted by egregore:
No electronic fuel injection likes low voltage or especially loose battery connections. The stupid side terminal batteries put on GM vehicles for ~40 years are bad for this.


Bright side is the new Ford truck is up to the task of towing home the old chevy Wink



"Practice like you want to play in the game"
 
Posts: 20347 | Registered: September 21, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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My '04 isn't happy below 12v, and starts going nuts if the voltage drops below 11v.
 
Posts: 2093 | Location: Atlanta, GA | Registered: February 24, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
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quote:
Vette scared me silly!
Was wondering whether you were going to tell us that all that power got out of control, or slippery road, or something.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 32151 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Coin Sniper
Picture of Rightwire
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If your vette doesn't scare you a little, you have the wrong car.




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343 - Never Forget

Its better to be Pavlov's dog than Schrodinger's cat

There are three types of mistakes; Those you learn from, those you suffer from, and those you don't survive.
 
Posts: 38660 | Location: Above the snow line in Michigan | Registered: May 21, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by V-Tail:
quote:
Vette scared me silly!
Was wondering whether you were going to tell us that all that power got out of control, or slippery road, or something.


Or maybe like the 1964 Stingray I drove, the car went airborne at a little over 85mph. (Zora Arkus Duntov didn't understand aerodynamics very well).


--------------------------
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
-- H L Mencken

I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is.
-- JALLEN 10/18/18
 
Posts: 9586 | Location: Illinois farm country | Registered: November 15, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
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quote:
Originally posted by Rightwire:
If your vette doesn't scare you a little, you have the wrong car.


Hasn't yet, but I suspect there are two reasons for that:

1. At 74, going stupid fast just because I can has pretty much lost it's attraction, and

B. The car is 35 years old and beating on it seems counterproductive.

Not to say it couldn't happen of course... Big Grin




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15870 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
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quote:
Originally posted by old rugged cross:

Bright side is the new Ford truck is up to the task of towing home the old chevy Wink


Big Grin




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15870 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of valkyrie1
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Had a 2017 Grand Sport that I had to keep on a trickle charger. Even with a new AGM the security system will deplete the battery and that car will do all sought of weird things, also make sure fobs have fresh batteries
 
Posts: 2404 | Location: Florida | Registered: March 01, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Savor the limelight
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quote:
Originally posted by PHPaul:
quote:
Originally posted by Rightwire:
If your vette doesn't scare you a little, you have the wrong car.


Hasn't yet, but I suspect there are two reasons for that:

1. At 74, going stupid fast just because I can has pretty much lost it's attraction, and

B. The car is 35 years old and beating on it seems counterproductive.

Not to say it couldn't happen of course... Big Grin

My 86yo father got his a bit sideways pulling out of the Church parking lot this last Sunday. Stupid fast not required for things to get exciting.
 
Posts: 12606 | Location: SWFL | Registered: October 10, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Wait, what?
Picture of gearhounds
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Low voltage in Chevy’s (and I suspect a host of other manufacturers with the “evolution” of under hood electronics) will create all manner of gremlins. I have an 05 Colorado that due to a compromised rear differential was not being driven until my brother and I can rebuild it. The battery went completely flat and refused to jump until it had charged via jumper cables to a sufficient level.

After I got it running again, it took a couple of days before the auto locks would work with the fob, the auto windows to respond to switches (passenger side came back first, then a few days later the drivers side), instrument lights in and out, and blower motor in and out. Now I keep it charged with a weekly start up and light drive near the house and all seems well.




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Posts: 16171 | Location: Martinsburg WV | Registered: April 02, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Not sure what year your car is but some of the 90's and mid 2000 GM vehicles need to be driven after a battery replacement or dead battery recharge to relearn the idle speed, quite common and a 15 drive will usually take care of it.
 
Posts: 514 | Location: Kansas | Registered: August 28, 2020Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lawyers, Guns
and Money
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So I was waxing the Vette and maybe I put it on a little thick, and had to buff out that little crack around the hood and I must have left it open and unlatched for a couple of days...
Big Grin




"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor
 
Posts: 25602 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His diet consists of black
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That generation - known as C4 - was bad for squeaks and rattles over any bump in the road even when new. How is yours after 35 years?
 
Posts: 29738 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
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quote:
Originally posted by egregore:
That generation - known as C4 - was bad for squeaks and rattles over any bump in the road when new. How is yours after 35 years?


Remarkably free of squeaks (unless they're in my dead range and I just don't hear them) and doesn't rattle significantly more than my new truck. Roads are rougher than thunder right now.

Only somewhat annoying thing I notice is wind noise and that's most likely just a feature of being a ragtop.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15870 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Calif Phil:
Not sure what year your car is but some of the 90's and mid 2000 GM vehicles need to be driven after a battery replacement or dead battery recharge to relearn the idle speed, quite common and a 15 drive will usually take care of it.


Good to know. Mine's a '90 so falls right in that range.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15870 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by chellim1:
So I was waxing the Vette and maybe I put it on a little thick, and had to buff out that little crack around the hood and I must have left it open and unlatched for a couple of days...
Big Grin




Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15870 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lawyers, Guns
and Money
Picture of chellim1
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I'm just jealous because I don't have one... yet!
Wink



"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor
 
Posts: 25602 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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