More car help....

Demiurge

I have a 2001 Pontiac Grand AM sitting in my garage. I haven't really driven it much for a long time as it hasn't been my daily driver for years. I should have sold it a long ago, but I didn't.

In any event, despite the fact it sat all the time I did take care of it. This winter I had a problem where the car wouldn't start some times. It didn't matter if it was hot or cold, but it would always eventually start. Had the battery tested and it was next to dead. I replaced it and my problems were gone for a couple weeks, then I started having the problem where the car would take forever to start again (cranking over and not catching, but eventually it always would).

I took it to a dealer I know well when I had some time just to get a good diagnosis. Long story short, he couldn't duplicate my issue. It always started right up for him. Cost me under $100 and I took it home. Worked great for 3 weeks, then started acting up.

I gave up driving it completely and it sat in my garage for 2 months. I decided to pull my stereo out of it to put in a different vehicle. When I went to put the key in so I could shift down to get the dash cover off to expose the radio, the car was dead completely.

Fast forward to today...I hooked the battery charger up and tried to see if I could get it to start. I got lights and everything, but the dash lights were acting weird and my trunk would pop open by itself. I pushed on all the fuses and relays to make sure they were all seated properly. All seemed fine.

I know this is a long shot, but do you guys have any ideas? Something is telling me this is a simple fix, but I am stumped.

Right now I have the charger doing a slow charge on the dead battery to see what happens. Either way it sounds as though SOMETHING is draining my battery.

bobman1235

Did your aftermarket stereo have an external amp that might not be switching off?

Demiurge

bobman1235 wrote: »

Did your aftermarket stereo have an external amp that might not be switching off?

Yeah, it did, good call.

That was the main reason behind my pulling out the stereo in the first place. I had that car broken into and my stereo ripped out last fall and the new stereo was installed shortly thereafter. The problems didn't arise until around February or so....so I'm not sure if something got screwed up during the install.

Maybe everything will be normal once the battery is fully charged. I'm a bit confused by the trunk popping open when I would start the car and the wonky random blinking of the dash icons, though.

gdb

I hope it's not what I am thinking it is ! RODENTS:eek: they'll nest in an unused vehicle, chew wiring insulation, pee into electrical things and generally screw things up. My parents had a classic Tbird trashed by kangaroo rats in Tucson.........nothing a few thousand $$$ couldn't fix!:mad:

audiobliss

From my limited understanding, when a battery gets THAT dead, you should expect totally random electrical activity like lights going bonkers, locks acting up, trunk popping open, etc. I think that's perhaps not common but at the same time not rare activity when the battery's being brought back from the dead.

So, at least for now I wouldn't focus on that, but try and recharge the battery and figure out why it was getting drained. Then, if all the wonky stuff happens again while the battery's actually charged, then you should consider those symptoms of your problem.

exalted512

I would also be a fantastic idea to check all the grounds and stuff on the battery. Make sure where they're connected to the body/chassis is still a good connection.

But I'd have to agree with Michael, for once. Batteries that dead tend to freak out electrical systems.
-Cody

audiobliss

exalted512 wrote: »

I would also be a fantastic idea to check all the grounds and stuff on the battery. Make sure where they're connected to the body/chassis is still a good connection.

But I'd have to agree with Michael, for once. Batteries that dead tend to freak out electrical systems.
-Cody

Oh wow. I have this warm fuzzy feeling all over.

Not.

BIZILL

just stumbled onto this thread. did i miss something, did you say you've been starting it frequently and DRIVING it to keep a charge on the battery, or you just start it and let it idle a bit? i'd say it's your battery gone weak. when it starts, you've probably lucked out because if it's a DYING but not dead yet battery, then you'll encounter what you've described.

BIZILL

if the battery is on its way out and you're charging it, it'll start, throw you for a loop and then come next time, it'll fail you. hopefully it's just that. replace and then sell that bad boy before it depreciates even further.

brettw22

exalted512 wrote: »

But I'd have to agree with Michael, for once. Batteries that dead tend to freak out electrical systems.
-Cody

All this time and I never even knew his name......i guess when _________ usually works......lol