QWK SLVR

My Vette often has to sit for 2 plus weeks between outings (long story). On several of these ocasions, the car wont fire and needs to go on the trickle charger.

Is my battery hosed, or is this normal?

It's a 2001.

lilviv

I don't know much about the stock batteries on the Corvette, but you can take your battery into any shop (NTB, Batteries Plus, etc.) and they will test it for you and give you a verdict.

When shopping for a replacement, I recommend a Deep Cycle battery . . . regular batteries can wear down when they lose their power and charge back up . . . a Deep Cycle battery won't suffer this same fate. Although a little bit pricy, Optima's Yellow Top is a great battery. http://www.optimabatteries.com/ is the link to their company!

Best wishes, sorry I couldn't be of more assistance! :)

bully

It happned to me as well after one week of not driving the car. Did the check engine indicator came on after that?

Gaijin

One to two weeks in storage shouldn't have adverse effects on battery charge unless it wasn't charged in the first place before storage.

Terry Humiston

In the great northeast where we measure our snow in feet, not inches, we either unhook the battery or run a trickle charger on the Vette when it not being drive regularly. Two to four weeks without driving will kill most C5 batteries.

QWK SLVR

Nope. After being on charge for a little bit, all was well. I was told that Z06 batteries are a bit different from "regular" batteries and are lighter. I also recall some saying that they will not hold a charge as long as a stock C5 battery.

Sounds about 50/50 so far. I guess I'll ask the local chevy dealer about it :bb

GOLD72

My Z and the original battery are over 26 months old and I can tell that the battery has weaken since it was new. My car is a daily driver here in winter friendly Houston but it does sit in the garage a couple of days at a time or so on occasion without starting. That is when I notice the weaker condition of the battery. I suspect I will need a new one before the end of this year.

GOLD72

gasboy

yeah,i've had to charge mine a few times.i will be getting an optima red top pretty soon.

QWK SLVR

Sounds like I have a normal condition then. I thought as much, but thanks for the confirmation :thumbs:

larrysb

Your Z06 has the same AGM battery as the other late-model C5's.

They don't have a lot of "reserve capacity" and they'll die pretty quick if there's a load on them. (RC = 80 minutes).

Also if your driving habits don't include some nice long freeway speed driving, it's possible that you're battery isn't being charged up all the way. There's something goofy in the C5/Z06 electric system that I haven't figured out yet, but between the lightweight, low-RC battery and the somewhat slow to react alternator/voltage regulator and all the computer stuff that drains away when the car is off, they tend to eat batteries.

You might try an automatic battery charger, put it on low-current, 2-5 amps and let it charge overnight, 8-12 hours.

Also get it checked. The dealer is supposed to have a battery tester that they enter the code numbers on the battery and test it. However, I watched one dealership test a battery with it, ignoring all the codes on it and just kind of pushing the buttons before declaring it good, putting a booster charger on it for 20 minutes and sending the guy on his way. So if you go this route, see if you can get the guy to explain what he's doing.

QWK SLVR

Thanks. I do have a trickle charger. I guess I should just leave it on more often than not.

I could have sworn that the battery for the Z06 was different though :confused:

No matter, just glad to know I'm not alone :blueangel:

shockwave

Keep in mind a standard battery will only survive a few complete discharges before it will be damaged to the point it won't take a charge. If you are storing your vehicle for extended periods of time, either disconnect the negative cable or put a trickle charge on it to keep it from being drained down. Otherwise one time it won't come back or take a charge.