Cole Farr

If someone could recommend a course of action, I thank you in advance.

I got stranded at work last Wednesday. My shifter linkage bushing on my A6 disintegrated. I shifted to neutral, disconnected the battery, removed my center console cover, and replaced the bushing that went bad. Bushing fixed. I reconnected the battery and that's when all of these issues started.

The battery terminal connectors look pretty rough and the cable has some disintegrating plastic tubing on it, but I've never had electrical issues before. When I got to drive the car again I ran into a wide range of problems: my Kenwood radio will not turn off automatically when opening the doors of the car, my TPMS sensors read 0 psi all the way around, I got a check engine light and reduced engine power on one start, and then I got a message saying to service the active handling/traction control system and to check the brake fluid. This didn't happen all at once, but spread out over multiple starts and drives.

So, this morning I disconnected/reconnected the battery again. The check engine light and all of those error messages were gone! However, the TPMS all still read 0 psi and now the radio won't turn on. Then, for fun once I got to work, I held the power button on the radio thinking maybe I could hard boot the radio head unit like you do on computers sometimes and I immediately got the service active handling/traction control/check brake fluid messages again.

Should I replace the entire battery harness like I'm thinking or just replace the battery terminal connector doodads? Or, is there a chance that there's a short related to the head unit that I can't figure out?

Thank you for any help. I really appreciate it. I don't want to sell the vette, but the amount of issues this car has even when babied are getting a little on the silly side and it's got me thinking.

Landru

C6 eats batteries, symptoms are as described whenever cell's weak/failing.
How old's the battery?
Any code(s)?

Most any parts store will read codes if you've no reader.
Have battery 'load tested' at same store reading codes, both checks are free.

Have to start from a clean slate w/ these things. Battery is #1.
If battery's OK and no codes, then have to go deeper.

Judgebull

Yep ... new battery time for you....

Cole Farr

Do you think it's coincidental that I need a new battery after working on the car or that maybe I ended up killing the battery while working on the car?

I'm going to go get the battery tested after work, but it's still probably a good idea to replace these battery terminals too, yeah?

1968swbbigblock

I would skip the test and just replace the battery
Yes replacing the cables is always a good idea - the ends on the starter and the battery both deteriorate with time.
I am hoping, as I am sure you are that this is just a coincidence

Cole Farr

I've been furiously scouring the forums. I read something about checking fuses and when I went to check the radio's fuse, I noticed that there was some other auxilliary power plug. I believe it's a part of the custom Crutchfield stereo head unit harness for the C6. It was very loose and not seated properly. I'm wondering if I inadvertently tugged on a cable that pulled that sucker loose. I plugged that cable and fuse back in and the radio's auto on / auto off feature is working correctly again.

Is there any chance that that was causing a short that created the other problems? Or should I still just replace the battery?

Cole Farr

Autozone tested the battery and said it was healthy. No error messages now for two trips across town after taking the radio fuse out and putting it back in and re-seating the Kenwood head unit’s power cord.

I hope this eliminated the gremlins. This feels too easy though, like there’s a boss fight ahead.

4SUMERZ

You likely found the culprit. Error messages and strange electrical gremlins seldom go away all by themselves

Cole Farr

I replaced the battery terminals too. As soon as I backed up, I got another service active handling / traction control message.

OH NO.

I checked the brake fluid, looked low. Added brake fluid. Then, I discovered a leak in the front driver's side brake line that needs attention. So, there were electrical gremlins AND the system was working hard to get my attention about a problem. I though the car was just crying wolf.

The good news: There have been no more issues with the radio or reduced engine power or other weird clicks when trying to start the car. The mystery has been solved.

Norskie

Cole, thanks for letting us know the solution to your problems. That helps us all.