Parked For A Week-And-A-Half, And Wouldn't Start

XYZ · February 25, 2016

Hadn't driven my 2016 Colorado for about a week-and-a-half, went out yesterday afternoon to start it up, lights in the dash came on as usual, but upon cranking it over, all it did was give the solenoid-clicking B.S., and wouldn't fire. Have only had the truck about 1.5 months, ordered new, zero reason why it should've done this.

Hooked the battery up to my tester, 10 volts as it sat, but hitting the load-test button, dropped to 8 volts, well within the green "good" range on the tester. Left the battery on the charger several hours this evening, it got back up to 12V static, 10V under load, but why a brand-new vehicle sitting for that short amount of time would pull that crap is a joke. I could leave my 2014 Silverado under the cover for 3 months & it would fire right up....

RobDarden · March 2, 2016

That is strange. Was there a super cold spell during that week? Maybe it's a bad battery? If it happens again hit the OnStar button.

redwngr · March 6, 2016

Was it just a battery or did you find something else?

Have you added anything to the truck that might have caused the drain?

XYZ · April 27, 2016

Turns out it was a "very bad" battery, got warrantied out, and it has started fine ever since, even with longer time spans in-between start-ups. The day I had to take it in, the driver's window wouldn't roll down, but the passenger's side would. After the battery exchange, the driver's side then started working again. Quite peculiar......

Janster · June 12, 2016

A lot of vehicles draw power when they sit...... with all the electronics/sensors/computers, etc.

My husband owned an Acura MDX (2006). He drove that thing everyday - but the batteries would only last 3 years due to constant draw from the battery even when it sat (that's what we were told). Sure enough...every 3 years we had to replace the battery (sold the vehicle after 10 years).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we owned a Corvette that sat A LOT. Corvettes also drain batteries when they sit. Some batteries just don't like to sit...... and we tried to buy the 'best of the best'. Of the couple batteries we had in that corvette - one of them was a warranty replacement. My husband ended up putting a trickle charger on the corvette batteries.