Starting Problem 2005 C6

by Pete Warner
(Taos, NM)

Recently bought a 2005 C6 from Carmax. After a 2 hour drive home it would not start the next day. The battery showed only 10.6v., so charged it up to 12.5v., still no start. Disconnected negative ground and charged it up to 13.5v., and car started. Took it to local dealer, who found battery was new, but incorrect for car. Replaced battery, and checked charging system which was ok. Also suggested I may have failed to put car in reverse before shutting down; possible but I doubt it. A couple of weeks later, after sitting in garage for three days, car failed to start again. This time battery was down only to 11.4v. Again,car started only after disconnecting battery and charging to 13+v. Took back to dealer, who diagnosed but found everything was "fine". Since then have been checking battery regularly; it shows slow drain, but car starts normally all the way down to 11.4v.

In normal starts the start switch glows green when door closed; when switch pushed there is brief whirring noise which I assume to be steering unlocking, then starter fires. In "failure' mode switch would glow green but nothing happened when pushed. Exactly same result as when when key fob was dead or not present, except then there was message "key fob not detected". So I am thinking that problem may be NOT related to low battery, but maybe somewhere in system that locks/unlocks steering wheel, or somewhere else in Anti-Theft system. Any ideas?

Chris Trautman @ Corvette Assembly Plant 2019

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