I am having an intermittent problem where the lights and radio all work, but the car makes no attempt to try and start (no click, nothing). When this is happening the with the key on the voltage is showing in the middle of the orange range. When the car is running it shows just over the middle mark. This only happened twice before but happened twice to me today. I took the battery out the first time and it read 50% on my battery charger and only took 10 minutes to charge to 100%. After I drove it 2 miles it did the same thing again. After an hour, the car started up like nothing happened and I drove it home. The lights did not dim at all on the way home. The battery is a 550 CCA Delco and the eye has been green even during the no start condition. I have checked the terminals, no corrosion and tight. I checked the wires and grounds, no problems that I can see. If I jump the battery it will always start. I do a lot of city driving where I am stopped for long period at lights and the car on certain days never gets north of 35 mph. Could that be part of the problem? Am I missing something? I am having both tested tomorrow but would like any thoughts I can get before then.

 

Could be a cell going out in the battery... Green dot means nothing... I see batteries come in all the time and load test bad......

Volts should read at the battery 13.8~14.2 with car idling, if alternator is working properly..

 

I will see tomorrow. I hope it is the battery and the the alternator.

 

If the battery fails the load test and alt is OK - make sure you get the correct amp battery - not sure on yours, but my helms says 690 CCA for LS1, and 550 CCA for the V6. BTW my car came with a 550 AC Delco from the factory and after it died bought a Sears Diehard Gold 550 (cause "That's what the computer says came in the car), failed again - now running an Optima with 720.

 

The alternator showed normal voltage and the battery tested good, but the voltage was a bit low at 11.5 volts. I do mostly city driving, a lot of stop and go and have to wonder if the 550 CCA is too small. Maybe a cell is going bad? Should I go ahead and get a larger CCA battery?

 

The battery in my Astro went bad two years ago. Did almost the same thing yours is doing. Had it checked twice, and both times it checked fine. Turns out it had an intermittant short in one of the cells. My bet is replace the battery and you'll be ok.

 

Voltage of the battery was low??? Normally it should be around 12.5~14.0.. What was cranking amps with load test??

 

11.5 volts isn't unusual for a battery under load. In fact, that's not bad at all. Out right without load, a battery shouldn't be less than 12.45, hardly ever should it be at 13 or above. If your battery showed 11.5 under load, it's probably fine. I'd investigate other problem areas, but don't completely rule out the battery as the culprit. It's possible that one of the cells is on the verge of dying, it just hasn't bit the dust enough to seriously mess the battery up.

 

Lead-acid batteries that provide a nominal 12-volt (actually 12.6 volts) potential difference by serially connecting six cells that each produce about 2 to 2.1 volts...

The following is common for lead-acid batteries:

Quiescent (open-circuit) voltage at full charge: 12.6 V
Unloading-end: 11.8 V
Charge with 13.2-14.4 V
Gassing voltage: 14.4 V
Continuous-preservation charge with max. 13.2 V
After full charge the terminal voltage will drop quickly to 13.2 V and then slowly to 12.6 V.
The energy to weight ratio, or specific energy, is in the range of 30 Wh/kg (108 kJ/kg).

 

Ok.

Still, under load... your battery shouldn't drop more than a couple of volts. And like I said, rarely does your battery put out a constant 14 volts, even a fresh battery off of a charger or off of the shelf.

 

I didnt say the battery puts out a constant 14 volts... I stated, "Normally it should be around 12.5~14.0."

When starting an engine, the battery will drop 1~3 volts, but should recover to 12.5~14.0 volts.....

I have seen new batteries checked with 13.8~14.2 volts before installation... How do I know, because I was the one checking them..

 

Are you talking about that high voltage under load, or just flat out with no load?

A battery running at 14 volts under load is not normal... it's far from it. In all the battery tests I've done at work, I've yet to see one over 12 volts under load, let alone 14.

Now, if you're talking about just plain voltage without a load, then of course that's going to happen, I guess that was a misunderstanding on my part then.

 

Under load no... But his battery should go back over 12 volts if all cell are good.... If it stayed at 11.5 volts, then there is a problem..

 

I am starting to think that this is a VATS related issue, and I probably should have figured that out from the get go. The car has high miles and the keys are worn and I remember the security light coming on several times over the past few weeks. I have had so much going on that I did not put 2 and 2 together. I think I am going to unhook the connector under the column until I can get the resistor value for the bypass. At least that way I will not be stranded again.

 

Could be, I had the same problem with a wore key on my '93Z.... Just got a new key ($25.00) at the dealership..OUCH...