Got a 2002 SS and am having an issue where twice in the past month I've gone out, unlocked it with the remote transmitter, jumped in, tried to start it, the starter never even turned over and the whole power system goes dead. Everything. Remote transmitter stops working, no gauge activity, etc.

This is my "nice" car so I don't drive it except on weekends and it had sat about a month since my last drive. So my first thought was a dead battery and tried jumping it and still got nothing.

Then I tested the connections and the positive terminal seemed a little loose so I pulled on it a bit and heard some activity from the engine and voila, everything started working.

So I drive around for the weekend and then the following weekend and then this morning, same thing: Unlock the car with the remote (battery must still be good and connected?) get in and try to start it, the starter never even starts to crank and the power system goes dead. Fiddle with the battery cable and were back up again.

So... it looks like a bad battery cable but I'm wondering if it might be another electrical problem (alternator overloading the electrical system, bad computer?) and my fiddling with the cable is "resetting" that problem? The car runs fine otherwise (IE I don't stall out while driving) and it just doesn't make sense that the car has power until I try to start it and THEN the battery cable comes loose?

 

Update: Looks like the connecting bolt won't tighten in all the way.

Can I replace this with a new bolt/terminal (although it looks ok) or is this a problem with the socket in the battery? (and thus I need a new battery, it's only about a year old)

 

Replace the bolt, they are cheap. Where did you get the battery? If you are getting a crappy connection, I would have it looked at, or replace it.

 

I have this exact same problem. Anyone know what it is? Thanks.

 

i had the same problem, i bought a new set of bolts, it worked for about a week than the same thing started happening it looked like the bolts kept corroding so i just bought a new battery and that fixed it.

 

Okay, I bought a new battery and two new bolts. So far so good. Thanks for the help.