2Door99Chevy
TYF Newbie
Hi everyone, this is my first post on here. Hoping someone on here can help me out. Having what I think is an electrical issue, and as we all know, those are always the most fun 
My truck is a 4WD 99 2 Door Tahoe with just over 130,000 on the clock. Mostly all original except for a few minor upgrades. I bought it in Memphis Tenn a couple summers ago, and the battery that was in it when I bought it had always performed fine up until this past November. At that time it started to take a few extra seconds to start the engine. It wasnt cranking slow, just taking longer to start the engine. So I took the truck to the local Interstate Battery dealer and they found it had a bad cell, and so I purchased a new Interstate on 11/14/13. Dont have the model# off hand but I told him give me the highest CCA you have for my truck. Bought it, dropped it in and life was good again... Up until last week
Last week here in Cleveland as with most of the midwest it got VERY cold. When I got out of work late Monday night it was a ball-freezing -12, and the Tahoe would not start. She cranked and cranked but just didnt have enough to fire up the 5.7. I blamed this on the fact that it was freakeshly cold. Next day before work, same thing, wouldnt start. Had to put it on the fast charge and then it started ok. As it warmed up into the 20s wensday and thursday she still would not start on her own, so now I knew I had a definite problem. I tested battery voltage friday morning after sitting overninght and it was dead at 12v even. Still enough to turn all the instument panel lights and work the power locks and dome light etc, but nowhere near enough to start the vehicle. Put it on the 40A charge for only a couple minutes, got her started, drove down to the Interstate dealer. They tested it, and to my surprise, found a weak cell. The guy said it was unusual but it happens. They didnt have my exact battery in stock because they were all behind on their stock from the deep freeze that basically shut down Indiana, so they gave me a loaner battery to put in until mine came in stock hopefully this wensday. Truck was good the rest of Friday and Saturday, then Sunday, would barely start. The battery had just enough to start the truck but I mean barely. I left work last night (11 hour shifts) and she started ok, this morning a little hesitation but started.
I should have tested battery voltage this morning before doing anything but I forgot. But I tested charging voltage which is like almost a steady 14.46-14.49 which I think means the alternator is oing its job, also not overcharging either which would kill a battery.
I did an old fashioned curent draw test with my digital multimeter with the truck off, negative cable removed. It had a 0.029 A draw (with the dome light off and hood light disconnected), which I beleive is still acceptable, and I pulled all the underhood fuses and relays one at a time and nothing changed until I pulled the 50A BATT maxifuse, current draw dropped to 0.024 A, put that back in and when I pulled the 40A IGN A maxifuse current draw dropped to only 0.022 A. Thats like a 7 milliamp draw. Is that abnormal? Is something in the ignition system draining and slowly killing car batteries?
Now its very possible that Interstate I just bought just had a slowly bad cell that took til that deep freeze to finish it off, and that this "loaner" battery they gave me isnt exactly the freshest battery on the block. But I'm starting to feel like I have a problem going on here.
If that is too high of a current draw when I place the IGN fuse back in, then what could be some of the things causing that? Some things I already thought were
-Ignition Module?
-Coil?
-Ignition Switch or Instrument Panel wiring?
Please guys if you made it through all this let me know what you think? I dont think I have a problem in my charging system at all but its possible too I guess? Anythings possible on a 15 year old truck with 130K!
Thanks!,
Bryan
My truck is a 4WD 99 2 Door Tahoe with just over 130,000 on the clock. Mostly all original except for a few minor upgrades. I bought it in Memphis Tenn a couple summers ago, and the battery that was in it when I bought it had always performed fine up until this past November. At that time it started to take a few extra seconds to start the engine. It wasnt cranking slow, just taking longer to start the engine. So I took the truck to the local Interstate Battery dealer and they found it had a bad cell, and so I purchased a new Interstate on 11/14/13. Dont have the model# off hand but I told him give me the highest CCA you have for my truck. Bought it, dropped it in and life was good again... Up until last week
Last week here in Cleveland as with most of the midwest it got VERY cold. When I got out of work late Monday night it was a ball-freezing -12, and the Tahoe would not start. She cranked and cranked but just didnt have enough to fire up the 5.7. I blamed this on the fact that it was freakeshly cold. Next day before work, same thing, wouldnt start. Had to put it on the fast charge and then it started ok. As it warmed up into the 20s wensday and thursday she still would not start on her own, so now I knew I had a definite problem. I tested battery voltage friday morning after sitting overninght and it was dead at 12v even. Still enough to turn all the instument panel lights and work the power locks and dome light etc, but nowhere near enough to start the vehicle. Put it on the 40A charge for only a couple minutes, got her started, drove down to the Interstate dealer. They tested it, and to my surprise, found a weak cell. The guy said it was unusual but it happens. They didnt have my exact battery in stock because they were all behind on their stock from the deep freeze that basically shut down Indiana, so they gave me a loaner battery to put in until mine came in stock hopefully this wensday. Truck was good the rest of Friday and Saturday, then Sunday, would barely start. The battery had just enough to start the truck but I mean barely. I left work last night (11 hour shifts) and she started ok, this morning a little hesitation but started.
I should have tested battery voltage this morning before doing anything but I forgot. But I tested charging voltage which is like almost a steady 14.46-14.49 which I think means the alternator is oing its job, also not overcharging either which would kill a battery.
I did an old fashioned curent draw test with my digital multimeter with the truck off, negative cable removed. It had a 0.029 A draw (with the dome light off and hood light disconnected), which I beleive is still acceptable, and I pulled all the underhood fuses and relays one at a time and nothing changed until I pulled the 50A BATT maxifuse, current draw dropped to 0.024 A, put that back in and when I pulled the 40A IGN A maxifuse current draw dropped to only 0.022 A. Thats like a 7 milliamp draw. Is that abnormal? Is something in the ignition system draining and slowly killing car batteries?
Now its very possible that Interstate I just bought just had a slowly bad cell that took til that deep freeze to finish it off, and that this "loaner" battery they gave me isnt exactly the freshest battery on the block. But I'm starting to feel like I have a problem going on here.
If that is too high of a current draw when I place the IGN fuse back in, then what could be some of the things causing that? Some things I already thought were
-Ignition Module?
-Coil?
-Ignition Switch or Instrument Panel wiring?
Please guys if you made it through all this let me know what you think? I dont think I have a problem in my charging system at all but its possible too I guess? Anythings possible on a 15 year old truck with 130K!
Thanks!,
Bryan
