2008 Impala Charging and Battery

[teegolf]

Have a 2008 Impala. 3.9 engine, 187,000 miles. Problem I have is intermittently the car will crank over and start slow. Car will then display a "service stabiltrack" message on the display and the dash warning light comes on. At that point you better get parked as you are running out of battery. Usually car will not restart after this with out jumping or charging the battery. Never get any kind of a voltage or charging warning light or message. Have had both alternator and battery off and tested. Both test good. Problem did not start until the original alternator was replaced. First rebuilt failed in 6 weeks and then second unit was installed. Most recently car has went two months without acting up and then this weekend bingo. Battery cable cleaned and tightened. Belts in good shape. Alternator seems to test and charge OK on unit. Voltage seems to fluctuate a little at time and then will settle down when alternator kicks in or put a load on it. Looking for any ideas of what I might be missing.

Thanks.
Teegolf

[la1]

where did you get the battery tested? I had a bad battery and took it back to pep boys to get a warranty replacement. To get the replacement they put it on their machine which charges the battery first , so when the machine tested the battery it passed till I showed the manager what my test showed after charging and then let the battery sit for 45 minutes. The battery showed very high impedance and I think only of 300cca's of the original 700 or about 30% of the battery left plus showed 11 volts. I too tested right after charging and it looked good too. I used a digital battery tester from harbor freight tools. What is the voltage on your battery w/ the engine running. I think it should be around 13 - 14 volts.

[rhandwor]

I would suspect you have a drain on the battery. Use a DVOM set to milliamps place both ends of the leads on each side of the fuse. Do both sides of the fuse one fuse at a time look for a big drain on one fuse.

[rhandwor]

http://www.ebay.com/ Search item 231646638927 I think you could use a DVOM set to the milliamp scale and do the same thing.

[la1]

Use a DVOM set to milliamps place both ends of the leads on each side of the fuse. Do both sides of the fuse one fuse at a time look for a big drain on one fuse.

this will not work with the fuse installed. You need to make sure the ignition key is off and removed and the fuse removed. If you have the circuit powered up with or w/o the fuse you may actually damage your cars circuit.

[Black_Blade]

Here is a good youtube vid that will show how to do the battery drain test with your meter.

https://youtu.be/KF1gijj03_0

HTH