Bizarre Electrical Issue/No Start On 2013 LaCrosse

NDL

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Apr 10, 2016
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Carolina Foothills
Regarding my 2013 Buick LaCrosse 3.6:

Five weeks ago, with the radio and AC on, the entire center stack went dark for 15 or so seconds; both the radio and AC shut off, and both resumed full operation after 10 seconds with no imput from me. What's bizarre is that after this occurrence, the guages read in MPH, while the climate control registered in celcius; I factory reset the center stack, and it returned to fahrenheit.

I then parked the car - with me sitting in the driver seat. The radio - operating on accessory power - seemed to go past the ten minute auto shutoff timeframe, so I opened the drivers door, which shut the radio off. Twenty minutes later I went to start the car, and it was completely dead - no click, nothing. The domelight and trunk release were off as well. I proceeded to try the start button, and nothing.

I then waited 5 min, and the car started as if nothing had happened: full power, full AC, and radio functioned well. The voltmeter reads around 14 volts; the battery is a Deka battery, and it is fairly new.

No lights, abnormal warnings or behaviors since this has happened.

I got the car home; the positive battery terminal cable was hot - not to the extent that it couldn't be touched, but it was uncomfortable to lay my hand on the battery terminal cable for any great length of time. The negative cable was warm too. It was in the mid 90's that day...

Both cables were properly secured; the terminals had no corrosion, and both cables are OEM and both look mint, as do the wires in the fusebox.

Today I cleaned the chassis grounds and battery terminals (again); I also replaced the starter relay; in a total of five weeks three times has the vehicle not done anything when I hit the start button. Each time, I wait a few minutes, and she starts right up. Twice, I had a situation where it cranked a revolution or two and quit; all other times the starter sounds strong.

Any ideas?

Thank you for your time
 
sounds like an internal short in the battery, happened to me this summer both battery terminals to hot to touch , a few no starts like you jump the battery turn the car off right away and it would restart instantly without a jump, changed the battery no issues since.
I'm going to have it checked...thank you all, for your very helpful replies.

I have been going nuts trying to figure this out.
 
Okay...I just got back from O'Reilly's & Advance Auto; both say the battery is good. O'Reilly scanned the alternator and starter, and they said both were good on those too.

I just replaced the starter relay, and keyfob remote battery, just in case - as in one of the three or four no-start conditions, "No Remote Detected" popped up on the display (then disappeared, and she turned right over).
 
I don't care what they say about the battery. How old is it? That sounds like standard GM failing battery stuff. My 15 Malibu did some some stuff like that when the battery was on the way out, tested SAT, but was 5 years old. Put a new one in, no issue.
this right here !
When mine had the internal short sometimes it would test at 12.6 volts other time when it was shorting out tested in around 10 volts .
i think there was something loose in the battery causing the off again on again problems . When the battery was testing low in shorting out mode so to speak when charging with the car running or charging on a charger the battery would boil and terminals way too hot to touch. when i would bang the battery around it would test fine and charge fine , so this is when i knew the battery was done.
I would not mess around with this battery too long if its boiling on you !!
your are running the risk of battery exploding , maybe fire , And worse if it blows in your face .
GET THAT BATTERY OUT OF THE CAR.............
 
It sounds like the 12v power is being interrupted between the battery and the rest of the car if it affects you basic radio, clock and other settings. Just had this happen again with my Gen Coupe using a battery disconnect switch. It would try to start then flash some lights go dead, then after a few push on the button start right up. But my clock was back to 1999. This told me that it was before any other controls as it should be always hot.

Took out the switch and so far so good.
 
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Thank you all, for taking the time to reply :)!

this right here !
When mine had the internal short sometimes it would test at 12.6 volts other time when it was shorting out tested in around 10 volts .
i think there was something loose in the battery causing the off again on again problems . When the battery was testing low in shorting out mode so to speak when charging with the car running or charging on a charger the battery would boil and terminals way too hot to touch. when i would bang the battery around it would test fine and charge fine , so this is when i knew the battery was done.
I would not mess around with this battery too long if its boiling on you !!
your are running the risk of battery exploding , maybe fire , And worse if it blows in your face .
GET THAT BATTERY OUT OF THE CAR.............

Heard; I have a new AC/Delco battery on the way...I would've preferred a Deka battery, but Johnson Controls made AC Delco is what was available.

Thanks again for the advice; whether it cures my problem or not, time will tell. But you're right: the terminals got very warm, it's not something to tangle with.
 
Did O'Reilly's and Advance do an actual load test on the battery or did they just connect their hand held "electrical system" tester (in all likelihood a conductivity tester) to the battery?
They did their hand held test.

No matter; I just looked - the current battery is five and a half years old - she's getting replaced.

Hopefully this cures the problem :).
 
I had the original AC Delco battery go bad on my encore when it had less than 30k miles on it. It did some odd things similar to what happened with your vehicle. As it was under warranty, I took it to the dealer and they gave me a new AC Delco battery. Things were good for about 6 months or so and then it happened again. The battery was so low I had to charge it for a while to jump it off. I thought it might be the alternator. A friend who used to work at a dealership before he recently retired told me there had been some problems with the AC Delco batteries. I bought a Duralast Gold and haven't had any problems so far a year and a half later. The computer goes into a protection mode when the battery gets too low and can be very aggravating.
 
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I had the original AC Delco battery go bad on my encore when it had less than 30k miles on it. It did some odd things similar to what happened with your vehicle. As it was under warranty, I took it to the dealer and they gave me a new AC Delco battery. Things were good for about 6 months or so and then it happened again. The battery was so low I had to charge it for a while to jump it off. I thought it might be the alternator. A friend who used to work at a dealership before he recently retired told me there had been some problems with the AC Delco batteries. I bought a Duralast Gold and haven't had any problems so far a year and a half later. The computer goes into a protection mode when the battery gets too low and can be very aggravating.
Trans Am has a 9 year old Duralast Gold in it. Best battery I have ever had.
 
They did their hand held test.

No matter; I just looked - the current battery is five and a half years old - she's getting replaced.

Hopefully this cures the problem :).
keep us posted.
hope this is the answer.....
 
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Top tip: rear blind spot modules! The modules are mounted behind the left and right rear corners of the bumper, and LOVE to get corrosion build up. Once this happens, the modules create havoc on the communication lines in the vehicle, literally causing EVERY issue you're describing.

This TSB is for the Enclave/Traverse, but I've seen it happen on ALL GM vehicles from the era when equipped with BSM.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/SB-10081969-2280.pdf
 
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