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| One reason you have problems with all car dealers fixing warranty work is very simple.
When the government did the car bailouts they allowed the mfg's to pay the dealers an average amount for each vehicle they sold for warranty work the dealer now has to pay for. The dealers think the money is theirs to keep so they delay repairs waiting on warranty to expire. Haven't you noticed if you call the warranty 800 number they bless you and send you back to your greedy dealer...??
Tell the idiots at GMC to replace the alternator since it contains your voltage regulator that is now burning your batteries up by over or under charging them.
Or if it is not charging above 10 volts it will shut everything down.
Looks like your husbands trip burned the 2nd battery up ...
Also to check the alternator fuse block to make sure the bolts holding it in place are not creating a short and running your battery down and replace it ..
Here is the silly one ... ignition switch problem if your key ring has more than one key on it .. weight of key ring can sag and when you turn engine off and remove the key it can leave ignition switch in accessory mode without any lights left on. GM fixes it with a plastic plug in your key ring so you can only use one key on the ring in your ignition switch .... talking about stupid and cheapskates .. the ignition switch is the problem not the key ring ..... grrrrrr
Simple detective work ... unplug or take the light bulb out of the engine light located on the inside of your hood ... it could be staying on.
Ghost or parasitic loads leaking battery power ....
If you have your cell phone charger plugged in .. it is still drawing power when not hooked to phone or computer chargers etc etc .....
TV screen or anything with a remote stays on all the time .. including the built in GPS systems ..
Your stupid key fob .. you car is active all the time to recognize when you push a button or walk up within a certain distance to turn on lights and unlock door ...
The more electronic crap on your vehicle the more crap you have to go wrong .. the goofy little computers to make a car run today are so overpriced it is sinful and are ghosting power all the time ...
I have to laugh at everyone paying another 20-30,000$ for junk inside the truck when standard featured truck can be bought for 30k ...... looks like a lot of people have an awful expensive ego to contend with ... lol ... when all this made in China crap goes bad or not working on a trade in ... you are going to take a beating on trade in price ... lol
Think on it ... all the crap you want in a car or truck costs more than all the furniture you have in your entire house ... lol
Also .. since Obummer shut down all the lead plants in the USA .. batteries are now built for the Northern states and the southern states ... most will have an N or an S in the model number ... Right now .....Walmart's "N" battery is the most powerful built. ... for starting amps and amp hours...
HAVE FUN ... BE SURE AND WEAR YOUR NRA CAP!!
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Are they putting in quality batteries? Interstates have a 6 year warranty and a 2 year free replacement period. We're lucky enough to have a great mechanic who is also a good friend. we came home from being out of town over a really cold weekend and the batteries in our 3/4t were dead. It's not getting driven much now that SO walks across the street to work, plus the batteries were about 5 years old. We also invested in a trickle charger for it and our skid steer. Cheaper than blowing through $300 in batteries.
Search for some service bulletins or posts on truck forums for folks having the same issues. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Great thoughts everyone. These are exactly the type of things I want to be able to ask them. I'll update with what they find ... or don't find .... on Friday. |
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Member
Posts: 11
Location: OKC, OK | Had a similar issue, finally found out it was the light under the hood staying on...... |
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Member
Posts: 6
| My husband has a 2010 2500 gas motor. Does the exact same thing. We were told it is an electrical pull somewhere within the truck that is always pulling, no matter what. it will go dead any time of the year within 24-48 hours. No fail. Every. Single. Time. It has done it since the day it was brand new. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 512
| We have a 2014 1500 GMC and have had nothing but problems with it. It has left me stranded twice and the dealership actually told me it was pretty much a lemon of a truck. It has had transmission and computer issues.
We also have a Chevy 2016 2500 diesel and the power steering went out with 3,000 miles on it.
I have not been pleased with either of these trucks. I hope you get your truck figured out! |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
Location: OH. IO | r_beau - 2016-12-28 11:25 AM
Great thoughts everyone. These are exactly the type of things I want to be able to ask them. I'll update with what they find ... or don't find .... on Friday.
How did it go? |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Bump |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Sorry guys, been waiting to post the UPDATE until I could talk to the service manger on-duty myself.
Of course, they found nothing wrong. And told us that is "just the way it is" with a newer vehicle.
I wanted to make sure they truly checked everything they could check, since I know that some dealerships will skimp when they know it's warranty work and they aren't getting paid. To their credit, it was in the shop for several hours. But I just wanted to make sure they checked every little thing, before assuming its "just the way it is".
Hubby dropped it off and picked it up. He got over there early before it was ready so he sat and waited ... and talked to the general manager... who told him that the newer pickups DON'T DIE if you don't drive them. So there's some conflicting information from the GM himself.
We also called an independent body shop who's done work for hubby before who is going to look into the issue because he agrees with us that 2 weeks sounds too quick. He wanted to do some research before we brought it in, but we are going to bring it in for a second opinion, even though it's going to cost us. That's okay; I just want the problem found (if there is one).
For the record, the service manager I just talked to at the dealership (who was present Friday when our truck was in) was VERY rude to me on the phone just now. I don't know if it's because I'm a woman, but he pretty much answered everything with "the GM battery tester checked that like I told your husband". Or maybe he was annoyed I was actually asking detailed specific questions. I don't know. I didn't care for the guy or how he handled himself. Claims they checked everything extra I asked (many of your suggestions) but the only printout or slip that hubby got is a little strip from the GM battery report. He even insinuated that the truck may die within DAYS of not being driven and that that's considered normal.
The test strip says:
Diagnostic Mode
Test Info
CCA 770
Out of Vehicle
Flooded
Results
Good Battery
Rated: 770 CCA
Measured: 772 CCA
Measured volts: 12.61
Charge Time: 00:00:00
Amp Hours: 0.0
State of Health (SOH)
....it's a bar-type graph with appears to be 11 possible positions from low to high. The LINE is located in the 3rd space from Low, on the low end.
I'd attach a picture of it if I could but stupid PhotoBucket isn't working right now.
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 668
Location: Upstate New York | OK, so per what the dealership is trying to make you believe, any newer vehicle if not driven regularly will have same issue you are having. I call BS. If this is the case, then they are basically saying they personally go out on their lot and drive every new vehicle that sits there that is for sale? This goes for every dealership....???? Nope, don't believe it. I know there are some huge sale lots with vehicle that sit for over a month at a time. There is something drawing your battery down. Good luck. Keep us posted. |
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
Posts: 5409
| I would by pass the local dealership and call GMC directly. I had to do that with a new Ford that broke down months after we bought it. They bent over backwards for me and worked with the dealership that we left the truck at (was on the road traveling) I even got them to pay for the person that had to come and get me and my horse/trailer which the dealership said couldn't be done. The main company likes to keep you happy more so then the individual dealerships
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | grey_ghost - 2017-01-03 1:10 PM OK, so per what the dealership is trying to make you believe, any newer vehicle if not driven regularly will have same issue you are having. I call BS. If this is the case, then they are basically saying they personally go out on their lot and drive every new vehicle that sits there that is for sale? This goes for every dealership....???? Nope, don't believe it. I know there are some huge sale lots with vehicle that sit for over a month at a time. There is something drawing your battery down. Good luck. Keep us posted.
Nope. They jump them. That's why they go "warm the vehicle" and bring it to the door for you. So they can jumpstart it first! (That's what one of the salemens told hubby when he was killing time. Of course, the GM said differently. )
Again, if the pickup sat for a month or longer, sure I can totally agree with that. But 2 weeks just seems too quick.
Anywho, I think I will call GMC directly tomorrow. We had an earlier bad experience with this dealership with hubbys Sierra last year. Service techs were also rude again in that instance (also lost a few parts in the engine as well!)
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | IMO, the battery is charging a little low (normally batteries charger between 13.5 and 14.5 volts). If you have one or have access to one, they make a battery tester (our's I think was about $30), and you unhook the battery cables from the battery, and you attach the battery tester. Our's you just flip a switch and it tells you if it is good or not.
But, having grown up on a used car lot and still working with my dad in running one, the newer the vehicle is, the more electronics and computers, the quicker the battery can go dead. It doesn't always happen, but we have a 2014 that has an issue with that, along with a 2012, if you don't start them and let them charge every day or every couple of days. So I can definitely see the possibility of your truck going dead in 2 weeks time. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | Had this happen. Turned out to be my alternator. Not my battery. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| Something to consider. My mom had a car that kept doing the same thing!! Nobody could find the problem. One night she went out in the dark to get something she forgot in her car and noticed the light in her glove box was on!!! It was hot inside the box from light never going off!! For some reason that little switch never turned the light off! Now instead of fixing it she just pulled the bulb. All done. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota |
A little update, for anyone who still wants to listen. 
Finally got a call back from the GM Senior Advisor today. She was not able to get any communication back from the dealership until now. I then got a call (directed by her) from the service manager at the dealership. It was a nice breath of fresh air to have a reasonable person to talk to; he was actually very good at answering my questions and also believed that there could still be something wrong with the pickup, and seemed to be completely honest about what their "diagnostic machine" can and can't do (explained how it can say a battery is "good" but the battery can even still be bad).
I guess I didn't know this, but there is a Chevy dealership in town who can also do warranty work on our GMC. So we already had a second opinion appointment scheduled with them on Friday the 13th (oooOOOOOoooo). I spoke with hubby and we decided to keep that appointment for now, although the GMC service manager sounded totally on-board to work with us. I told the GMC manager we'll keep him posted if the Chevy dealership finds anything.
Now, the GMC guy did say (which I already knew) that their diagnostic machine does not individually check each fuse connected to the battery, so of course it does not tell them *if* one of them has a drain. I've read stuff online (and you guys have eluded to as well) that you just manually go through and check it. And of course, is very time consuming. Kinda sounds like the GMC dealership won't do that, but instead leaves it hooked up to a monitoring device that *if* something starts to drain the battery, THEN they look closer into it. I did not question him in detail on this but it sounded like the pickup would have to sit there for days for this to work?
Anyway, I'm interested to see what the second (Chevy) dealership comes up with.
And at least happy I found someone with a good attitude to chat with at the GMC dealership who actually seems to know what he is talking about, and willing to go the extra mile.
Stay tuned.....
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| Hope that you get a satisfactory resolution to this problem. it's sure makes me want to fork out $50-70K for a new truck.....NOT!
And I hear you about the type of treatment you can get as a woman. I have experienced it multiple times. I even had one dealership tell me that I didn't know how to drive a 6 sped properly! I told him that I learned to drive stick on a 13 speed, have driven an 18 and 10 speed as well as multiple pickups. THAT particular problem turned out to be an issue with the hydraulic hose...when you pushed in the clutch pedal, the hose would inflate rather than put pressure where it was supposed to. Had to go to 5 different dealerships and 87K before the problem was pinpointed and corrected along with another , ongoing issue with power and mileage. That is just one of many stories I could tell you about dealerships talking down to me and wanting to speak more reasonably with my husband.
Speaking of mileage, what kind is everyone getting with their newfangled, electronic trucks? on one thread somewhere someone said that putting up with the problems was worth it because of the improved mileage??!! This is opposite of what I keep hearing. Then again it could have been someone who had gone from 4.10 rear end to 3.77 with knowing the difference. Just curious. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Well just picked the truck up from the Chevy dealership.
NADA.
At least this manager was good to work with and good about explaining everything. Since they did not find anything wrong, we did have to pay for the visit (which was only $64, no big deal) since then it is not covered under our extended warranty. (Looked into that deeper this morning .... interested how the GMC dealership didn't know that the standard factory warranty had expired 3 months ago....)
He explained how nothing was drawing an extra charge off the battery. Therefore, he said it doesn't make sense for the mechanic to start checking each fuse individually, because there should at least be some sort of extra draw if one of them is acting up. Which makes sense to me.
He said they would be more than happy to keep digging and digging but he doesn't know if they would find anything (and if they don't, then we would have a bigger bill). We agreed that it's probably not worth the money to have them keep on digging, when everything does seems to check out on the surface.
So I guess we'll leave things as is .... and wait for it to happen again (or hopefully not).
Dang. Was really hoping they would find something. |
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| Since you have not commented or followed up on any of the recalls and common ailments we have all posted on ....
Spend $10 and get you a battery on / off switch on your battery terminal and
it will solve the issue of ghost /parasitic electronics draining your battery ..
it will discharge all of your computer setting so you will have to reset these items anytime you disconnect your battery .. clocks, radio stations etc ..
What you paid the fast smooth talking manager would have almost bought you
a nice battery saver and hookup components like this 5 amp unit ... all three parts runs $79.95 .... watch the part number you order very carefully.. this is
a new product for cars/trucks where most are low amped for motorcycles ..
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-022-0186G-DL-WH-12V-Charger/dp...
BEST OF LUCK ... |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | The only time my batterys are dead in one of my trucks is when I dont turn the ignition switch all the way off, I've done that a few times. Or I have a bad battery. I have two trucks one is a Ford 250 and the other one is my Dodge dully {diesel} they both can set for a fews months at a time and will fire right up when I need one are the other. And I agree its not normal for a battery to be dead in a matter of two weeks.
Edited by Southtxponygirl 2017-01-15 9:45 AM
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