Electrical issue - Battery drain

[EmilyT]

I definitely have changed the battery-- no less than 18 times, so its something other than cheap batteries. Its also not very consistent. Sometimes it will be months before the battery is wasted and has to be replaced, other times it will only be a week before it starts dying if left overnight. Also, the time it takes to die is pretty all over the place too.. Sometimes it takes a full 12 hours after running it last, other times it can be a 45 minute run into the store. Its all kind of a crapshoot.

I do have a power lock and alarm key, but I felt like that was pretty standard and shouldn't be burning up countless batteries?

[petrified.rabbit]

it has to be a pretty big parasitic loss if you can lose all your power in 45 minutes after driving.

I have killed my battery several times with the radio staying on in about an hour(while I was in the car), as well as the trunk light or dome being on.

When you power down the car and close everything are you sure those things are shutting off? A sticking switch in the door, or trunk lid could leave either on, but then dislodge and work fine for a period of time, and be an intermittent problem like this. The only other thing I can think of with a 45 minute kill time would be headlights or DRL. They operate off a relay system that could stick as well turning the on/off if the relay is bad.

I am going with the thought on big systems since you said 45 minutes. To me this is if there are no issue with your alternator or wiring to the alternator. Even a loose ground on the engine could result in symptom like a bad battery not starting the car intermittently but still run the accessory stuff inside.

[Chevy Customer Svc]

I've dealt with the same issue on my 09 for a few years now... I'm not auto-aware enough to figure it out, and it hasn't been worth it to put the money into hiring someone to investigate, bit I've ran into more people around neighborhood out jumping their Aveos for what sounds like the same issue I'm almost waiting for that manufacturer's recall at this point.

Anyway, would love to hear of anyone has gotten to the bottom of this, because at this point I just want to sell the thing.

Hey EmilyT! We understand your hesitation in paying someone to inspect your vehicle without a guaranteed fix. If you'd like to message us with your VIN, mileage and contact information we can try to look further into this matter on our end. We can also connect you with a dealer in your area if you'd like. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help.

Amber N.
Chevrolet Customer Care

[avguy]

Can you do any DIY auto work, or know someone who does? The op of this thread had made some progress that you might be able to piggyback on, but unfortunately dropped out before posting a fix (if there was one). If you are not able to follow what he did and continue along that path, you might consider at least trying one thing. In his last post, he had isolated the problem to the OBD 10A fuse. So you could just pull that fuse each time the vehicle is going to be off for an extended period of time. Yes, that's a bit of a PITA, but if it does stop the drain, it would at least save you from buying any more new batteries. And if pulling that fuse really did work 100%, you could even have a toggle switch wired into that fuse. Yep - very low tech, but it would sure beat paying a shop $$$ to find and fix the actual problem. If this drain is being caused by a shorted wire (instead of something being "on"), it could take many hours if digging through wire bundles to track it down.

[thankful_ragamuffin]

At our shop, we can generally isolate an electrical issue in 3 hours or less. A competent shop should be able to do likewise.

[EmilyT]

Hey EmilyT! We understand your hesitation in paying someone to inspect your vehicle without a guaranteed fix. If you'd like to message us with your VIN, mileage and contact information we can try to look further into this matter on our end. We can also connect you with a dealer in your area if you'd like. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help.

Amber N.
Chevrolet Customer Care

I've taken it into the dealers to have them look at it, and two different Chevy dealers in two different states point blank refused to investigate the issue any further because I no longer had a Chevy Brand Battery in the car-- They would only look into the issue further if I first bought the recommended Chevy battery then maybe they would be able to figure out the issue. Which I'm not about to blow a couple hundred dollars on the name brand battery when my Autozone version of the exact same thing is still covered under warranty.

[thankful_ragamuffin]

I've taken it into the dealers to have them look at it, and two different Chevy dealers in two different states point blank refused to investigate the issue any further because I no longer had a Chevy Brand Battery in the car-- They would only look into the issue further if I first bought the recommended Chevy battery then maybe they would be able to figure out the issue. Which I'm not about to blow a couple hundred dollars on the name brand battery when my Autozone version of the exact same thing is still covered under warranty.

I am shocked - to try and sell you parts before even attempting a diagnosis tells me that they will just change a bunch of (profitable) parts until the problem goes away; not a diagnosis at all. At the shop I am service manager at, I don't care if your parts came from a competitor's shop - if you are seeing me it is because they couldn't fix your problem and when I fix it I will have won you as a regular customer. Any competent shop would think the same way.

[petrified.rabbit]

the only question I have of this (is too see if this complaint of 2 shops is justified) IS what are the specs on the battery you have in there? NOT just CCA, but amp'hours, Type etc. I only ask because maybe they popped the hood and say the wrongly specified battery in there?

[Thymeclock]

I've dealt with the same issue on my 09 for a few years now... I'm not auto-aware enough to figure it out, and it hasn't been worth it to put the money into hiring someone to investigate, bit I've ran into more people around neighborhood out jumping their Aveos for what sounds like the same issue I'm almost waiting for that manufacturer's recall at this point.

Anyway, would love to hear of anyone has gotten to the bottom of this, because at this point I just want to sell the thing.

Emily,

When you say things like "I've ran into more people around neighborhood out jumping their Aveos for what sounds like the same issue" I find that hard to believe. How many other people is that? 1? 2? 5? 10? 20?

You only have 3 posts in this forum. When you say "at this point I just want to sell the thing" it sounds like you might be exaggerating your claim and might have come to this forum primarily to badmouth the Aveo.

Something is draining your battery. It's probably a door not fully closed or some accessory that is still left on and drawing power when the car is not running. That can happen with ANY car.

I too have an '09. The one time the battery went dead overnight was when I didn't slam the door hard enough to turn out the dome light. Duh, my bad. It could be as simple as that.

[Thymeclock]

I am shocked - to try and sell you parts before even attempting a diagnosis tells me that they will just change a bunch of (profitable) parts until the problem goes away; not a diagnosis at all. At the shop I am service manager at, I don't care if your parts came from a competitor's shop - if you are seeing me it is because they couldn't fix your problem and when I fix it I will have won you as a regular customer. Any competent shop would think the same way.

I'm not shocked or surprised. I know from personal experience that GM/Chevy has some really lousy and incompetent dealerships out there that want nothing to do with an Aveo, or with doing warranty work. Despite all the sweet talk from the ladies at GM customer service, what Chevy dealers do can make for a frustrating experience.