2009 3.8L V6, 67,800 miles, Highest trim/all options.........battery/start issues

[AlenZJ]

So I've done quite a bit of research in other threads related to battery/starting issues as well as electrical issues but no one else's situations have seemed to help me with my problem.

It all started when my info-tainment dial stopped working last week out of nowhere. (I can click to select things as well as move left right up and down, but no response when spinning the dial, leaving the info-tainment system pretty much useless). After reading that a possible fix would be to disconnect the battery and reconnect it, I went ahead and tried that but it didn't fix the dial. I was sad, but I put it on my list of things I can live without for now. I moved on and there were no issues with my car going forward.

Fast forward about 4 or 5 days and I'm getting off of work, I stop at a gas station to fill up and once I'm ready to leave I push the start button, the steering wheel did a little twitch and made a mechanical sound like it always does but then nothing. No lights, no power, nothing. I disconnected the negative terminal, waited 10 seconds, reconnected, saw a spark as soon as the metal made contact, and then everything was fine. The engine started right up and it didn't sound weak when cranking/turning over either. I had no issues starting the car for the next 2 days.

Fast forward 2 days, I'm parked behind my girlfriend and I go to move my car so she can leave my house, I unlock the door, get in and push the start button and inevitably go through the exact same sequence I just described at the gas station. This time, nothing happened after disconnecting/reconnecting the negative terminal, not even a spark. By dumb luck, I decided to touch the plastic cover on the positive terminal and give it just the slightest jiggle, followed by a harder press. My trunk lights then came on and I knew the car had power. The engine again started right up with no issues.

Seeing as this has happened twice in the past week I'm am anticipating it happening again soon. What I'm curious about is what is causing this because I just replaced the battery this year back in May so it shouldn't be anywhere near dead yet. Since then, I have not had any issues starting the car whatsoever, until most recently, when I disconnected my battery to try and fix my info-tainment system dial. ( This was the first time I've disconnected the battery since buying the replacement battery back in May).

I'm thinking it could be an alternator issue but I'd rather get some advice before I spend the money to have it looked at/replaced. I guess I'm just hoping someone will tell me I need to make sure my battery connections are better or some stupid, simple fix like that. I've done a lot of reading on these forums and have noticed a trend with these cars having electrical issues. Hopefully someone can help me out a little more than all these other threads have already done.

Thank you in advance! This community is always super helpful.

 

[Cali Gen]

You can go to any oreillys autozone napa autoparts etc etc and they have a device that can hook up to your battery and can test to see if it is in fact your battery or your alternator or maybe in your case neither lol pretty sure its just a courtesy thing so no charge.

 

[AlenZJ]

You can go to any oreillys autozone napa autoparts etc etc and they have a device that can hook up to your battery and can test to see if it is in fact your battery or your alternator or maybe in your case neither lol pretty sure its just a courtesy thing so no charge.

The last time I went to O'Reilly's they made me take my battery out and bring it inside and I had to wait a good 4 hours for their "test" to be conducted only to tell me that my battery was dead.

I just ordered a load tester for the battery off Amazon to test it myself because I also have little trust in people telling me what's wrong with my car without being able to see them conduct the work.

Heres a screenshot the load tester I purchased. It should be here tommorow.

 

[EdP]

So I've done quite a bit of research in other threads related to battery/starting issues as well as electrical issues but no one else's situations have seemed to help me with my problem.

It all started when my info-tainment dial stopped working last week out of nowhere. (I can click to select things as well as move left right up and down, but no response when spinning the dial, leaving the info-tainment system pretty much useless). After reading that a possible fix would be to disconnect the battery and reconnect it, I went ahead and tried that but it didn't fix the dial. I was sad, but I put it on my list of things I can live without for now. I moved on and there were no issues with my car going forward.

Fast forward about 4 or 5 days and I'm getting off of work, I stop at a gas station to fill up and once I'm ready to leave I push the start button, the steering wheel did a little twitch and made a mechanical sound like it always does but then nothing. No lights, no power, nothing. I disconnected the negative terminal, waited 10 seconds, reconnected, saw a spark as soon as the metal made contact, and then everything was fine. The engine started right up and it didn't sound weak when cranking/turning over either. I had no issues starting the car for the next 2 days.

Battery cables have two ends. One goes on the battery, the other disappears and no one bothers to check it. Often it is corroded, dirty, making poor contact. Find the other end and clean it.

 

[Cali Gen]

The last time I went to O'Reilly's they made me take my battery out and bring it inside and I had to wait a good 4 hours for their "test" to be conducted only to tell me that my battery was dead.

I just ordered a load tester for the battery off Amazon to test it myself because I also have little trust in people telling me what's wrong with my car without being able to see them conduct the work.

Heres a screenshot the load tester I purchased. It should be here tommorow.

You went to a f**ked off oreillys lol I'd never go there again. Oreillys I went to used a load tester and the test took all of 2 minutes.

 

[flashnc]

So I've done quite a bit of research in other threads related to battery/starting issues as well as electrical issues but no one else's situations have seemed to help me with my problem.

It all started when my info-tainment dial stopped working last week out of nowhere. (I can click to select things as well as move left right up and down, but no response when spinning the dial, leaving the info-tainment system pretty much useless). After reading that a possible fix would be to disconnect the battery and reconnect it, I went ahead and tried that but it didn't fix the dial. I was sad, but I put it on my list of things I can live without for now. I moved on and there were no issues with my car going forward.

Fast forward about 4 or 5 days and I'm getting off of work, I stop at a gas station to fill up and once I'm ready to leave I push the start button, the steering wheel did a little twitch and made a mechanical sound like it always does but then nothing. No lights, no power, nothing. I disconnected the negative terminal, waited 10 seconds, reconnected, saw a spark as soon as the metal made contact, and then everything was fine. The engine started right up and it didn't sound weak when cranking/turning over either. I had no issues starting the car for the next 2 days.

Fast forward 2 days, I'm parked behind my girlfriend and I go to move my car so she can leave my house, I unlock the door, get in and push the start button and inevitably go through the exact same sequence I just described at the gas station. This time, nothing happened after disconnecting/reconnecting the negative terminal, not even a spark. By dumb luck, I decided to touch the plastic cover on the positive terminal and give it just the slightest jiggle, followed by a harder press. My trunk lights then came on and I knew the car had power. The engine again started right up with no issues.

Seeing as this has happened twice in the past week I'm am anticipating it happening again soon. What I'm curious about is what is causing this because I just replaced the battery this year back in May so it shouldn't be anywhere near dead yet. Since then, I have not had any issues starting the car whatsoever, until most recently, when I disconnected my battery to try and fix my info-tainment system dial. ( This was the first time I've disconnected the battery since buying the replacement battery back in May).

I'm thinking it could be an alternator issue but I'd rather get some advice before I spend the money to have it looked at/replaced. I guess I'm just hoping someone will tell me I need to make sure my battery connections are better or some stupid, simple fix like that. I've done a lot of reading on these forums and have noticed a trend with these cars having electrical issues. Hopefully someone can help me out a little more than all these other threads have already done.

Thank you in advance! This community is always super helpful.

I am having the exact same issue with my 2014. Mine started when I replaced the battery with a new one. Now 50% of the time it cranks right up. The other 50% it is totally dead, I have to go to the trunk and tap on the plastic postitive post cover or tap a cable and then it starts right up. I have removed all the wires from the battery and re-installed - still hasn’t fixed the problem.

 

[Kraig Wilkinson]

I am having the exact same issue with my 2014. Mine started when I replaced the battery with a new one. Now 50% of the time it cranks right up. The other 50% it is totally dead, I have to go to the trunk and tap on the plastic postitive post cover or tap a cable and then it starts right up. I have removed all the wires from the battery and re-installed - still hasn’t fixed the problem.

Some batteries have a coating on the posts. Remove your cables and take some Emery cloth and clean them up. I just might help.

 

[flashnc]

So I've done quite a bit of research in other threads related to battery/starting issues as well as electrical issues but no one else's situations have seemed to help me with my problem.

It all started when my info-tainment dial stopped working last week out of nowhere. (I can click to select things as well as move left right up and down, but no response when spinning the dial, leaving the info-tainment system pretty much useless). After reading that a possible fix would be to disconnect the battery and reconnect it, I went ahead and tried that but it didn't fix the dial. I was sad, but I put it on my list of things I can live without for now. I moved on and there were no issues with my car going forward.

Fast forward about 4 or 5 days and I'm getting off of work, I stop at a gas station to fill up and once I'm ready to leave I push the start button, the steering wheel did a little twitch and made a mechanical sound like it always does but then nothing. No lights, no power, nothing. I disconnected the negative terminal, waited 10 seconds, reconnected, saw a spark as soon as the metal made contact, and then everything was fine. The engine started right up and it didn't sound weak when cranking/turning over either. I had no issues starting the car for the next 2 days.

Fast forward 2 days, I'm parked behind my girlfriend and I go to move my car so she can leave my house, I unlock the door, get in and push the start button and inevitably go through the exact same sequence I just described at the gas station. This time, nothing happened after disconnecting/reconnecting the negative terminal, not even a spark. By dumb luck, I decided to touch the plastic cover on the positive terminal and give it just the slightest jiggle, followed by a harder press. My trunk lights then came on and I knew the car had power. The engine again started right up with no issues.

Seeing as this has happened twice in the past week I'm am anticipating it happening again soon. What I'm curious about is what is causing this because I just replaced the battery this year back in May so it shouldn't be anywhere near dead yet. Since then, I have not had any issues starting the car whatsoever, until most recently, when I disconnected my battery to try and fix my info-tainment system dial. ( This was the first time I've disconnected the battery since buying the replacement battery back in May).

I'm thinking it could be an alternator issue but I'd rather get some advice before I spend the money to have it looked at/replaced. I guess I'm just hoping someone will tell me I need to make sure my battery connections are better or some stupid, simple fix like that. I've done a lot of reading on these forums and have noticed a trend with these cars having electrical issues. Hopefully someone can help me out a little more than all these other threads have already done.

Thank you in advance! This community is always super helpful.

Did u find a solution yet?

 

[AlenZJ]

I am having the exact same issue with my 2014. Mine started when I replaced the battery with a new one. Now 50% of the time it cranks right up. The other 50% it is totally dead, I have to go to the trunk and tap on the plastic postitive post cover or tap a cable and then it starts right up. I have removed all the wires from the battery and re-installed - still hasn’t fixed the problem.

It's a weird issue indeed. I haven't had any problems with it starting since my initial post funny enough.

Fingers crossed it stays this way .

 

[EdP]

I am having the exact same issue with my 2014. Mine started when I replaced the battery with a new one. Now 50% of the time it cranks right up. The other 50% it is totally dead, I have to go to the trunk and tap on the plastic postitive post cover or tap a cable and then it starts right up. I have removed all the wires from the battery and re-installed - still hasn’t fixed the problem.

Could the new battery have in internal problem with the post? Have you checked the other end of the cable?

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[flashnc]

It appears that the battery posts on the aftermarket batteries Are not as large as the ones from the OEM batteries which is causing a bad connection between the positive cable and the post. Doesn’t help that the cable is built into the plastic fuse/junction box. I read a suggestion from another post to trim away some of the plastic on the bottom of the plastic junction box to allow the cable to push down further, this appears to help minimally

 

[EdP]

It appears that the battery posts on the aftermarket batteries Are not as large as the ones from the OEM batteries which is causing a bad connection between the positive cable and the post. Doesn’t help that the cable is built into the plastic fuse/junction box. I read a suggestion from another post to trim away some of the plastic on the bottom of the plastic junction box to allow the cable to push down further, this appears to help minimally

Shim it or put some foil over the terminal to snug it. Or get these from Amazon

 

[flashnc]

I tried the shim caps - the cables would not fit onto the posts with the shims. I guess I need some thinner shims

 

[EdP]

I tried the shim caps - the cables would not fit onto the posts with the shims. I guess I need some thinner shims

Try a half?

 

[Chazz77]

I was told to force the cable onto the shim as the shim is quite soft and pliable. Cutting it in half works. Regardless it does seem that the positive connection on newer batteries is shorter.