Been noticing an interesting situation.
I keep the car on a maintainer but this issue presents itself after driving then stopping for a while.

I monitor PCM voltage via a ELM bluetooth module. When starting the car after it has been on the charger, voltage is around 12.5+ at start and goes to 14.1+. No issues.

I drive the car for a while. Park for say an hour then get back in and voltage reports 10.1.
Start the car and immediately get Cruise not available warning,
Let the car run about a minute , voltage is showing 14.1+
Turn car off , voltage immediately drops to 12+ range and is dropping. Restart car immediately and all is good.
If I let car sit for an hour or more the situation repeats itself.

Battery is a 1000 CCA and is 1.5 years old. About 3 months ago I had the battery load tested and passed with flying colors.
I have noticed that starting the car after being on the charger , the start is a little sluggish, but no issues , however If I stop the engine after letting it idle for a minute or so and immediately restart , it is energetic as it should be.

So, If I throw in a new $175 Battery and it dosent cure the issue, Ill expect yall to chip in and help pay for it CUZ i know 9 out of 10 of yall gonna say battery.

 

I think you are misinterpreting the data.

While on the maintainer then momentarily disconnected, you read 12.5 v
While running and charging, the alternator supplies 14.1 v.
And if at rest for any length of time, and not running, 10.1v.

Seems pretty clear to me.

 

Go ahead and say it.

 

Sounds like something is not shutting down thus draining the battery.

If you have a multi-meter you could check what the standing current is - last time
I checked mine it was around 6 milliamps. I've never needed to use a CTEK battery
maintainer

 

You’ve got 2 good answers, your data’s not telling the full story as Guy said, a battery’s got what’s called a surface charge which’s higher than the actual battery voltage.

So either the battery’s toast which’s very easily possible (age doesn’t always prove a good battery) or there’s a good bit of current draining the battery.

Easy to sort either way before buying a new battery.

First disconnect the battery terminals when it measures 12.6+ volts and wait a few hours, then measure again. If the voltage’s dropped it’s the battery.

If it’s not the battery, measure the current draw when the car’s been turned off, including turning off all lights etc.

Amazon’s got some fantastic battery and vehicle charging system Bluetooth testers under $100 which I’ve been meaning to post a thread about. Provide full diagnostics for charging, starting and battery condition using detailed phone apps.

 

I suppose it's possible there's a poor connection at the battery but usually that would prevent starting so a bad battery looks by far the most likely.

You may have a power drain that's caused it.

 

ELM's can be all over the place in terms of accuracy. While it might be a pain, testing the voltage at the battery with a voltmeter will clear that question up. I would do exactly as jahummer suggests. Test it on the posts.

 

Following these instruction, time consuming on these cars.

1. At 12.66 I disconnected the battery. Immediately noticed the battery voltage was trying to go up, not down. Let car sit over night and battery showed 12.62 next morning.
2. Reconnected Battery Neg cable and placed my Fluke VOM in current mode on the Pos side of the battery. Upon connection as expected the cars system came on and a drain of around 6 to 7 amps.
3. Allowed the car system to time out. Drain dropped to between 4 and 5 amps. Not Good.
4.Checked all connections at the engine compartment , all are off. Cannot check other fuse panels as to do that requires door to be opened and defeats the purpose.
5. I then remembered someone elses post. Car is timed out and supposedly all components are off, except for a minimal drain. I stick my head deep into the trunk and the DVD drive is running.
6. Drain still showing 6 to 7 amps. I disconnect power to the DVD drive, which for some reason triggers the car system to come back on. Amp draw drops to 2.7 amps.
7. I let the car sit for about an hour and see that the system had timed out because the trunk lights are off. And guess what. Drain is down to 25ma.

That other post about NAV causing system drain stuck in my head. The Drive is really quiet and would not have thought to check it for it not being posted. Thanks !

 

Glad you found the problem. Did the nav system actually work?

 

Actually dont know. When I bought the car I found the Disc laying in the trunk all scratched up. Never tried it.

BTW, I did have to use my optical loopback to restore radio function. Unplugging the DVD box killed the Radio. What wierd cars these are , but then it may be like this on others with disassociated drives.

 

Can you say BAD Battery 3 times while forking over $219.00

Yep, decided to get battery checked out again. It Failed at 200 Amps.

New AGM , world of difference.

 

What about the DVD/NAV drain - assuming it's still there. Just wondering if the thing
keeps trying to find the missing disc even with the ignition off. You can clean the
scratches off the disc with a rotary buffer and polish. Did that recently with a
friends favourite CD which was skipping on one track.

 

Did someone say bad battery?