alno1995 Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 My 99 STS wouldnt start today, until I jump started in. It wasn't very cold today about 50 deg. It has an 85 month Interstate battery bought in Feb 2006, so it is about 4 years old. After I jump started it, it seemed fine. The guys up at O Reillys checked the battery with a meter and it said it had about 12.4 Volts and tested good. The alternator was putting out about 13.8 volts and tested OK. I though maybe an interior light got left on, but that doesnt make any sense with the auto shutoff battery saver feature. Do you think it is time for a new battery?? or have you heard of the saver switch not shutting the interior lights off?It had only sat overnite. The battery OReillys had is $134 so I wanted to be sure before I replaced it. Not showing any codes. Showing 14.1v after starting Have started it numerous times after this one incident throughout the day. Thanks in advance for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 My 99 STS wouldnt start today, until I jump started in. It wasn't very cold today about 50 deg. It has an 85 month Interstate battery bought in Feb 2006, so it is about 4 years old. After I jump started it, it seemed fine. The guys up at O Reillys checked the battery with a meter and it said it had about 12.4 Volts and tested good. The alternator was putting out about 13.8 volts and tested OK. I though maybe an interior light got left on, but that doesnt make any sense with the auto shutoff battery saver feature. Do you think it is time for a new battery?? or have you heard of the saver switch not shutting the interior lights off?It had only sat overnite. The battery OReillys had is $134 so I wanted to be sure before I replaced it. Not showing any codes. Showing 14.1v after starting Have started it numerous times after this one incident throughout the day. Thanks in advance for any advice. Any name branded battery can and will fail without symptoms. Even a "new" off-the-shelf battery can be faulty. I am particularily suspicious of batteries branded "other than" ACDELCO. If your battery is capable of cranking and starting the engine, that is all a battery is expected to accomplish. Voltage readings can be informative - or deceptive; it depends on the situation. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeb Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 i agree. my 2yr old battery died awhile back. replaced with same brand. i think the prorated warranty only applied to replacing with identical battery. i think your battery is 74-78 series? common size. many stores sell them. ac-delco is nice but certainly not the only brand out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschelle Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 You could also have a dead cell. You have to check the acid in each cell with a battery hydrometer. If there is a noticeable difference between reading in any of the cells it is probably a bad battery. They can pass a load test and still have a bad cell. Just my 2 cents! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Never bet anything important on the health of a horse -- or a battery. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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