Low battery ; service side-alert system

[Bruce Nunnally]

A while back my ATS-V would occasionally be slow to crank, so the dealer put a new battery in.

The new battery (years later) is now occasionally slow to crank, so I sent a note over to see how much a new battery will be.  Now, note the battery itself is $320 ($242 or so on discount).  Rockauto has 48AGM for $157 plus S&H.https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/cadillac,2016,ats,3.6l+v6+turbocharged,3310891,electrical,battery,2476 

My ATS-V is not start/stop and this is the one in the car now: ACDELCO 48AGM {#88864541} Gold / Professional; AGM; BCI Group 48; CCA 760 Exclude Start Stop (KL9); Use vent tube 20908491 

The battery removal & replacement requires some trunk trim removal, then the battery connections.  The dealer quote is $449.95 to R&R which I suppose is 1 battery at MSRP and 1 hour of labor.  

The battery should have some warranty, as it has not been THAT long but I will have to review details.  

There was a low mass battery with the ATS-V track pack that saves 10-15 lbs; I see TapOut Tuning has it for sale.   https://www.tapouttuning.com/product/acdelco-low-mass-battery/  Seems like fewer CCA for lower weight, so not a great trade for my use.

I was also getting a Service side-alert system warning, mixed with Side-alert system temporarily unavailable.  After I had the battery on the charger a bit that stopped for now, and the side-alert system is working properly on both sides.  The battery charger seems to think the battery is mostly full/fine, so it still seems a bit like the battery has a weak cell.    Not a dead cell, as it shows proper voltage, but an intermittent cell situation of some sort.  The charger claims to help with de-sulfurization, so possible that in the process it was improved the weak cell? 

The side-alert system uses 2 radar modules, one on each side apparently near the ends of the rear bumper.  So if I do see that alert again I'll try to narrow down which module is alerting.  Meanwhile, I cleaned off the sensors on the rear bumper as well.  I am unclear how those interact with the radar system, but the manual mentions that mud or snow can cause this alert.

For now I am letting the charger run a bit then cautiously taking local trips to see what symptoms.  If the battery keeps doing intermittent things then I will plan to replace it.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Battery fitment info; the track pack RPO Y4Q battery appears to be the LN1AGM, or pn 88865429.

The Stock / OEM battery is the 48AGM 88864541

[Bruce Nunnally]

I tested the ATS-V battery using an Ansel BA301 Battery Analyzer with following results:

SOH = 59%
SOC = 0%
CCA = 413A
STD = 700A
Resitance = 6.04mΩ
Voltage = 11.88V
GOOD-RECHARGE

Which appears to show the battery is good but discharged and simply needs recharge.  I put it on my charger, a Beleeb BLB-C25 Battery Charger & Maintainer again today and will let it run until it gets to 'full charge', then retest and see what then.  If it is not 'holding' a charge then probably needs replace regardless.    

Initial result interpretation:

OK Recharge: The BA301 manual notes: good battery, but low current, recharge before use.

I see SOH is state of health, and SOC is state of charge. 

I see the internal resistance is 6.04 mOhm but not sure if that is good or not.  My impression is it is just telling us the same story that the battery is producing 413 CCA instead of 700 CCA.

 

[Bruce Nunnally]

I left the charger on for a few hours before Christmas Eve, then retested today, after Christmas.  The ATS-V has not gone anywhere as we are isolating at home.  Battery this morning tested at SOH 78%, still Good-Recharge.  Now I see SOC 6%.  R:4.55 mOHMs CCA: 546A; Vol:12.04V.  This seems to suggest there is not a large parasitic draw with the car off, as the battery stayed charged.

I put the charger back on; what happens is the charger goes through stages from constant amperage to variable amperage to trickle charge to full & anti-sulfurization.   The final stage is a low current maintainer; the charger gets to 'fully charged', although that does not appear to mean the battery tests is 'fully charged'.   This appears to suggest that the battery is sulfated, which is to say has developed sulfur crystals in the electrolyte, reducing its capacity for holding charge.  The final stage of the charger claims to help mitigate this, so leaving the charger on "de-sulfurization" may help.  Otherwise the battery will need to be replaced.

I am on holiday today, so plenty of time to let the charger stay on for a few hours and see if it can de-sulfurize the battery.

Update:  while reading the ACDELCO site I recognize I was using 700 CCA instead of the correct 770 CCA.  After the charger ran through to 'fully charged' the SOH is 87% for 700 CCA or 80% for 770 CCA, R:3.99, CCA: 623, Vol 12.42.  So the battery is not able to get to 100% fully charged, maxing at 80%.  I note that the battery university site explains that all of the 'gadget' pulse de-sulfurization claims are not scientifically valid.  So my 48AGM battery is ready for replacement, but I have time for the new one to arrive. 

Rockauto $156 plus $17 shipping and $15 tax for $189.  Amazon Prime was $192 so similar and would have delivered sooner.  O'Reilly in-store is $242 (plus 18 core).

[Bruce Nunnally]

installed the new battery from RockAuto in the ATS-V Trunk today.

Battery in the left side of trunk, under a hatch (too small to pull battery out of).

Battery with rear trim piece removed, and side trim piece displaced to allow access.

There is a bottom retainer, a top brace, two vent tubes to address, (one for vent one plugged).

The battery the dealer put in previously (top) does not match the new one; it was a 48AGM but says it has 700 CCA where new one says 770 CCA.

Otherwise I would have just expected OEM battery vs retail battery differences.

New battery in place except top brace.

No problem with radio resetting or anything else not working after battery change.    Hopefully this one will have a long and charged life.

 

Side trim has 2 retainers to remove to displace enough to access battery.  Ideal would have been a battery hatch large enough to pull battery out of.