2013 GMC Terrain SLT 4-cyl 2.4. Kept in garage 100% of the time, barely ever driven, 15K miles like brand new everything in perfect showroom condition including under the hood.
No problems no issues. 1 month ago 5 year old battery died. Bought a new one put it in, drove perfectly like that for 1 month nothing unusual. Took trip 5 days ago 20 miles to the store no problems totally perfect. Got in car the next day and all sorts of alerts come up - including:
“Service power steering”, “parking assist unavailable”, “lane depart unavailable”, “forward collision alert unavailable”, parking brake light always on never goes off, traction control light on never goes off, ABS light on never goes off, etc…but after taking it on several short drives around neighborhood - don’t notice any actual real mechanical problems.
Is the Check Engine Light lit-up?
If it is, you should be aware that emissions or engine problems that cause the CEL to light up will also cause some functions to be shut down because everything has to be working optimally in order for those things to work properly.
If the CEL is lit-up (and as long as it is not flashing/blinking), drive to an auto parts store (Autozone, O’Reilly, Advance, etc) where they will check for stored trouble codes. Then, you can come back here to report those codes for specific advice.
If the CEL is flashing/blinking, then you need to have it towed to a mechanic’s shop.
When the battery was dying on my 2011 Camaro it displayed bogus messages like "service stabilitrac’. Definitely you should have it scanned for any stored codes. But I would also verify the battery was installed correctly.
Put the battery on a charger. I think you are not driving this car enough to fully charge up a new battery. If the problem goes away after an overnight charge, it should be OK for a while until you run the battery down again. If this doesn’t fix it, you might have a failing Body Control Module.
First step is a basic battery/alternator test. If you know how to use a volt meter, before first start of the day the battery should measure about 12.6 volts; then immediately after starting the engine, 13.5 - 15.5 volts. What do you (or your shop) measure?
Totally agree with the suspected bad or dying battery. Modern cars act really weird when the battery is dead or dying. And if you’ve only put 15K miles on it over the past 9 years, you’re not driving the vehicle enough to keep the battery charged.
I’d suggest either getting a new battery and/or driving this vehicle more often.
I’ve spent the last 2 weeks trying to figure this out. I am growing more suspicious of the car being perfectly fine until hours prior to an ONSTAR monthly diagnostic report and then having all these problems coincide exactly with the timing of that ONSTAR activity. Is it possible that they installed / downloaded some sort of software update or something else that would explain this? Everything I’ve checked - fuses, battery, wiring harnesses, fluid levels, tire pressure, etc…appears fine.
Last drove the Terrain 5 days ago on Tuesday with no problems other than the ones I originally listed. Get in today (saturday) planning to head to auto parts store to have the codes read - and put the key in - and nothing. not lights, no bells no dome light - totally dead dark black nothing happens no clicking - like a paperweight. Never seen this before in all the dying and dead car batteries there has always been enough juice to at least light up something. Key won’t come out of ignition. Puzzled. Could have been a bad battery from the start, but now worried I have some sort of drain that kills the battery - this one or any battery - while the car sits turned off in the garage. But have no idea how such a drain would have happened since the only thing that has changed is putting that new battery in. Plan on pulling the battery out and exchanging it with a new different one but wanted your thoughts -
just a thought and something to look out for.
you could have a bad brake light switch. when they start to go bad you will have the brake lights getting stuck on intermittently. which would drain your battery overnight, or if you have a weak battery it will drain it quickly
Good idea above about a possible faulty brake light switch. I had that happen on my Corolla one time, new stop-lamp switch fixed it. After you park your car, check the tail-lights to see if any bulbs are still on.
Auto parts store unlikely to be able to read diagnostic codes from ABS and PS modules. Generic scan tools can read engine and some transmission codes, but other modules require a special scan tool.
thank you for the replies. One more thing Iwill mention. I have recently - probably since the new (now dead) battery was put in - noticed something odd. Without starting the car or even having the key with me - when I get in the car and then get out and close the door (and possibly all other times as well) I hear what sounds like the 60 minutes stopwatch noise coming from under the hood. I first assumed this was some sort of timer like for keeping the headlights on, etc…but now I am thinking maybe it was a faulty or failing relay? Could that noise have been / be connected to my larger mystery?
Problems with the warning lights can be due to a faulty alternator field circuit. This is because of the way the “TEST” mode works for the warning lights. You also experienced a dead battery, so I suspect you may need to replace the alternator. As for the ticking sound, I’m not sure what could be doing that, but it isn’t due to a faulty relay. Something may be getting power to it when it shouldn’t be. You can try pulling fuses one at a time to see what circuit is supplying the power to the device.
Prior to the old battery dying, never had any charging/battery light come on and ONSTAR diagnostic showed nothing. Same now - with the new (now dead) battery, never had any batt/charging light come on. Took battery out and currently putting out around 5 volts. It is my father’s vehicle. Basically brand new. 15k miles kept in garage 100% of the time - everything I have inspected looks like it is in perfect/spotless condition.
The battery might be able to be charged up again. Once it charged up, I suggest you have it tested along with the charging system. If the charging system checks out okay, then it seems there is a high current draw happening while the car is parked.
That’s probably the cause of the ticking noise. Low power supply voltages confuse electronics. Suggest to focus on what’s causing the low battery voltage first. Most likely causes are faulty battery or faulty alternator. If the serpentine belt (which powers the alternator pulley) has recently been removed for some reason, sometimes the shop tech doesn’t make a belt-routing sketch and they get re-installed incorrectly, so that’s a another thing for your shop to check.
Put the new battery in, checked everything again with flashlight and magnifying glass - no leaks no frayed wires no loose connections nothing broken. Checked brake fluid - about halfway between max and min, put air in all four tires since they were a couple of pounds low, ran car for 1 hour solid after putting new battery in. All previous problems still there - except for two of them - the ticking noise is gone and the parking assist / backup camera and alarm work now. But everything else is the same - brake light on, ABS light on, traction light on, lane depart not working, collision alert not working and - since I used most of the little gas I had on my 1 hour drive - low gas / check gauges light not working (that’s a new one). Checked for any lights or anything that were staying stuck on after having been back, and shut off for a few minutes - nothing. When I start this car, the first thing that happens is it says, “checking” and after that is done - all these problems happen. I was hoping that after having no battery in the car for 2 days and nights, things would be cleared and reset. Or it would reset after a few start cycles but it appears that whatever is being “checked” at each start - is where it is being found a problem.
I presume there’s no check engine light warning w/engine running. Even so, there could still be diagnostic codes stored in the drivetrain computer memory. If computer thinks there’s an engine or transmission problem remaining, even w/no check engine light, it will automatically turn off the ABS, Traction, Lane Depart, Collision systems b/c those systems require the engine and transmission to be working correctly. It’s also possible a problem w/ the ABS system is what is causing the other systems to turn off. Same reason, the other safety systems require ABS to function properly. Suggest to ask your shop to query the computer for stored diagnostic codes, both current and pending including for the engine, transmission, and ABS system.
Good for you for getting the battery problem solved and the clicking stopped.
Not in all cases. Some resets require using the scan tool.
if this is a side post mounted battery, pull the connections off (positive and ground,) clean them, and reinstall making sure they are tight. These type of connections are notorious for coming loose or getting nasty.
If that doesn’t help, you may need to check for a voltage drop across the battery cables and make sure they are good. I have a 2014 that I had to replace the positive battery cable because the cable had a weak spot in it.