After purchasing two batteries within days in Jan. 2018, it was determined something was draining the battery overnight. Took it to a local garage and did the fuse test where hook up the multi meter and pull fuses until the drain stops. This didn’t work and I dropped it off at the dealer on Jan 29, 2018. After playing around with it for almost two weeks and no results I made an appointment with the service manager. He had the tech attend and he thought it was related to water leaking from the sun roof into sensitive electrical areas. They gave me a loaner about Feb 10 and on March 29th told me the car was fixed. Two days after I picked it up the battery died overnight. They gave me another loaner and have communicated a couple times about what they thought were the drain culprits. Parts ordered and would let me know when it was fixed. Last email was May 3rd and they thought it the drain was now from the instrument cluster. They’ve ordered the part and would let me know when it arrived and was installed. Since I’ve had a loaner for most of the time and I think the bill will capped at $1400 I’ve been OK waiting hoping once repaired it will be done right. My concern now is that I need my Enclave for our early June vacation for the roof rack and trailer hitch. The Canyon I’m using now won’t cut it.
Best bet is to rent a vehicle for your vacation. You don’t want to be wasting time with dead battery problems, since time is so precious when you are on vacation. Renting is a good idea anyway for driving vacations, that’s what I usually do with no battery drain problem. No limit to the number of miles, and the price for a week or two is pretty reasonable if have 4-6 weeks advance notice and you phone around. I usually get best results renting at rental places not located at an airport.
This must be a tough one to solve, given all that’s been done to date. Especially if you had water intrusion into the interior of the car from the sunroof or elsewhere, it’s hard to predict how long it will take for you to get a reliable solution. Besides the instrument cluster, what were the other things they fixed that were causing current drains? You probably are already aware of this, but one common cause is an intermittent door switch. That causes the computer to keep waking up in the middle of the night. If you feel like replacing something, replace all the door switches.
When they first thought they solved it at the end of March said it was the fuse box since there was water there. Since then they have replaced the Nav modules located in the car jack area. Just prior the the instrument cluster they thought it could be caused by the remote seat switch.
Was the fuse box replaced? If not, that’s something to consider. I had to replace the fuse box on my old VW Rabbit due to a fuel pump electrical power problem. Water corroding the fuse box, not a good thing. Since that’s grand central station of the car’s power distribution, you need that to be 100%.
Is there any function – nav, seats, for example – that’s low priority for your needs and can be powered off for now? That something else to consider.
The fuse box was replaced with the initial diagnosis but the drain problem continued.
I agree with George. You do not want to take that electrical headache on a vacation because the odds are that it will be nothing but grief.
You need to contact GM and why should you have a bill at all? I would think warranty would cover this problem.
If they pull all of the fuses and the current draw is still there then they need to drag out the schematic and determine what all has power to it directly from the battery.
Three months there is ridiculous.
Since the fuse box has been replaced already, what about the door switches? When they go faulty they can cause the computer to keep turning on, in the middle of the night, thinking somebody’s getting into the car, and that drains the battery.
OP never did say what year his vehicle is
For all we know, it’s well out of any warranty
He also didn’t say he was being charged for the loaner, although I can see where that might be implied.
To the OP: perhaps if you explained the situation to the manager he’d swap your current loaner for something that would meet your towing needs.
If not, I agree that renting is the best option.
Sorry. New user, Thought it showed up as part of my registration. 2008 AWD Enclave. About 115K miles.
May 10
ok4450:
why should you have a bill at all? I would think warranty would cover this problem.
OP never did say what year his vehicle is
For all we know, it’s well out of any warranty
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In Reply To
ok4450
May 10
I agree with George. You do not want to take that electrical headache on a vacation because the odds are that it will be nothing but grief. You need to contact GM and why should you have a bill at all? I would think warranty would cover this problem. If they pull all of the fuses and the current d…
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No charge for the loaner. First two months I had a 2018 Terrain. Since about April 7th I’ve had a 2018 Colorado.
Tim , edit your post . You should never put all that personal info on an open web site. Just in case you don’t know how I will Bat Signal Carolyn .
@cdaquila Here we go again.
Thanks Volvo, I think I was able to remove personal info.
My mistake. My brain got derailed and I was thinking a 2017 model for some reason or the other.
Still, there is no excuse for 3 months and not being able to come up with a general cause. With the draw present and all fuses being pulled during the process it would seem that someone should be able to eyeball the factory schematic and come up with a few educated guesses involving the power at all times circuits.
perhaps a module is not going to sleep, causing the parasitic draw
Tell the dealer you need a SUV for your vacation and see if they can exchange the pickup for another SUV. Would a Terrain be large enough? Even though it is smaller than the Enclave, it might be acceptable. Maybe they have a Yukon loaner on the lot. You can return it after your vacation for a different loaner after you return.
I can’t help but think someone at that dealership is going to be in trouble. A 10 year old vehicle in the shop for 3 months and providing a loaner . Why after a few weeks did someone not offer top dollar trade in and get this whole problem solved and wholesale the 2008 and be done with it.
The only other option is to get yourself a jump pack and take that along to jump the car every morning. Of course you’ll need to charge it up every night again. Intermittents are tough but like said, I would have thought they at least would have it narrowed down to the right circuit at this point so you could pull the fuse at night but it appears they are just throwing parts at it.
I’d need at least an Enclave size with roof racks so I can use my car top carrier.
I can disconnect the positive at night and connect in the a.m. It charges well while I’m driving.