Security System and Dead Battery

[SJC]

My Father inlaw tried to start our 2003 CTS this morning and it acted like the battery was dead and the padlock symbol indicated locked. The vehicle lights come on bright but will only click when the key is turned to the start position. When jump started the vehicle starts right up. Battery is less then 9 months old

TIA
Steve

[CTS_FAN]

Anyone else have this problem?? It is happening to me right now!!!

[Sammy Z]

It could be the battery, but not always. I had a similar situation, the aftermarket NAV was dragging down the battery. When the car is off, the parasitic drain on the battery should be a low current, about 20 to 30 mili--amps. I put an amp meter in the battery curcuit and after things settle down (2 min) the current drain was 200 ma or .2 amps. On a cold night, this was enough to kill the battery. The NAV installer changed the power source to one that is turned off when the car is off and that took care of it.

Moral of the story, be suspect of any aftermarket changes to the car.

[talonstylz]

Factory draw should never be above 30 milliamp, most cars have a draw of about 15 at rest, thats with the doors closed, all dome lights off, etc...
Most starters/alarms add an extra 25-35 milliamp draw which is normal, cars are able to withstand between 60-70 milliamp draws without killing the battery within days, with a 60 milliamp draw you should be able to leave the car unattended for 1-2 weeks no prob unless your battery is no good.
Hope that helps, if your car has nothing after market in it and your seeing more then a 30 milliamp draw i would be worried, if not then your battery is no good.

Just make sure you have all the doors closed and no lights or any acc's turned on while doing the test, and make sure to let it sit for atleast 5 min before getting an accurate #.

Also a good way to track down a draw is by unplugging any aftermarket things you have while doing the draw test, if there isn't any then pull fuses one by one, make sure you replace them after you pull them if one doesn't make a change put it back in and move on to the next fuse, that way the dealer wont charge you a million bucks to track it down.