I have a 97 STS with about 262,000 miles on it. I have had the starter replaced about 50,000 miles ago.

I ran my battery down last night (was doing some work and left the key in the own position.)

I put my battery charger on it, in the "start" mode" and all I got was clicking - then when I turned the key off, all of the electronics went dead. After a few minutes there was a clicking noise under the hood and the electronics came back. After charging for 1/2 an hour, I put the charger back in start mode and the same thing happened.

I'm typing this as I let it charge even more.

So a couple of questions.

1) At what level of charge does the battery need to be to provide sufficient voltage to engage the starter?

2) Any idea what is causing the electronics to kick out?

3) Any other thoughts on what may be happening?

What is the static voltage of the battery (meaning, no load voltage) after a charge. While not all telling, any voltage less than 12.5 volts may mean the battery is toast. It's not the voltage that makes stuff run (though it's needed) but the amperage. Try slow charging your battery (say 8 hours) with an automatic charger and see what happens. If the charger doesn't seem to want to take the charge (meaning the amperage gauge doesn't swing to charge), it may also mean the battery is perhaps broken inside and is no longer usable.

Voltage was at 12.6.

Ended up jumping it off my suburban with no issue and after driving for 1 hour and leaving it parked all day in 20 degree weather it fired with no problem. Need to find a decent charger. This one is obviously garbage.


Did have to reset about 20 codes afterwards.