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Changing 2014 ATS battery

26K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  rsingl 
#1 ·
I've searched this forum and you tube videos but no info on how to change 2014 ATS battery. Found the battery in the trunk, have no idea how to get it out. Coming to end of warranty and would like to know how to change.

Any info greatly appreciated !

Thanks
 
#5 · (Edited)
To take half the trunk apart to get to a lousy battery is unacceptable. This was strictly designed to make it difficult to replace, in hopes of you using a dealer and paying a premium for a mechanic to do it. For most of us on this forum, this is doable...but a pain in the ass. For the average driver, who isn't as mechanically inclined or adapt, it forces them to use an expensive alternative. In the winter, unless you have a heated garage, this would be miserable to try and replace.

In older Cadillacs and other cars, the battery was easily accessible; could be removed and replaced in as little as 10 or 15 minutes! Can't tell me a simple battery cover in the trunk couldn't have easily sufficed.

p.s. Make sure if you do it yourself, that you use a battery tender. If not, all your radio settings, CUE, etc. could be lost!

tip: If you have AAA, depending where you live, they can replace your battery for as little as $214 with 6 year warranty.
 
#7 · (Edited)
To take half the trunk apart to get to a lousy battery is unacceptable. This was strictly designed to make it difficult to replace, in hopes of you using a dealer and paying a premium for a mechanic to do it. For most of us on this forum, this is doable...but a pain in the ass. For the average driver, who isn't as mechanically inclined or adapt, it forces them to use an expensive alternative. In the winter, unless you have a heated garage, this would be miserable to try and replace.

In older Cadillacs and other cars, the battery was easily accessible; could be removed and replaced in as little as 10 or 15 minutes! Can't tell me a simple battery cover in the trunk couldn't have easily sufficed.

p.s. Make sure if you do it yourself that you use a battery tender. If not, all your radio settings, CUE, etc. could be lost!
It's a space issue. Engine compartment space is premium real estate. So, what's the next best place... the trunk. Cadillac just picked the wrong spot. My POS Scat Pack takes maybe 15 mins to change the battery. Just lift the trunk floor and pull the battery.

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#6 ·
I disagree. Putting the battery in the trunk is usually for weight distribution purposes. GM isn't going to spend extra money on the lengthened cables and routing shenanigans needed to place the battery in the trunk in hopes they make some Joe Blow Dealer some cash in three to five years.

I do agree it could be a bit easier to get to, but anyone that would have the ability to change a battery out in the first place can tackle this easy job. On the plus side, having a battery in the trunk usually leads to a longer lasting battery as it doesn't have to deal with the engine heat. Pez.

EDIT - Now that I think on it, I beleive there has been a thread concerning this issue already....
 
#8 ·
It's a space issue. Engine compartment space is premium real estate. So, what's the next best place... the trunk. Cadillac just picked the wrong spot. My POS Scat Pack takes maybe 15 mins to change the battery. Just lift the trunk floor and pull the battery.

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

I didn't say anything about the location, but the fact that they made it so difficult to access. I have no problem with it being in the trunk, and think it better to protect it from theft. However, it doesn't change the fact that you have to take the whole trunk apart as opposed to having a simple cover with a latch that could be accessed in less than a minute!
 
#10 ·
Right, they gave us a little access panel in order to reach the terminal. It would have been just as easy to make that panel big enough to pull the whole batter though. This was clearly done to force dealer visits for the majority of buyers in order to service a part that will need to be replaced at some point.
 
#11 ·
I like that the battery is trunk mounted for weight distribution and to keep it out of the heat of the engine compartment (longer life) but it does make battery replacement a little more difficult. I replaced the battery in my 2008 CTS a year before I traded it in and it was possible to change it through the opening in the trunk but it took some major manipulation to flip the battery and work it through the opening. This was an improvement over my prior Olds Aurora which had the battery mounted beneath the back seat which had to be lifted out for a battery change. When I took delivery at the museum I was shown how to access the battery in my Corvette and it involves pulling the carpet and underlying pad to then remove a panel under the hatch which allows somewhat difficult access to the battery. It probably takes about the same amount of time to change as the ATS.

It would be nice if they were easier but it isn't something that is done often so removing a few fasteners isn't horrible. Just to change the oil in my 2008 CTS I had to remove 4 bolts and several push pins to remove the bottom shield to access the drain plug, the ATS is much quicker and simpler especially with the top mounted filter with the 3.6. And even easy battery changes can go wrong as I found with my 2006 GMC Sierra. It is a diesel with two batteries but they are located in very easy to access locations and I was just finishing up the second one when a nut on the hold down clamp slipped off and fell. It managed to land on a small cross piece under the engine on a ridge that was just barely big enough to catch the nut. If someone offered me a million dollars and a hundred tries to get that nut to land in that spot again I wouldn't be successful. So the next to last step in this simple battery change was sliding under the pickup and getting an angled tool into a spot that I could barely see and couldn't reach so that I could get the nut to finish its fall to the floor. This is the way you turn a 15 minute task into a 30 minute job :(
 
#13 ·
Again, no one in this thread has any issue whatsoever about having the battery over the trunk. The issue is that there isn't a nice big hatch above the battery that easily allows someone to replace it.

Historically, the battery has been a consumer replaceable part since it something that needs to be serviced and probably replaced at least once (usually more frequently, typically due to lack of service) in the car's life. Having to disassemble half the trunk just to get to the battery is a HUGE non-starter for the vast majority of people. I guess the same could be said about the headlight bulbs. Usually you just pop the hood, disconnect some wires, and twist off a cover. In the ATS, if you're lucky, all you have to do is turn your wheels, pull back the wheel well liner, and remove the cover off the back of the housing. Some people might have to remove the wheel first. Some may even need to remove the whole front bumper! I wouldn't be surprised if future models had a metal plate under the hood, fastened down by fifty torx bolts, that needs to be removed just to get to the engine.
 
#14 ·
Yup you could do your own maintence back in the day. But, do you still want the starter & dimmer switch on the floor or single speed vacuum operated windshield wipers. Remember 470 A/C.

Bottom line advanced technologies have consequences.

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#15 · (Edited)
Advanced technology may have some consequences, I agree. But a simple battery cover in a trunk shouldn't be impossible or difficult to remove and replace. A battery is expected to eventually fail; just like changing oil is inevitable. What's next? Putting the oil dipstick under an engine? Headlamps burn out. Should they make it impossible or difficult it to replace your headlights?...or wait....they do!!
 
#17 ·
That is perfect, exactly as it should be. Everything is well organized and easy to get to. I like that the well's for the sealant compressor, tools and storage are deep and the battery is super easy to get to. Even have a tackle box in there OEM!
 
#20 ·
Plenty of cars have easy access to their battery comparements, including Vettes and Camaros, and BMW's. Even the 2015-2016 SRX has an easy pop off cover.

View attachment 488737 View attachment 488745

View attachment 488753

View attachment 488761
Yup. Rusty your right... BUT...the ATS isn't one of them.

OBTW - The ones on my Corvette are big enough to maybe hold a change of underwear. lol

But, the battery is under the hood where it belongs.

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#21 ·
I know I'm bringing back a very old thread, but I wanted to thank everyone for the posts about the replacement procedure. I completed the project the old-fashioned way (no tender, no memory saver) on my 2013 ATS4 Premium 3.6L yesterday. I did the replacement because I started to get weird popup notifications after a start sometimes (last one said that 2 keys were taught or something)... and the battery charge voltage was often high in the morning (up to 15V) according to my radar detector (and the car, too).

The video links above at carcarekiosk were very good, except they skipped a relatively important step - that weird plastic thing over the positive terminal. It seems to be a fuse box and a terminal bar for the front-mounted jumper cable points, but the video doesn't tell you how to remove it What's more, the idiotic design puts the positive terminal right near the bracket, making it rather risky to remove the bracket without first disconnecting the negative cable (and maybe even afterwards). Again, I agree with others that this was as stupid design, overall.

In any case, because of that, I felt uncomfortable with leaving power on the battery (I was using a second battery connected to the front jumper points). Maybe using a tender would make more sense, but even that's still going to lead to sparks, etc. (It's funny how the videos show using a battery tender on a non-ATS setup... because it's difficult to do that on the ATS.

Anyway, I disconnected the battery without backup of any kind, and connected the new one. It took me a while to do this, due to the cover (which came off with a screwdriver in the slot near the "front" of the battery (where the covers can be opened))... so it was disconnected for longer than I would have preferred. Even then, after completing the install the car came up without any issues. Radio didn't lose presents or bluetooth pairings, windows work. Car didn't start the first time I pressed, but it did start the second time without too much drama. Drove the car without any issues either. Charge voltage was around 14.8V at first, but has dropped to about 14.6V after a short drive.

There's no reason the battery had to be covered this much without an access panel. And there's no reason the fusebox had to be mounted ONTO the battery, and still have exposed positive terminals right near the bracket like it does. I think they just didn't put much thought into the matter. That being said, it's not a terribly difficult task either, overall.


Lastly, just to get a dig on those "POS" Dodge pictures... sure the battery is easy, but the battery would probably outlast the rest of the car anyway, haha! JK of course! Though, granted, I've had my share of Dodges, and they were terrible to me... so I'm speaking from some experience.
 
#23 ·
The video links above at carcarekiosk were very good, except they skipped a relatively important step - that weird plastic thing over the positive terminal. It seems to be a fuse box and a terminal bar for the front-mounted jumper cable points, but the video doesn't tell you how to remove it
If you mean difficulty unclipping it from battery, how to in link in case someone else digs up this thread:


Welcome to the growing "I replaced my ATS battery" club! ;)
 
#22 ·
Schwinn,

Congratulations on getting it changed and there is NO good reason to need a tender or other backup to power the car system while changing the battery and it is a bad idea because you need to use additional caution not to create damage while changing the battery.

Don't be surprised if the CEL comes on in the next hundred miles or so and if it does you will just need to follow the instructions in the owners manual for the throttle body relearn process which only takes a few minutes. It is possible that you will not have to do the relearn but sometimes the CEL from needing a relearn after battery disconnect doesn't come on during the first few starts. In any case it won't be a big deal if it does.

Rodger
 
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#26 ·
I replaced my battery yesterday, used the O'Reilly battery listed above and used a Battery Tender (have it on my other car anyway so took minutes). Overall procedure wasn't as bad as I was expecting. With me having a 2013 I was surprised the battery lasted this long, still was OK but with the procedure involved didn't want it to die unexpectedly and it wasn't cranking over exactly the same as new. Doubt I will keep the car long enough to need another battery as the car is about 7.5 years old now.
 
#29 ·
@bbennett066, please start a new thread with your concern. This thread is related to how to change the battery so folks aren't going to be looking in here to help answer CUE-related problems.

Regarding the complaint of how hard the ATS battery is to change, it was probably a "well, crap" moment after they finished designing everything. I work as a systems engineer for railway electronics and you'd not believe how many times we get to the end of a design only for someone to change the scope on us JUST before the release. I bet someone at Cadillac did design a cute access little hatch, then someone flaming product manager said "we need to cover up more of the trunk area to be luxurious!". Engineering managers agreed without thinking about it, only to find the extra trunk covering now prohibits an access hatch. No time to redesign the hatch because they won't hold the release of the car just for battery access, so out she goes with the current method of access.

Or some facsimile of the above. :D
 
#30 ·
14BlueRocket,

I know what you mean about last minute changes having spent a lot of time in the areas of risk and quality. In general, the person making those decisions is although the person least impacted by both the immediate and long-term fallout :)

Any maintenance task that takes less than an hour is no big deal to me, particularly when that maintenance task is going to be on a 6 year or greater schedule. The AGM battery in the ATS lasts a very long time unless it is abused.

I complain far more about frequent maintenance items that are a pain like the fuel filter in the 2006 GMC Sierra that I used to own. It was mounted so close to the block that getting a filter wrench on it was like trying to thread a needle (a strap wrench was the only type you could use) and you couldn't see and the water-in-fuel sensor disconnect which was a pain both to access and remove. Once changed, you had to use a hand priming button that required 40-50 presses to re-prime the line. This was a roughly once a year routine and included getting diesel on your hands in the process. I was very lucky never to have to change a gelled filter on the side of the road. Fortunately GM went to a different system and my 2018 is a breeze to change with easy access under the truck near the fuel tank and it primes via the lift pump.

Rodger
 
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