When jumping a Sky..

[plausibledenial]

Things I've learned today:

When jumping a SKY... actually, just skip that step. Or, if you do, don't let anyone else touch it because they will apparently frack it all up and blow a amp/fuse/thingie by doing it wrong.

The car spent the day in the shop again due to being completely dead at work last night. Well-meaning co-workers tried to jump it, first from remote terminals (thingies by the fusebox), and then from the battery terminals itself. Took multiple tries for success and the car lets you know it's very unhappy with the process. The car ended up with like 13 codes and the onStar diagnostics guy was nice, but somewhat puzzled as to why a jumpstart would cause all of that. Saturn (of Plano, quick woot) was awesome about getting the battery and the blown thingie fixed today, although I'm sure they're thinking I'm an idiot now.

Now, how a four-month old car with no interior lights on and auto-headlights set manages to completely drain the battery in a space of 24-hours, I honestly don't know.

[xmicro_Redline]

Sorry to hear that. If you need a jump reead the manual carefully. There is VERY SPECIFIC directions on how to do that without blowin anything, or wait for Onstar to send roadside assistance.

I have read in another thread about ONSTAR staying connected with the car off and draining the battery some how.

Here is the thread, no real conclusion, but I posted another dead battery thread in there!

Problems with on-star draining battery

[Texas Red Line]

I had the "dead battery" problem. It was not a dead battery. It acted like a dead battery, I could not jump it and it would come and go. It acted like a dead short. I took it to the dealer and they tightened/checked every connection from the starter to the battery. That solved the problem. Its been good for around 4 months now.

[coopcj7]

I have jumped mine before. The same way I do every other vehicle. Never had any problems is there something that is different about this car's jumping directions?

[plausibledenial]

Thanks for the link xmicro_Redline, it was definitely interesting - though no real wrap up or solution offered there. They never did really mention what was the issue was when I got the car back, so I'll have to keep an eye on the car. Next time I'll do it myself, or wait for roadside assistance.

Also, thanks for mentioning of the issue you were having, Texas Red Line. They had to replace one of the fuses that blew, so if it was a similar issue, maybe that'll fix it.

coopcj7 - it's not that it's that radically different, aside from having the remote terminals vs just straight access to the battery. Moral of the story seems to be RTFM and don't let anyone else jump it.

Interesting and potentially related issue - the car is apparently low on coolant now, and last night was running hot (started up at 220 when I left the gym at 10:30pm - Texas is hot, but it wasn't that hot at that hour). Once the car was moving the temp actually went down to 198 by the time I got home. Wonder if the two are connected - never the less, going to give it coolant tonight and hope that this is just me being over-paranoid.

[JustMike]

Careful here with the Turbo folks. The correct jumping procedures are listed in the manual. Bottom line is that the correct ground is not in the fuse box and if you do it wrong you can blow a fuse required for normal fan operations.

[etw98]

Roadside Assistance did jump mine, and blew the fan fuse.

[JustMike]

Originally Posted by etw98

Roadside Assistance did jump mine, and blew the fan fuse.

Yep that is the problem with not following the procedure for the turbo ... the wire in the fuse box that looks like a ground is actually a hot and if you use it to jump the car the car will start but you will blow the fan fuse.

[plausibledenial]

Originally Posted by etw98

Roadside Assistance did jump mine, and blew the fan fuse.

Wow. That doesn't really build confidence in their Roadside Assistance program. :o Out of curiosity, did you have low coolant or any heat-related issues after your car was jumped?

[NCBlue]

Shouldn't we leave this stunt to be performed by a professional ... say Evil Knevil(sp?) or his son Robbie??
JK

[plausibledenial]

Originally Posted by NCBlue

Shouldn't we leave this stunt to be performed by a professional ... say Evil Knevil(sp?) or his son Robbie??
JK

I dunno, the Sky is so low to the ground.... you could probably just get a running start and hop over it.

On a wrap-up note for this thread, the coolant/heating issue seems to be resolved. Dumped in the coolant, and it's been behaving normally every day since, hot weather or not. ....Still wonder where all that coolant went, especially if it isn't related to the dead battery, but I guess it'll remain a mystery.

[Valistener]

Originally Posted by plausibledenial

I dunno, the Sky is so low to the ground.... you could probably just get a running start and hop over it.

On a wrap-up note for this thread, the coolant/heating issue seems to be resolved. Dumped in the coolant, and it's been behaving normally every day since, hot weather or not. ....Still wonder where all that coolant went, especially if it isn't related to the dead battery, but I guess it'll remain a mystery.

Probably an air pocket somewhere that eventually got displaced. Similar thing happened to my GTO. One day I started getting low coolant warnings (in the dead of winter). This was after owning the car for 2 months. I took it in, they filled it up and never had a problem since.