2014 Silverado Battery Replacement Problems

jamesok1 · July 4, 2017

Hi folks! Yesterday I was leaving home depot and my truck wouldn't start. I ended up jumping my truck and bought a new battery (3 years, 50k miles and the original battery seemed about right time to need replacement). I installed the new battery and noticed that my front passenger and rear passenger blinkers were not working. I ended up finding a blown right turn signal fuse and replaced it but am still having issues. Checked all other fuses in all 3 fuse panels and they are ok. When I started the truck I found out that my radio/ac/backup camera were not working as well and that the display constantly says service 4wd. Might also be other issues that I have not uncovered yet.

When I connected the positive terminal I noticed a little spark but did not think anything of it. I've replaced batteries before and this seemed nothing out of the ordinary.

After researching it seems like weird electrical issues all trace back to the BCM. I believe that the turn signals are controlled by the BCM as well, so this also points to it being the BCM. Does anyone know if a reset is possible for the BCM and if that might help my problem? Most of the BCM items I've found about resetting have to do with security system related issues. Can anyone confirm the correct way to perform a BCM reset? Kinda ticks me off that a simple battery replacement could cause other problems...very easy to engineer in circuit protection to sensitive electronics.

Truck is 2014 Silverado crew cab, 4wd, 50k miles.

All help is MUCH appreciated! Thanks!

O_J_Simpson · July 4, 2017

Have you removed the cables overnight and reconnected yet?

tbarn · July 4, 2017

Are you sure you connected all the cables and in the correct position? There is no BCM reset except for disconnecting the battery.

Edited July 4, 2017 by tbarn

Rolling Thunder · July 5, 2017

There is a sequence for connecting jumpers in your owner's manual. Done incorrectly you can damage the electrical system. Only.you know the sequence that you used. See if you can remember it..

jamesok1 · July 5, 2017

Thanks for the replies! I will disconnect the battery for a while and reconnect to try and reset the BCM. Not sure why the BCM needs to be reset after just replacing the battery. Some of the other threads say to connect the positive battery terminal to the negative lead after the battery is out of the picture. Thats a common way to remove any charge from a capacitor. Has anyone ever done this?

jamesok1 · July 5, 2017

RollingThunder -

I connected the jumper cables in the following sequence (which I subsequently found out was WRONG)-

1. Negative good battery

2. Positive good battery

3. Negative bad battery

4. Positive bad battery

I did not look at the owners manual before I connected the cables. I opened it up and it has all sorts of cautions in there about turning everything (lamps, lights, radios, etc) off before jumping. Also says that doing this could help save the radio. What? Could destroy a radio by jumping the car? Oh well, hopefully folks will read this and not follow my footsteps.

FYI - The manual says the correct way to jump the truck is to (these are the highlights and may be different for different models):

1 - turn off ignition of both vehicles

2 - unplug and turn off all unecessary components.

3 - connect the positive cable terminal to the positive of the dead battery

4 - connect the other positive terminal to the positive of the good battery

5 - connect the negative cable terminal to the negative of good battery

6 - connect the other negative to the metal bracket bolted to the engine (has an illustration in manual)

7 - start the vehicle with the good battery and let it run for a while

8 - try starting vehicle with the bad battery.

there are specific steps for cable removal as well.

Performing the BCM reset now. Will report back what I find but do not have high hopes for this magically solving everything.

jamesok1 · July 5, 2017

Also worth noting is that I did not notice anything wrong with my truck after I jumpstarted it. I only had problems after I replaced the battery. There are not any procedures on how to replace the battery in the manual (?), but I suspect that the same rules would apply.

TX_AT · July 5, 2017

Jamesok1, it seems we r having similar issues. I had a left rear indicator failure for about 2 weeks. The top bulb signal light was not working. Other than that everything worked as it should.

I finally decided to change the bulb today & when i was done, the damn thing wouldn't start. It read "Low battery start vehicle", "Service Stabilitrac." After being pissed of a few minutes, i jumped it and it started right up. It had the anti theft indicator on so i turned it off, locked it, tried remote starting it & worked. Left it on for the 10 minute cycle. Then off until later on in the day.

Fast forward to 10pm when i was about to take my daughter to see the firework show, NO START!!! SMH

I jumped it again, this time with my Whistler Jump Starter. Starts right up! I left her running for 2 hours before shutting her off & going inside. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

After reading this thread i just hope its a bad battery! Somehow i don't think that's the case with me because when i connected the jumper cables to the trucks battery and then touched the others together to see if there was any charge, there was plenty of spark. Hopefully Im wrong!

It all started with a damn signal light bulb!!

My truck is also a 2014 with 52k

Edited July 5, 2017 by TX_AT

Justin101714 · July 5, 2017

I would check the fuse block snapped onto to the top of the battery for any blown mega fuses. A test light works well. Just go from your negative battery terminal to each side of the fuse.

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Dale_K · July 5, 2017

I'm just making a guess, but maybe the battery cable is bad. There were known problems with some of the battery cables. Possibly the manipulation of the cable during the battery replacement was enough to loosen the crimp connection on one end or the other of one of the cables.

I would try wiggling the cables when you have the next incident to see if it makes a difference. Then replace the cable that seems bad.

Like I said, I'm just guessing.

Colossus · July 5, 2017

Not sure if they still use fuseable links in this day and age, if they do, check for a blown one somewhere. Have you check all the other fuses and things in addition to the blown turn signal fuse? Boxes under the hood and in the cab.

MaverickZ71 · July 5, 2017

A lot of people on here have had various problems after changing a battery. These new vehicles are very (as in too darned) picky about the procedures you follow. You might unhook the battery, let the vehicle sit for a while, touch the two battery cables together for a couple of seconds, and hook it back up. Lord knows how many batteries I've replaced/recharged/jump started through the years, and I never had a problem until I replaced the battery on my '09 Silverado. I thought it had a voodoo curse until I read on here about unhooking the battery, letting it sit awhile, touching the two battery cables together, and hooking it back up. When I did that, then everything was fine.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Maverick Z71