2019 Sierra AT4 dies completely after sitting in garage for a week.

[brownsugar]

Has anyone encountered issue with their AT4 where the battery keeps dying after extended period in the garage??  First time it happened I thought maybe I left my dash cam plugged in and that drained the battery.  Since then I don’t leave the cam on when I leave the truck but it still happens on my weeks off and I don’t drive the truck. By the next week I have to boost the battery to get it to start again.  It only happens if it’s not driven for at least 5 days.  
 

any help will be appreciated.

thank you

Edited November 18, 2020 by brownsugar
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[steve841]

The first thing that comes to mind is about making sure the fuse box (under the hood) screws are tight.  There's a TSB or similar here about it...

[lebag335]

My buddies '20 SLT was dead, really dead one morning.  It had to be towed to the dealer.  They found that the wiring harness in the 10-speed transmission was bad and was causing a dead short.  They replaced it and his truck's been fine ever since.  

[MurphNH]

On 11/18/2020 at 2:37 AM, brownsugar said:

Has anyone encountered issue with their AT4 where the battery keeps dying after extended period in the garage??  First time it happened I thought maybe I left my dash cam plugged in and that drained the battery.  Since then I don’t leave the cam on when I leave the truck but it still happens on my weeks off and I don’t drive the truck. By the next week I have to boost the battery to get it to start again.  It only happens if it’s not driven for at least 5 days.  
 

any help will be appreciated.

thank you

I had a similar issue on my last vehicle. Had the battery replaced and alternator and still dead battery after a couple of days. It was my first push button start vehicle and I was leaving the remote in the car which was keeping the computer on. I then moved it to a key ring right in front of the truck and still had the issue. I had to move it about 5’ from the car or when hanging the key up lock and unlock from the door no longer worked and problem was fixed. Not saying that is your issue but something to try if all else fails. Good luck

Edited November 20, 2020 by MurphNH

[redwngr]

That's not 'normal'. 

Take it in.

 

Might be the issue in the bulletin, or might be something else.

Dealers' job to figure it out.

[Vigilante375]

On 11/18/2020 at 2:37 AM, brownsugar said:

Has anyone encountered issue with their AT4 where the battery keeps dying after extended period in the garage??  First time it happened I thought maybe I left my dash cam plugged in and that drained the battery.  Since then I don’t leave the cam on when I leave the truck but it still happens on my weeks off and I don’t drive the truck. By the next week I have to boost the battery to get it to start again.  It only happens if it’s not driven for at least 5 days.  
 

any help will be appreciated.

thank you

Newer vehicles have a lot of electronical components that are used and still are used even when the vehicle is off.  Sometimes they do use a lot more power than their supposed to.

 

I've seen this come up on the forum a randomly and not certain what the resolution was other than people recommending to get a battery tender to keep the battery charged (not a trickle charger).  Other have taken it to the dealership and they found where the parasitic discharge was coming from.

 

There is a parasitic charge coming from somewhere in your truck.  Take it to the dealer and let them figure it out.  That's your best bet since it's still under warranty.

[Tulkas]

There is a TSB on parasitic draw from seat electronics in cold weather. 

                                   

[brownsugar]

On 11/18/2020 at 12:37 AM, brownsugar said:

Has anyone encountered issue with their AT4 where the battery keeps dying after extended period in the garage??  First time it happened I thought maybe I left my dash cam plugged in and that drained the battery.  Since then I don’t leave the cam on when I leave the truck but it still happens on my weeks off and I don’t drive the truck. By the next week I have to boost the battery to get it to start again.  It only happens if it’s not driven for at least 5 days.  
 

any help will be appreciated.

thank you 

 

so the truck has been in the local dealership a couple of times and each time they were not able to find any issues after testing everything they could.  The last time it died again after Christmas it was really dead.  This time boosting didn’t help.  The truck was in my garage with everything locked up.  The dealership service advice told me to have it towed to the dealership. 

My neighbor came by and told me it’s a bad battery.  He gave a ride to Canadian Tire to pick up a new battery.  When we got there the C-Tire rep told me to have the dealership replace it because it should have been replaced months ago.   I phoned the dealership to ask if they will replace it or GM will reimburse me for the new battery and the same service advice told me no they will not warranty it because you are 230km over the warranty.  The fact that this is a documented ongoing issue that they couldn’t solve made no difference.  So I bought the new battery and took it in and my neighbor replaced it.  The check engine light came on as it always did after every time it died but this time it lasted much longer than usual.

 

I took it in to the dealership again and the service manager hooked up his laptop and told me we missed the battery sensor cable so for $68 they reconnected it.

 

they also kept the truck over the long weekend and there was no power issue after that stay.  The truck has not died since.

it looks like GM doesn’t warranty these trucks and I am afraid to wait and see what goes wrong next.  I am now on the market for a new truck.  Anyone knows of any good reliable truck makers that stand behind their products??

 

thank you.

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by brownsugar

[Bigfoot98]

39 minutes ago, brownsugar said:

 

so the truck has been in the local dealership a couple of times and each time they were not able to find any issues after testing everything they could.  The last time it died again after Christmas it was really dead.  This time boosting didn’t help.  The truck was in my garage with everything locked up.  The dealership service advice told me to have it towed to the dealership. 

My neighbor came by and told me it’s a bad battery.  He gave a ride to Canadian Tire to pick up a new battery.  When we got there the C-Tire rep told me to have the dealership replace it because it should have been replaced months ago.   I phoned the dealership to ask if they will replace it or GM will reimburse me for the new battery and the same service advice told me no they will not warranty it because you are 230km over the warranty.  The fact that this is a documented ongoing issue that they couldn’t solve made no difference.  So I bought the new battery and took it in and my neighbor replaced it.  The check engine light came on as it always did after every time it died but this time it lasted much longer than usual.

 

I took it in to the dealership again and the service manager hooked up his laptop and told me we missed the battery sensor cable so for $68 they reconnected it.

 

they also kept the truck over the long weekend and there was no power issue after that stay.  The truck has not died since.

it looks like GM doesn’t warranty these trucks and I am afraid to wait and see what goes wrong next.  I am now on the market for a new truck.  Anyone knows of any good reliable truck makers that stand behind their products??

 

thank you.

 

@brownsugar That is 100% on the fault of your dealer for not testing the battery. I would put money on it that they just plugged into the truck, read codes, reset light, and checked for a TSB at best. There is a very slim chance they tested the battery under load or the alternator output or if they did it was because they just jumped it and it did not have a chance to die yet. They should have just made a BS RO and said the battery is bad so GM warranty would kick in, but since they did not do so they should have paid for the battery you purchased at least. Call GM and see if they will reimburse you. Also find a new dealer.

I would not get rid of the truck just because you had a crappy service dept. Especially if that was the only issue you had with it, bad batteries happen but they should have caught it and swapped it on the first try. Someone else posted the same thing a while back but their dealer swapped out the battery and they had no problem since then.

Service is what makes or breaks the dealer and the brand, find a new GM dealer to go to, can be Chevy or gmc. Remember dealers are just franchises and don't fully represent the brand as a whole.

[ericarenee]

you should call  GM and start a case  for this issue and lack of help at that Stealership. Show them all you documentation and see if they will help you out. Dealers apparently do not make as much money on warranty repairs so they try to get out out of there shop quickly it appears. Like everything else they are not all equal and GM is who warranties the truck not the dealership.

[Kent Hagler]

Rpo IOT radios have a usb firmware update U150 for a dead battery issue

[BossTaco2020]

On 1/16/2021 at 8:06 PM, brownsugar said:

The truck has not died since.

it looks like GM doesn’t warranty these trucks and I am afraid to wait and see what goes wrong next.  I am now on the market for a new truck.  Anyone knows of any good reliable truck makers that stand behind their products??

Your truck is fine, why would you replace it? And as others have said, your dealership failed you, not the manufacturer. You're potentially trading in a good truck for a worse truck. You don't think Ford and Ram and Toyota have dealer issues or lemon trucks? Read up on any of their forums and you'll find the same discontented people there that you find here.

[RWTJR]

On 1/16/2021 at 8:06 PM, brownsugar said:

it looks like GM doesn’t warranty these trucks and I am afraid to wait and see what goes wrong next.  I am now on the market for a new truck.  Anyone knows of any good reliable truck makers that stand behind their products??

 

I understand your frustration but as a guy who has owned brand new trucks from GM (3), Ford (3), Dodge/Ram (1), Toyota (2) and Nissan (3), they all have their issues. The worst was Toyota (vehicles and warranty service) and probably the best was, wait for it,...Nissan. I only kept my last Toyota 7 months. I would say my GM experience so far as been average to above average.

 

This is just my personal experience. I know there are people who could/would/do say just the opposite. Which, kind of supports the premise that all makes suffer from similar issues.

 

BTW, I am taking my 2020, RST, Z71, to the dealership today for the leaking rear window (I've owned my truck for almost 3 months).

 

Any truck you buy may come with the same or similar problems. I wish I could point to one and say it's significantly better. If I could, that's what I would probably own. So instead I just buy what I like at the time.

 

Just my humble opinion. I am not trying to get into any arguments.

No expertise implied or expressed

[carnau]

Do you know how to do a parasitic draw test? Do the test without pulling any fuses and find out what your base draw is. Come back here and let me know so I can do some more checking.

 

https://youtu.be/yaHn0qOIHqg

[brownsugar]

36 minutes ago, carnau said:

Do you know how to do a parasitic draw test? Do the test without pulling any fuses and find out what your base draw is. Come back here and let me know so I can do some more checking.

 

https://youtu.be/yaHn0qOIHqg

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions.  Really appreciated.   I did do a draw test on the battery terminal with the negative disconnected and there was no draw..._I guess because the battery was dead.

 

Since I replaced the battery I make it a point of checking the battery every morning and everyday it’s 12.4 or 12.5V.

so far no issues since the battery replacement.  If you have any further tests I can try please send it my way.

 

thank you