Infotainment screen went black and ended up killing my battery

jdwill27 · January 9

Hi all,

Brand new member here. Hoping someone can help me with an issue I just had. Yesterday my infotainment screen went black and would not respond. I couldn't use radio, navigation, Apple CarPlay, or anything like that. The dashboard and HVAC were both unaffected. The backup camera did turn on, but it didn't have the steering guide lines and it was very fish-eyed.

This morning, my battery was completely dead. My charger/jumper unit said the battery level was at 0%. After about 20 minutes of charging, I was able to jump the truck and everything seems to be fixed, including the infotainment system.

Has anyone else experienced this? Know of a root cause, or how to make sure it doesn't happen again?

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Joe

SteveP45 · February 2

What year vehicle and how old is the battery (is it original)?

Sometimes the battery does not have enough to switch off all the relays (all the clicking and buzzing you hear after turning off the vehicle and exiting it)

Check the alternator to ensure it is charging the battery when the vehicle is running. If you have the oem supplied gauge it should show from 12 to 14 when the engine is running.

Have a battery shop or automotive shop perform a load test on the battery.. they can check the alternator as well.

Joe Drives · February 2

I replaced my battery after 4 years at the dealer from a new purchase in 2020. These AGM batteries just don't die like the old lead acid. Need to be proactive with these AGM's in my opinion.

The main reason I replied is I have had very intermittent infotainment screen malfunction issues.

1. Test pattern on the screen with normal audio.

2. No audio at all including the turn signals with normal screen display.

3. Black screen with normal audio.

4. Normal screen with no audio from the radio only. Turn signal sound was normal.

1 and 2 occurred about a year apart.

3 and 4 occurred 1 week apart in fairly cold weather.

After the truck sits for a time, all malfunctions appear to reset and screen and audio return to normal operation.

All updates are complete that I checked and the dealer also verified.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

David Krueger · February 3

We have a 2020 Acadia with about 50k miles on it. It started showing codes randomly. I read them with my reader and saw stuff like, Steering assist dimished , Low coolant temp. and a couple others. I saw similar problems in an Acadia forum. People were throwing parts at the problem with limited success.

Anyway, to me, the common thread seemed like low voltage. I tested my battery and it showed normal range. I put a charger on the battery over night. The next day all of the codes went away. So I replaced the battery and the problem is solved. Low voltage in these new vehicles can do strange things.

Moral of the story. Don't overlook the battery.

David Krueger · February 3

Transient · February 4

Yes, knowing the year of the vehicle and the age of the battery would help. I did some research when I replaced the OE battery in my 2020 Silverado a few months ago. It was showing the classic signs of dying that the lead acid batteries would show, Andhra fortunately I have one of those NOCO jump packs in my truck at all times. Apparently, the best battery in our sizes is made by ACDelco. However, our trucks are equipped with a silver label battery. I went with the gold label ACDelco battery because it provides higher CCA, etc. If you have to replace the battery, this is the route I recommend going. Btw, I got the battery from Rock Auto.