2007 Vue Electrical issues.....

jewels85

I bought my 2007 Saturn Vue in March of this year. When purchased I noticed the radio didn't work, but thought if that was the only issue I'll live with that! A few weeks later I came out to a dead battery. The battery tested bad so I replaced it. A week or so after, I noticed it seemed to idle rough and I stalled out at a red light but was able to start right back up. (still idles rough to this day) The next morning the battery died again. I took it to a mechanic to get looked at and he suggested I take it to a local GM dealer that a code popped up that he did not have to equipment to fix. I took it to the GM dealer the next day, they had it a few days and told me no codes came up and they didn't see an issue with it. Since then it has died on me at least 4 times and I have to jump start it and it starts fine for a week or so and same thing over and over. I took it to auto zone again today to test the battery and altn. and battery tested good but needed a bit of a charge.... Any suggestions?

Just FYI it does have an aftermarket remote start and back up cam when I purchased it that seem to work fine.

PF_Flyer

Did the alternator test good as well as the battery? Since the battery was OK, it feels like the alternator must be the issue. It also could be that you have a short somewhere that's draining the battery. When you add in the rough idle and stalling, that makes me think of an issue I had last year with rodents chewing on wiring in the engine compartment and causing all sorts of problems. Car would barely run and was blowing smoke because of the shorts that the chewing caused. You might want to look at that as well. If they chewed the insulation off a wire somewhere that's causing a short, that could be what's draining your battery.
Here are some photos of things you might see, maybe even signs of rodent nesting...

jewels85

Thanks for all that detail, I didn't see anything that looked corroded or chewed like this. Since this last post my Vue died again but this time the battery was drained completely and wouldn't jump start. I went to Auto zone and got a new battery, they returned the old and i paid a little extra for a better battery. As soon as that was replaced it started right up, but that still doesn't explain the drain and now my engine light and traction control light is on. I disconnected the battery so it wouldn't drain all night and took it to a mechanic the next day. I just picked it up today and was told that 22 codes popped up for the transmission. I haven't experienced any issues as far as the trans so that seemed odd. I am dropping it off with a trans specialist tomorrow to see what he comes up with and hopefully rule that out. I just don't want to keep taking it to these different places for process of elimination because by the time that's over i won't be able to afford to fix the actual problem! From the research I've been doing could PCM possibly cause this? I just need something, anything to get me in the right direction

jewels85

Oh also I forgot to say the alternator tested okay!

Mr_Shiftright

I think you need to take it to one person who starts with a clean sheet and diagnoses the problem, not the symptoms. It appears to me that people are guessing, but with your credit card, not theirs.

I would certainly start off by doing a PARASITIC DRAIN TEST. You can search for that on YouTube to give you an idea of what that entails. Basically you are looking for the exact cause of your battery drain.

If the battery keeps draining, your vehicle isn't going to run right.

Why don't you see if there is anyone on this list of high-quality technicians that is in your area? These people are properly trained to solve problems:

http://www.iatn.net/

Click on "repair shops" up top on the page.

jewels85

Thank you Mr_Shiftright, I'm looking into this now!

GreggWoodcock

I SOLVED THIS PROBLEM with my 2008 Saturn VUE:

These were my transient symptoms:
1: Instrument lights blinking off.
2: Instrument gauges not working or bouncing around.
3: Radio blinking off.
4: Turn signals don't work.
5: Turn signal activation disengages cruise control.
6: Cruise control cannot be set.
7: Car behaves as through battery has been removed (which also means that the key cannot be removed if you put it in).
These problems could usually be triggered by using a DC->AC power converter with a heavy load, like a laptop.

There were 2 problems with the battery connections.
1: The battery connections are of a poor design and do not allow for excessive (adequate) clamping so the positive terminal had wiggled loose. This was the main problem and made the care stable for a few weeks but then the symptoms came creeping back. So I went back to the battery area and found...
2: There is a very small gauge wire connected to the accessory lug of the Ground/Negative battery terminal via a very poor quality ring lug. The connection of the crimp to the ring was so week that when I gently pulled on it, it separated completely (see the 2 pictures: 1 before, 1 after). I stripped it back and screwed the nut directly onto the wire (did not yet replace with another proper ring lug) and have done 1000 miles with heavy load and no electrical glitches at all.

Mr_Shiftright

Thanks for that tip! Hopefully it will help others with a similar problem. Very often when you have "multiple failures", the battery is the first place to look.

ShikaQC

GreggWoodcock said:

I SOLVED THIS PROBLEM with my 2008 Saturn VUE:

These were my transient symptoms:
1: Instrument lights blinking off.
2: Instrument gauges not working or bouncing around.
3: Radio blinking off.
4: Turn signals don't work.
5: Turn signal activation disengages cruise control.
6: Cruise control cannot be set.
7: Car behaves as through battery has been removed (which also means that the key cannot be removed if you put it in).
These problems could usually be triggered by using a DC->AC power converter with a heavy load, like a laptop.

There were 2 problems with the battery connections.
1: The battery connections are of a poor design and do not allow for excessive (adequate) clamping so the positive terminal had wiggled loose. This was the main problem and made the care stable for a few weeks but then the symptoms came creeping back. So I went back to the battery area and found...
2: There is a very small gauge wire connected to the accessory lug of the Ground/Negative battery terminal via a very poor quality ring lug. The connection of the crimp to the ring was so week that when I gently pulled on it, it separated completely (see the 2 pictures: 1 before, 1 after). I stripped it back and screwed the nut directly onto the wire (did not yet replace with another proper ring lug) and have done 1000 miles with heavy load and no electrical glitches at all.

I think I'm having this issue right now. I'm taking it to the shop with your notes to see if this resolves the issue. Thanks for posting this.