Escalade Dead Battery Problems

cbear1

Twice we have left our Escalade at the airport for
a one-week period returning to find the auto with
a dead battery. The dealer seems to be stumped as
to the cause, however, a Denali owner has also had
this exact same problem. Anyone else have this
problem? Know the reason?

burdawg

Something must be draining the battery. Are any lights left on? How about glove box light, or light under the hood? Make sure they are not staying on. There's so many devices that can fail and put a load on the battery, even with the ignition off, that finding the culprit can be very difficult.
I've done this in the past:
Disconnect the battery and put an ohmmeter across the battery leads (not the battery!). The resistance should be infinite or very high. If it's low, it indicates that there's a load somewhere. If there's a light under the hood, take the bulb out so it will open that circuit. Make sure the doors are closed so the dome light circuit is off. Make sure any other light or accessory circuits that are always active are off.
You can remove fuses to try to isolate which circuit the problem is in. Don't forget the fuses for your aftermarket alarm or stereo if applicable.
Once the regulator in my Taurus shorted out and drained the battery completely while parked at the airport a couple of days. It measured 2.7 ohms across the battery leads, roughly equivilent to having a 30 watt bulb left on all the time.
My wifes Mercedes recently had a similiar problem, where the battery would not maintain a full charge even though the battery and alternator checked fine. It turned out to be the climate control, which is powered all the time (the servo needs to return to the parking position when the ignition is turned off). Good luck, electrical problems can be a pain.

michaelsolomon

Please forward to me an email with your phone # and either the Vehicle Vin # or your address. I will have someone look into the situation and contact you.

Michael Solomon
Escalade Brand Team
Michael.Solomon@GM.com

stannova1

I too have endured the first week with my beautiful new SUV. Day 2 greated me with a dead battery. Luckly I am equipped with a handy battery charger. After a full recharge on Tuesday I had two trouble free days, although I did not drive many miles. On Friday I went to my boat to do some maintenance. I left the radio on for about 45 minutes and you guessed it, the battery was so dead that the On Star would not work. So much for calling help. Tomorrow, I am back to the dealer for a problem solving meeting. The minimum I want to see is a 950 cranking amp battery and a tuned up charging system.

I am not sure the charging meter is accurate as it indicated only a mid level of charging when the battery was totally dead.

stannova1