Weird battery/starting problem

[papilgeephd]

OK, so two Thursdays ago, I went to work as always and parked my Rainier in the parking garage (at the very top, since the garage was full). I came back after maybe 5 hours and the battery was completely drained (nothing electrical worked, not even interior lights). Called AAA, they gave me a jump, and the truck started right up. I went home and back out later with no problems.

Fast-forward to this weekend, and I notice on Saturday that the truck is hard to start that morning... it cranks slowly, but it eventually starts. I went to the store for maybe an hour and a half, and when I came back, the truck cranked very slowly AGAIN, and almost didn't start (but finally did). Took the truck to Autozone to test the battery and everything came back ok.

Yesterday morning, the truck starts normally. After church, it doesn't start at all (but all accessories work), and I can hear a clicking noise underhood as I turn the key to START. Some guys give me a jump, and I go home without a problem. Took the truck to a different Autozone and they test the battery and charging system and everything is good.

Early this afternoon, I got another slow cranking start.

So I'm trying to eliminate possible causes... my questions for the group are as follows:
1) Is it possible that the battery has a bad cell? It was in the truck when I bought it in January, but it's not an old battery at all.
2) Could a bad starter relay or solenoid cause the battery to drain while everything is off?

Thanks in advance.

 

[IllogicTC]

A multimeter would be helpful in testing where exactly the draw is coming from.

Also what brand of battery is it? Some people find that the cheap-O Autozone/Wal-Mart/<other-store> off-brand economy batteries don't really work the best.

 

[papilgeephd]

Yeah, I keep telling myself to invest in a multimeter. I didn't have my wrenches handy to take the battery cover and brace all the way off, but it looks like a Duralast Gold.

Also, I went to start the truck again just now, and got all power inside, but a "clickety-clickety-clack-clack-clack" when I turned the key.

 

[gmcman]

I would start with the battery connections...both terminals can be tight but not have good contact....why I hate side post terminals. Remove each bolt from the harness and check both sides of the serrated contact lug, is it clean?

I would also check the ground wires, on fender well, block, and trans if you can see it but I believe the trans connection would not be the issue.

Also the ignition switches are a known failure item, mine hasn't yet (knock on wood) but could possibly cause a drain.

Does it have an aftermarket security system?

Aftermarket satellite radio?

 

[papilgeephd]

Battery connections are clean, no corrosion or buildup or anything. (Addendum to earlier: it's an Autocraft Gold, not a Duralast. Date on battery is 11/10, so nearly 4 years old). It looks like we're about to have a thunderstorm come through, so I may have to check most of the grounds later.

Bone stock, everything factory.

ETA: I'm thinking about going ahead and replacing the battery first and seeing what happens. Especially since I keep having to jump it.

 

[Matt]

While your at it, go to Habor Freight and get one of the cheap $7 meters.

 

[papilgeephd]

While your at it, go to Habor Freight and get one of the cheap $7 meters.

I was about to say that there's not one of those anywhere near me... but apparently they just built one.

 

[felicie]

Same thing happened to me turned out to be the battery. Four year old battery I would start there.

 

[papilgeephd]

Update: I put in a bew battery tonight and it cranked up like a new car.

The big test will be if it starts normally and then again tomorrow. If it does, problem solved. If it doesn't, well, I'll just say that I needed a new battery anyway and then go forward from there.

 

[The_Roadie]

Get a meter and check the voltage on the battery every 30 minutes after you stop and park it. If it droops more then a tenth of a volt an hour, you may have a parasitic drain. An intelligent module that fails to go to sleep when it's supposed to. A popular culprit is the OnStar module under the rear seat, passenger side. If you DO have a battery drain, pull the OnStar module connectors and see if the behavior changes. There are over a dozen intelligent modules in the truck, all capable of draining the battery when you're not looking. If you have the digital automatic HVAC control system, even the front blower speed control module is one of the suspects.

It requires structured troubleshooting and patience to get to the bottom of a parasitic drain problem.

Also a huge suspect is the ignition switch. Statistically flaky - they fail a lot.

 

[IllogicTC]

My method is to hook it up for measuring ampere draw, and then removing and replacing fuses one-by-one while watching the reading. Even in a perfect-operating system there is some amount of draw from sleeping modules, generally the PCM and the radio but there's probably some others, too.

Doing the rear fuse block in the same manner is tricky, because well, multimeters just don't come with leads long enough. It is possible to work a temporary "extension" with some wire, or you could hook in between the back panel's wire and stud if you're certain the draw is coming from a system running on that box.

It's important to note that while an HF one can get you by in a pinch in most scenarios, it's generally not accurate enough for certain applications (in testing for parasitic draw, it should be), and usually the 10A setting has you hook the positive lead into the multimeter on an unfused link, which is potentially dangerous in certain situations. Even still, it'll get most basic vehicle troubleshooting done. A lot of other cheaper multimeters also follow this same practice, where an unfused link is used for the high-amp measurement.

I myself have four multimeters, I think I have a problem