Alright, well it's been about 6 years since I've posted a new thread on a Chevrolet forum, this was my life before I joined the military and had a family, a little pre-occupied. Anyway, I have searched with no results on my issues so I'm posting this new thread in hopes to get some different views on this. Alright, just got home here in Middle Tennessee from Eastern North Carolina and had a crazy amount of issues with my car.
As I mentioned I have a 2013 Malibu 2LT with 40,000 miles, just purchased it a few months ago from a dealership here and it had 36,000 miles. So no issues with the trip out to NC, but on the way back a whole nother issues. So basically the first time I found out there was a problem was when I used my turn signal (left or right) and the gauges, the radio, and the electrically assisted steering, and all stopped working (seemingly reset itself) and then came back to life. The engine functions normally and staying running and doesn't die while on the freeway.
Now, I am an electrical systems repairer in the Army, I work on a very complicated helicopter so this is the troubleshooting in me that wants to figure this out. So I made some videos with my phone showing exactly what the car is doing because I know from experience that when I take this car to the dealership it will function as advertised and have no faults,, just my luck. So in making these videos (while driving 80mph) I noticed that if you turn the fog lights on, or flash the high beams, or hit the rear defrost, all of these actions will cause my issues with the gauges,, radio, and the steering. I was driving through heavy rain, but when it dried up issues still continued. When I pulled over at a rest stop and turned off the car and restarted it, all the problems went away and the car functioned as advertised. It then starts having issues after about an hour of driving, only way I know is the Bluetooth will cut out randomly, or I hit the turn signal and everything cuts out.
So the entire drive home I'm troubleshooting in my head what could be causing these faults. I pull into my driveway, my headlights are projected onto my garage door, I set the electric ebrake, lights dim ALOT, then I hit the rear defrost to see what would happen, then the engine completely dies, stalled out! So I restart the engine and a fault appears and says "service emergency brake", so I disengaged it, then reengaged it, fault went away. Also, sorry there is a lot to this story and I like to be detailed, when I hit some traffic and was at a crawl (5mph) the gauges, steering, and radio were cutting out on their own, and then randomly said "service stabilitrac system" or something to that affect, and also when I had to go full throttle merging onto another freeway the car had said "service power steering" and this was only under the load of Wide open throttle.
So even as I'm typing all of this I've been troubleshooting. What I'm thinking because in my experience it's easy to think it's some complex fault like a computer needing reflashed, or rain getting into connectors or wires are frayed or arcing out, because in Army Aviation that is often the case, but this is a fairly new car. So, call me crazy because I do have a lot of automotive experience, with this car being so "electrical" and having electric ebrake, and ambient lighting, and Bluetooth, and the bells and whistles and what not, could a cell in the battery going out cause this. I've really been thinking it's a computer this whole time, but I went back to the simplest fix first which is a smarter move. I'm thinking I am going to drive over to autozone and have the battery bench tested, I'm willing to bet there is a bad cell. Now stay with me, when the car first starts there are no issues, but after running for a while (that one cell) is draining and causing all these issues.
I do have a warranty, powertrain only, and I think batteries are covered under that, but I like to do all the troubleshooting myself, it's just force of habbit and the Soldier in me. I will try and attach some of the videos, not sure if I can do that or not, but either way. Let me know what ya'll think, I'm going tonight to get the battery tested, and depending on what the results are from that will determine wether I go to dealership or not for further troubleshooting. Thank you for you time, and any comments pertaining to this issue would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if I don't have a "signature" if that's what they still call it, I literally just signed up to the forum.
As I mentioned I have a 2013 Malibu 2LT with 40,000 miles, just purchased it a few months ago from a dealership here and it had 36,000 miles. So no issues with the trip out to NC, but on the way back a whole nother issues. So basically the first time I found out there was a problem was when I used my turn signal (left or right) and the gauges, the radio, and the electrically assisted steering, and all stopped working (seemingly reset itself) and then came back to life. The engine functions normally and staying running and doesn't die while on the freeway.
Now, I am an electrical systems repairer in the Army, I work on a very complicated helicopter so this is the troubleshooting in me that wants to figure this out. So I made some videos with my phone showing exactly what the car is doing because I know from experience that when I take this car to the dealership it will function as advertised and have no faults,, just my luck. So in making these videos (while driving 80mph) I noticed that if you turn the fog lights on, or flash the high beams, or hit the rear defrost, all of these actions will cause my issues with the gauges,, radio, and the steering. I was driving through heavy rain, but when it dried up issues still continued. When I pulled over at a rest stop and turned off the car and restarted it, all the problems went away and the car functioned as advertised. It then starts having issues after about an hour of driving, only way I know is the Bluetooth will cut out randomly, or I hit the turn signal and everything cuts out.
So the entire drive home I'm troubleshooting in my head what could be causing these faults. I pull into my driveway, my headlights are projected onto my garage door, I set the electric ebrake, lights dim ALOT, then I hit the rear defrost to see what would happen, then the engine completely dies, stalled out! So I restart the engine and a fault appears and says "service emergency brake", so I disengaged it, then reengaged it, fault went away. Also, sorry there is a lot to this story and I like to be detailed, when I hit some traffic and was at a crawl (5mph) the gauges, steering, and radio were cutting out on their own, and then randomly said "service stabilitrac system" or something to that affect, and also when I had to go full throttle merging onto another freeway the car had said "service power steering" and this was only under the load of Wide open throttle.
So even as I'm typing all of this I've been troubleshooting. What I'm thinking because in my experience it's easy to think it's some complex fault like a computer needing reflashed, or rain getting into connectors or wires are frayed or arcing out, because in Army Aviation that is often the case, but this is a fairly new car. So, call me crazy because I do have a lot of automotive experience, with this car being so "electrical" and having electric ebrake, and ambient lighting, and Bluetooth, and the bells and whistles and what not, could a cell in the battery going out cause this. I've really been thinking it's a computer this whole time, but I went back to the simplest fix first which is a smarter move. I'm thinking I am going to drive over to autozone and have the battery bench tested, I'm willing to bet there is a bad cell. Now stay with me, when the car first starts there are no issues, but after running for a while (that one cell) is draining and causing all these issues.
I do have a warranty, powertrain only, and I think batteries are covered under that, but I like to do all the troubleshooting myself, it's just force of habbit and the Soldier in me. I will try and attach some of the videos, not sure if I can do that or not, but either way. Let me know what ya'll think, I'm going tonight to get the battery tested, and depending on what the results are from that will determine wether I go to dealership or not for further troubleshooting. Thank you for you time, and any comments pertaining to this issue would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if I don't have a "signature" if that's what they still call it, I literally just signed up to the forum.