2009 Chevy Malibu battery dies after sitting a couple days

15

Asked by mvw22 Feb 11, 2011 at 04:00 PM about the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu 2LT FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Does any one know what would cause my 2009 Chevy Malibu's battery to die after sitting for a few days?  If it sits for 3 or more days, its dead and won't start.  Nothing is plugged in or left "on" before I park it....  I put a meter on the battery and reads like nothing is wrong....  What's going on?

9 Answers

7,415

Is the top of the battery clean? Dirt on the top of the battery can create a conductive path between the posts, draining voltage over time.

3 people found this helpful.
15

Thanks for the quick response. But yes, its totally clean - no dirt or anything touching the terminals....

1 people found this helpful.
8,365

I don't know if your car is still under basic warranty. First I'd say check the battery, meaning test how much cold crank amp it is holding and to verify that the alternator is doing its job Otherwise I'd would think that possibly one of the module is probably using more current than it should with the key off

1 people found this helpful.
80

We have been having the same problem but worse. 1st your battery is covered 3 yrs or 36,000 miles even though the battery is stamped 6yrs...stupid I know. Our problem is that our OnStar module totally went out 2 days before our battery started giving us trouble so I thought it was related. Also, a few weeks before that we had to have the steering column fixed becaue it was moaning. I don't know if they crossed a wire or something but its been downhill ever since. We are just over our 36K so we are into our 5 yr warranty which has a $200 deductable. We are heading out to buy a new battery today but I wonder if it's like your cell phone and it On Star is always searching for a signal so it wears out the battery. Just a thought.

8 people found this helpful.
40

I've got a 2001 Malibu, and I was having a similar problem. Battery would just be dead at different times. Battery tested good and took a charge. At the same time I was having a problem with the drivers side door lock toggle switch. I replaced the toggle switch (not as a fix for the battery problem), and I haven't had the battery problem since. Coincidence?

4 people found this helpful.
60

I have a 2009 Chevy Malibu. The battery worked fine for 5 years and then went dead. Ever since I've replaced it, I'm having the same issue as everyone else. If I let the car sit for more than a day the battery dies. Of course every place I take it in tells me it's a bad battery even though I assure them it's not. I replaced two batteries and finally took it in to THREE-WAY CHEVROLET in BAKERSFIELD, CA. Not surprisingly they told me it was a bad battery. When I told them I'd already replaced it twice they said they'd double check once they put a new battery in and decided it was also a bad BODY CONTROL MODULE so they charged me $743 for a new battery and to replace the module. I left the car for two days after the repairs and AGAIN it wouldn't start. It's so frustrating to see all these people dealing with the same issue and Chevrolet and General Motors doing nothing about it except charging us money to not fix the problem.

6 people found this helpful.
120

I own a 2009 Chevy malibu, and it began draining the battery. The battery is "middle-aged" at two years. I connected a current in series with the battery's positive terminal and measured about 0.5A flowing out of the battery. The on-star system was drawing about 350mA. We have not used on-star since our free trial period when we bought the car. So, I'm just leaving the on-star fuse out and declaring this "fixed".

12 people found this helpful.
40

Hello everyone I have a question i have a 2009 chevy malabu when I break the light flash it then when a break again the light gets very low then It lights up when I’m not pushing to break can anyone help

4 people found this helpful.

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