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Faulty Alarm System, Affecting Battery


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My problem began in November 2015. My battery died and I went to AutoZone to get it replaced. I purchased the battery that is listed as the correct one for my 2013 Chevrolet Spark 1LT in their computer system. Unfortunately, the battery listed is actually slightly too large (they said it is likely a QC problem, but it seems to me like it could be a ploy by Chevy to get you to purchase a more expensive battery from them at the dealership). The man at AutoZone put a slightly smaller battery in my car and assured me that it would still run properly and be okay. That same day, my car started doing this weird thing where the alarm would go off approximately 30 seconds-10 minutes after I locked my car). The only way to prevent this from happening would be to lock it manually, which does not enable the anti-theft feature. Aside from this, at this time, that was the only problem.

I took it to the dealership for an oil change in February 2016 and asked them to look into the issue regarding the car alarm, as well. The service technician that I worked with told me that my car was basically rejecting the battery that was in my car and recommended that I get the factory battery. I decided to forgo this at the time, because of expenses, and because it seemed that there were no issues aside from the alarm going off on it's own.

Fast forward to the end of March 2016...as I went to unlock my car with the key fob, somehow this triggered the alarm (which remember, was not activated at the time due to the fact that I was manually locking my car). When I started my car, Code 65 came up, which is "theft attempt." Basically my car interpreted my attempt to unlock the car as a theft attempt.

After that happened, the car seemed to be having trouble starting up (think: chug, chug, start). I took it back to AutoZone on April 1, 2016, and they said the battery was low. They ended up replacing it with the same size battery but a higher power. The manager told me that, if it happened again, to get the factory battery from the dealership and they would give me a refund.



At first, my car was fine, however it started doing the same thing (car alarm going off for no reason, chug-chug-start) on May 8, 2016. I immediately made an appointment for the dealership to replace the battery on May 09, 2016. When at the dealership, the service technician and I had a conversation about how sometimes newer cars will reject parts that are not exact specs of what the car calls for. He gave me no reason to believe anything else would or could be wrong.



BUT. That same day, on May 9 2016, all of the same things were starting again. The car alarm went off for no reason. Code 65 thing happened again. And when starting my car the following morning...chug-chug-start. I called the dealership and the SAME technician that I had worked with said "Well that's not something that would happen because of your battery. There must be something else wrong with your car." That statement alone totally contradicted anything he said earlier in the day and anything the previous technician from February had said.



So now my car is back at the dealership and I am not sure what will happen. I have a feeling that they are going to try to tell me that something needs to be replaced that doesn't. These guys seem kind of shady and clueless as well.



I know this is probably a TL;DR post, but I wanted to clearly outline all of the problems I've been having. I read on another thread that someone had a similar issue. Has anyone had this and found out what the problem is??



Thanks in advance.


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The dealership is telling me that my Door Hood Ajar Switch is shorted and needs to be replaced. I don't feel like this explains everything, but maybe it's a start...

The hood switch could be the issue. If it's rusted or shorted it can think the hood is being opened.

You could test that theory by disconnecting the switch. It should work on ground signal to trigger. So removing the plug it thinks it's always closed.

Edited by bluer101
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On 10/16/2016 at 3:59 PM, sparks said:

Was the issue resolved by replacing the Door Ajar Switch? I am having the same exact issues right now. If it was, where can I purchase that part?

ThankĀ 

I have a 2016 Spark with a proximity key and I'm having the same problems as well. Did you ever figure out what was wrong with yours?

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