New Optima battery - dead gauges

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John K. - 09 Dec 2005 20:41 GMT

I just installed a new Optima Red Top in my 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier and
all of my guages (fuel, speed, temperature, and rpm) are dead.

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

Thanks.

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Mike Romain - 09 Dec 2005 22:01 GMT

It shouldn't have anything to do with the battery....

I would be checking fuses.

Could you have missed a ground wire on the negative clamp? Maybe the
body ground is missing?

The Chevy has a small gauge wire from the battery negative to the fender
I believe. The older ones did.

If this is missing and the mesh ground from the bell housing to the body
is broken or has crappie connections (that will cause a battery to go
bad by the by), the body might have no ground.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=2120343242
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

> I just installed a new Optima Red Top in my 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier and
> all of my guages (fuel, speed, temperature, and rpm) are dead.
>
> Does anyone know what the problem might be?
>
> Thanks.

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xblazinlv - 10 Dec 2005 06:27 GMT

Good advice Mike

http://www.carforums.net/
Auto Forums

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John K. - 10 Dec 2005 07:52 GMT

> It shouldn't have anything to do with the battery....
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> is broken or has crappie connections (that will cause a battery to go
> bad by the by), the body might have no ground.

Well, everything was working fine with the old battery and all I did
was take the postitive and negative terminals and connect them to the
new battery. I'll take a look again tomorrow (during daylight hours) to
see if I see any loose wires that might have gotten disconnected during
the process, but I definitely don't remember any.

Could it also be that the battery is quite simply incompatible with my
car? When I go to optimabatteries.com and use the Battery Search for my
make/model/year, no batteries show up. How do I know for certain that
the alternator that I have (factory installed) will work correctly with
a certain type of battery?

I guess I should mention at this point the exact model number of the
battery:

Optima RedTop 75/25 (BCI Group 75/35)

Also, when I installed the battery I hooked up the positive terminal
first and then the negative. Is that the correct procedure? Does it
matter?

Thanks for your help.

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Mike Romain - 10 Dec 2005 14:56 GMT

> > It shouldn't have anything to do with the battery....
> >
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>
> Thanks for your help.

I run optima batteries in my Jeeps and have no issues with the stock GM
65A alternator in my CJ7.

Basically a battery is a battery and if it will fit, you are good to
go.

It just has to be big enough to run everything and have enough reserve
to start it.

Lots of folks with stock alternators use an optima battery as a second
battery even and have few issues with them. Optimas are nice because
the acid is all absorbed in the plate material so they can't leak if
tipped or even run laying down sideways. (handy on a Jeep when the
rubber side is up and you want to run the winch to get it back over...)

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=2120343242
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

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NickySantoro - 11 Dec 2005 14:15 GMT

>> It shouldn't have anything to do with the battery....
>>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>
>Thanks for your help.

You might want to verify that there are no internal breaks in any of
the wiring going from the battery. A wire can be broken internally and
still appear to be fine upon visual inspection. BTDT.

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