Drove to Grocery Store, and car wouldn't start

[Sputnik]

So I did my usual Saturday morning routine. Went out got in the car - it started up after thinking about it for a while. So I let it warm up before leaving for the grocery store - which is probably about a 5 to 7 minute drive from my place. I went to the gas station on the way and put in $20 worth. Continued on to the grocery store. Parked, went in and got groceries... probably took me all of 45 minutes in there. I came out, put all my groceries in the car. Got in the car and turned the key in the ignition. It sounded like it was going to start, but didn't quite turn over. I thought at first maybe I just hadn't held the key in the start position long enough, so tried again. Same result. Just couldn't quite turn over. I tried twice more always with the same result. I had my fan turned off so it would have more power but it didn't seem to matter. So I called my bf. He rode his bike over and tried it a couple of times with the same result. I guess I had not realized I didn't turn off the radio either, so he turned off the radio, and tried once more. After thinking about it for a few seconds, Sputnik started up finally. Two morals of this story - turn off all your accessories if you have the stock 03/04 model battery, and second, get a bigger battery!!! I'm going in for an oil change this week so I'm going to see if they will change the crappy battery for free.

[nismo]

I'm curious. What battery do you have? I haven't noticed anything with my car. I have a system as well. I have the AC Delco. Do you have the Delphi battery?

[Sputnik]

I have no idea what brand of battery is in my car - its whatever was in it when we got the car in August 2002.

[jake75]

Maybe it's something other than the battery. In my experience, with a weak battery all of that cranking would have drained it to the point that it wouldn't crank at all. Not much chemical rejuveniation taking place in that bettery in this cold weather. Modern radios don't draw much power and I think it may automatically cut out when you engage the starter. My Vibe will soon be 2 years old and I am starting to watch for a good battery sale as I think I am hearing signs of failure. After a miserable experience with a 1977 Buick (bought new) that went through starter motors and ignition coils on a regular basis, the one feature of any car that is most important to me is that it start when you turn the key.

[Vibe Rater]

It's the POS Battery. TSB# 03-06-03-004, Doc# 1458972

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by TRD4reel »I have the AC Delco. Do you have the Delphi battery?One and the same.Different labels. Same battery.

[Sputnik]

The battery's already died on us once and we called GM Roadside assistance for that one - I couldn't even use the remote on the car that time.

[cdFxer]

Hmmm. I gotta go check what my batt specs are sometime. I keep leaving the &$%&^ dome light on. The Vibester will start after 2 days...three though and its toast When it is below freezing, I can get about a day....err...am I starting to indicate how many times Ive done this?

[ragingfish]

My intial instinct was vapor lock...but when she said she was having low power issues, that killed that theory.

[Sputnik]

Vapour Lock?

[Jahntassa]

You have the factory radio in, or an aftermarket headunit? And did you turn the radio off as you were trying to start it?It just sounded wierd, like you left your radio on with the car off.. But, I can atest, the stock battery does simply suck. I managed to kill it one day having my radio on for 10 minutes with the car off, and it wasn't even on loud!

[Sputnik]

Nope stock radio is all I have.I always leave my radio on when I turn off the car - so turning off the car, kills the radio.

[cdFxer]

Vapor lock when its cold? Never knew that could happen in the cold..yikes!

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by cdFxer »Vapor lock when its cold? Never knew that could happen in the cold..yikes!Oh, is it temperature dependent? I had no idea! LOL! I've never experienced it personally, so I'm not totally familiar with it.The only thing I know about vapor lock is that alleged story where the guy's car didn't like vanilla ice cream...Quote »A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine.I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?'"The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc. In a short time, he had a clue: The man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out. Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time.Once time became the problem — not the vanilla ice cream — the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.Moral of the story: even insane-looking problems are sometimes real.When she mentioned going to the store, and the car not starting up right away, that was what popped into my head.

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by Sputnik »Vapor Lock?Vapor lock rarely happens in fuel injected vehicles anymore, do not worry about it. Old carbureted vehicles where the fuel lines get too hot and bubble back into the carb only...Sounds like the classic weak cold battery.

[Atomb]

this used to happen to me in my old VW every once in awhile when it was cold out. So i went and bought the biggest/baddest battery (say that 3 times fast!) i could find...and it still happened.in the end (just as i was trading it in for the Vibe) my mechanic suggested that there could be some corrosion in some wiring to the starter...i told him not to bother as i was trading it in shortly....just a thought!