Mechanics....electrical question --new van..dead AGAIN! UPDATE mystery solved!

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have a 2005 Saturn Relay. I posted earlier in the month that I went away for 2.5 weeks and came back to a dead battery. Roadside came out and charged me up and it was seemingly fine. I was told by Saturn that due to the power draw from the computer and everything that this was a normal thing. Of which I wholeheartedly disagreed. If my poor little car can't make it for less than 3 weeks without a start--that would be a manufacturing problem. They told me to disconnect my battery before trips.

Took it into Saturn at one point to get something else checked and mentioned it. He went into service mode on the computer and discovered that the vehicle was still set for factory settings. This was roughly two weeks ago.

Yesterday--drove my car to DTD and to the airport and then back home. Get up this morning to go to church. The van has power--lights came on when we opened doors. Power doors operating as normal. Low and behold--once again I cannot start my van. The engine is clicking at times when trying to turn it on. And other times it is just completely dead aside from the fact that I have cabin lights and functioning power doors and the power locks still work.

I get home from church and try and try and try and finally get it to turnover and it is now started and running.

WTH is wrong with my van? I'm suspecting an alternator issue.

Any thoughts! This is driving me nuts--a vehicle that is 10,000 miles old shouldn't be having this type of unreliable behavior and I have come to the point where I cannot trust what my dealership service department tells me b/c they just pull a crazy thought out of thin air.

TIA!

 

[John VN]

It could very well be a ground short. Could be in your ignition switch. Did you try to start it in neutral? Are both battery cables good and tight?

Mechs. should have already checked these out.

 

[RitaZ.]

Lisa, go to edmunds.com and check out the forums for Saturn and your specific model. Maybe other owners have had similar problems. Just a thought.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

But the mechs--would have had to ask to see it. They said if it jumped--then it would be fine. This is good information to know when to call them on Monday. I didn't have to try a neutral start though. I hope to not have to have a next time that requires remembering that.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I called Saturn this morning and very politely said that something is not right. It was low on gas so I refused to drive it in. They said it could be towed in free. So they came and picked it up.

And tomorrow they will be putting a new alternator in it b/c my alternator was bad.