I had an interesting experience last Friday.
On Wednesday, the “check engine” light in my car (Saturn Aura) came on. I called the dealer, and made an appointment to check it out. I decided to have an Autozone tech check it-he plugged in the code reader, and he said it was probably emission system related. On Friday, I went shopping-left my Dad in the car (he was listening to the radio). I tried to start the car-nothing-and noticed tht the vehicle security system was going beserk-it kep arming itself and disarming itself. plus, I couldn’t open the trunk or unlock the doors.
I checked the bettery, and it was gonzo-voltmeter read less than 5 volts.
Fortunately, I was near an auto parts store, so I unbolted the battery and bought a new one. I connected the new battery, and everything works fine-plus the check engine lamp has gone out.
Was everything related to the failing battery? Now that I think about it, the climate contraol system was acting funny-now it works fine.
BTW, the battery was the original- 4 1/2 years old-so I guess it was time to replace it.
wow, what a useless “diagnosis.” the entire reason for the existence of the “check engine” light is to alert the driver to potential emissions faults.
Anyway, yes, on a lot of cars, low battery voltage can set a DTC.
Your experience is very common in today’s vehicles. The electronics go whacko if the voltage drops to a certain lever. A voltage of under 10VDC may not be enough to operate the ignition system, but the starter will still turn and draw heavy amps. The vehicle simply cannot start.
A battery can fail in an assortment of ways. It can just lose capacity. It can have a dead cell and no output. It can by fine one minute and dead the next and work again five minutes later. My strategy is to buy the highest CCA for the money, say 1000CCA, and then replace it after four years. A periodic load check is a good thing too.
Something like that happened to me in a 1987 Dodge. I was driving along and the (digital tuning) radio started going berserk. It turned out the alternator had crapped out some miles back and the battery was finally nearly dead.
I had had the battery go dead in that car twice before (just from age, apparently). But the alternator was still okay on those occasions, so all that happened was that the car wouldn’t start.