Battery Charge shows fully charged but after 1 min of driving drops to one red

GEM Forum
1

I have a 2006 E4 Gem. Just got done with a long brutal winter in Michigan where we charged the gem car all winter long and ran it a little bit and now when we take it out with full charge, after 1-2 minutes of driving the charge light goes from fully charged to one red and the gem car drops in speed dramatically.
I have taken off all the battery cables and am testing each of the batteries. I have 6 gel gem batteries that came with the GEM car…Some are lower than others in charge but none of them are dead…

Based on some other blogs I have read, I am trying to charge each one for 20 minutes to see if I just need to get them a little more charged and then I will reconnect the cables and then will plug them in overnight and we will try it again…

Would appreciate any assistance or help from someone who has gone through the same issue.

2

If they are the original batteries, it is likely time to replace them. Eight years is a long life. We average about five years on our four GEMs.

Daniel

3

I have a 2007 e2 that had the same problem. I tested the voltage on all of the batteries and one of them was lower by .1 volt. I went to the dealer and they said everything was ok. They’re idiots. They are supposed to check them with a special unit that they were to cheep to buy. I purchased a BattSix System and it showed me one of the batteries was bad. Against what 50% of the people tell you I replaced only the bad battery with great success. However, your batteries are old and tired and should probably be replaced. Napa sells 31g gel batteries that are the same as the original dekas that are in it ( made for them by deka)… If you have a Delta-Q charger, check under the left front fender up on the side of the charger and see if there 2 small led lights on. If one is solid yellow and the other a solid green the charge is a good charge. Do this check with the plug still pluged in to the car. If you have any other light combinations You have a problem that you should look up under the chargers problem chart.

4

You most likely have at least one totally bad battery. More to follow. Hook a meter to each battery INDIVIDUALLY. Drive it a short distance. The battery that has the big dip is the deadun.

1 Like
5

0.1 volts can be enough to indicate a weak battery. I also change batteries individually as they fail. Dealers like to change all at once to make $$$.