I’ll explain in full detail in case anything explains what’s happening:

I have 2 Cobalts: a decent 07 2.2 and a beater 06 2.2.

My 07 sits in a garage until I get the motivation to do the timing kit.
06 starter went out, so I put the starter from my 07 to get me to work. Then, I put a new aftermarket starter and put it in the 07.

I also bought a new battery because the one in the 06 was bad. I put the brand new one in the 07, and then put the “old” 07 battery into the 06.

I would start the 07 and let it run every 4 months or so without issue, until now.

Would the aftermarket starter possibly be causing the battery to drain after a few months??
Otherwise, I’d have to blame the new battery?

Sorry for the complicated explanation 😅

 

The battery only gets charged if the car is moving. So overtime all the start ups you've been doing without being able to drive the car have been draining the battery to nil.

 

Thanks. I should really be driving the dang car, lol.
Maybe I should put it on like a trickle charge or something while I store the car for now.
I assumed if I let it run for 20 minutes, it would charge enough.

With the old starter and old battery, I started it like twice over a 6 month period. With the new battery and starter, I started it once after like 4 months no problem, then like 3 months later, it was totally dead. Then, I jumped it and let it run for 20 minutes, shut it off, started it the next day totally fine. Then, a month later it was totally dead again.

 

Np. If it's still new just bring it to autozone and have them charge it up then trickle charger it up while it sits. If not I'd check connections after that.

 

if your storing a car for any amount of time its best to have a battery maintainer on it. i have one made by CTEK, thing works great.

 

obviously ur batt wont last for a few months, u have systems in the car that are constantly drawing a little power. it drains the battery. disconnect ur batt if ur gonna let it sit that long. and if ur totally draining it to nothing, u basically killed your battery, it will never hold as much anymore and will only get worse.

 

I was getting away with not starting my car for like 4 months with my old battery and old starter though.

But still, thanks everyone. I’ll definitely have to consider the Ctek battery maintainer since I plan on always having a car that’s going to sit for a while.