I've mentoined several times and for those that havent done so, The negative ground lug is inadequate, And they ground it to a painted surface. I never had the voltage gauge wiggle , but when I put my Alpine Subwoofer Amp in and cranked it, the lights would dim and the motor run rough at an idle. I replaced the cheap *** aluminum lug with a brass one with a set screw, sanded the paint off the body where the lug made contact, put no-ox compound in between and have had no further problems. This little oversite on GM'* part could cause the battery to die from constant charging, blow the altenator, and a host of wiring harness problems. (Like the high amp fog harness???) Gotta love GM'* comittment to hairline engineering

A battery that is dormant will discharge naturally over time.

Venom is probably right. I not sure what the battery bolt was, but I can't remeber the last time I saw GM terminal bolt go bad. It could have easily been the strap bolt.

And I have to agree with Markwb. Not cycling a battery isn't good. That'* why people pull their batterys out for storage. And I check the build date on the door... 6/04 (must have been a reeeal early 05 model). I got the car with virtually zero miles in 4/06(?) So, it was almost 2 years old.

It'* been a couple months, and since everything is pretty quiet on the GXP site, I thought I'd give an update...
...car'* been starting fine. And the volt gage has been as steady as a rock.

Don't you also get a coating of sulfate on the lead plates inside the battery too?

ZeeVert, I am assuming that they replaced you battery with an identical one (AC Delco?) The stock battery from my 04' LeSaber is acting like it has seen it'* better day'* :?

Looking back..I think the battery threads were probably loose so long they were beat up and needed to be changed out.

I'm not sure what they used, but it almost has to be OEM/Delco, because they replaced it under warranty.
Personally, I don't care what brand I get. I've had lot'* of batteries and lots of them go bad. The shortest life I had on an OEM was 6 months on a '99 Dakota (But, I had left the lights on for several days on that one.) Anyway, I usually shop for price on replacements, rather than brand.

Yes, good point, I think it'* called stratification of the plates. Detrimental to the long term life of a lead acid battery.