Need help brain storming why my battery keeps dying.

The battery will die in about 2-4 weeks during the summer months unless i physically start it or charge it. One problem is i put less then 500 miles on the car this year and it sits at my parents house (more room then mine) and i have tried a solar charger hoping to keep the charge from draining once it was full but it didnt work either. I tried putting a test light on the battery to see it it was drawing any current but it didnt light up.

I'm stumped and confused. I finally bought a battery tended jr. in hopes to keep a new battery from failing me again.

I have had about 6 batteries in the last 4 years. I have had 2 batteries in the last 1 year.

I fear my dyno tunned data is lost when my battery dies and the PCM will resort to default settings. Anyway

The only thing i know that draws current is a little light for my security alarm that cant draw that much current, but.....

Any areas to look at to figure why my battery drains dead so fast!

Tahnks

 

hmm thats pretty strange but i had something like this happen once...a light in my car...down by the pedals were stuck on so u didnt really notice it...when i was driving they shut off but once u turned the car off they stayed on all night...a friend of mine fixed it but just sit in your car and look and listen to see if anything is staying on...also if you have a aftermarket stereo the amp could sometimes be wired wrong and will stay on draining your battery(happend in my impala)...just look all over under the hood and all and see if something is staying on.

 

Battery tender should keep it charged. Don't worry about losing you tune if the battery dies, worst case is it'll have to relarn idle.

 

bad alternator.

i've had them kill a brand new battery overnight, once to the point the interior lights wouldn't even come on.

yours sounds obviously smaller than that.

but its worth a shot.


as for the dyno tune, that's stored in the ECM perminently. no amount of battery drain or time left with no charge will remove that. as stated the idle may need to be relearned.
10mins idling w/ AC off
10mins idling with AC on

should do the trick.

 

A friend of mine in the state had a battery issue not long ago. Out of nowhere, his battery would be dead each morning he went out to start it up. He started to turn the radio OFF (physically switching it off) when the car was still on and the problem ceased. We hooked up my old factory radio and it functions normally now, no need to turn the radio off; car starts up with no issues when left overnight with radio switched on (but car off obviously)...might be something to look into...

 

well luckily they replaced the battery for the last time. I did find some slightly corroded connections that were used with the power post sitting just behind the battery. Now it started up with the new battery but couldnt drive it (bad idle)to a auto place to have them test the car/battery under load.

I still need to look into the altenator, i disconnected the stereo for now, so whhen i get some more time and hopfuilly the weather is better i can get the altanator looked at.

Atleast i'm getting to check some things out and hopefully something will change for the better.

Thank you everyone, gotta love this place.

 

Check glove box light... Check center console light... Are they staying on???? Do you have an aftermarket stereo??? Amp on???

 

Hook an amp meter up between the battery cable and the battery terminal. DO NOT try and start the car - excessive amps will fry the meter. With the key off, see how many amps the system is pulling. If its significant, try pulling various fuses until you find the one that eliminates the battery drain. If you have loads that don't pass through the regular fuse panels on the end of the dash or the under hood convenience panel, remenber to unhook those loads wherever they attach to the positive side of the power system, watching the amp meter.

The Battery Tender Jr. will keep the battery healthy for years. My AC/Delco Professional lasted 7 years in a "track" car that sits for months on end without running.

 

i fear for my tune because as the guy was tuning before dyno he told me that the PCm was erasing the past tune he put in becasue the battery was dying.

My laptop failed on me before i could copy the file and now i have a laptop i'm not sure the tune is accurate.

 

The "tune" is stored in non-volatile memory. It will NOT be lost if the power to the PCM is removed. If your tuner indicated it was "losing the tune" as he was tuning it, there was something wrong with his software, his computer was having battery problems, or your PCM was faulty.

 

i pray the tune is locked, probably is and the idle is due to relearning the idle settings. I dont get enough time to play with her as much as i would like

 

My one Trans am goes Dead after sitting for about 6 days. I have never really looked into it but I am gonna have to chase the short or draw down. Anyways It has been doing this for 4 years. I finally put a switch on the cables to turn off the draw. My Computer has never lost the programming. Worst case scenario I have ever had is the car needs to relearn the Idle.

 

Apparently you don't believe what I posted.

Things that are "learned" always get cleared, including the long term fuel corrections, trouble codes, learned idle position, and the low octane fuel flag. Those are not part of the "tune". The PCM "learns" them.

 

i do beleive, i just play into consideration that my issue may be worse then others, this machine has been nothing but trouble. Since it can not idle after 10mins makes me worried that something is wrong more then just relearning the idle, i just wish i could play around with her more instead of thinkning about it day after day.

Just me injuneer, i read your post with intent to learn since you have given a lot of good advise over the years.