I have essentially a 5 mile round trip to work that the 98Z goes on daily. It's hot so I have the AC on max, boring because I have to sit idle at a couple intersections, so I have the radio blaring.

So 2.5 miles each way. This is pretty much the only driving the Z gets.

Can something like this drain the battery? The voltage seems to dip a bit at times, especially when the engine fan kicks on to cool.

I recently changed the alternator and recharched my battery but today, no starty. I used a charger on the battery for a while and was able to start and limp to autozone to get a new battery.

But now I wonder, could I have had a bad battery (at least 3 years old)? Or is this repeated short trip going to f'up my new battery too?

 

Its possible, you could get a battery tender and hook it up every night, but thats kind of a hassle if you drive it every day.

 

crud, think I have the wrong forum. But I do have a charger and might use it occasionally.

 

Mine has a slight voltage drop when the high speed fans come on sometimes just after a cold start up. Did you have autozone load test your old battery before purchasing a new one? Aftermarket reman alternator? That could be the problem too, friends of mine have used them without much luck getting a good one.

 

2.5 miles each way with a heavy electrical load will drain the battery after a while. I'd wire in a battery tender and plug it in most nights.

 

After market Alternator and I do see a voltage drop when at the traffic light when the fan kicks in. I have the AC at max and radio going too since it's hot and boring. When I get going the voltage jumps up so I think the Alternator is doing its job. But I might need to perhaps have the battery tended once a week.

I didn't have this problem in the past, but I did have about an 80 mile round trip I used to do just about every week that perhaps did the trick to keep it going.

 

If the engine is running , the battery should be charging, even at idle. and it only takes about 15 minutes of driving to fully charge a battery. I'd say you have a problem somewhere, I drive my motorcycle and I let my car sit for 4-5 days at a time and I have no problem starting it. My car will hold enough charge to start for about 2 weeks. I have an optima red top, the best battery you can buy, it was $170. and do not buy Walmart batterys, they are really chep but they are junk, I bought one and it only lasted a year.

 

the factory alternators are designed to produce enough amperage at idle to supply all the common electronic accessories operating at the same time

With the headlights on, fog lights, highspeed fans, stereo, rear window defroster all on at idle, you should still see atleast the high 12's at the battery for voltage, if not you have a problem.

If you operate other accessories such as large amplifiers, large power inverters, etc or have underdrive pulley's then its anybody's guess as to whether the alternator could keep up

 

instead of putting it on a tender, wy don't you just take on a 5 mile drive once or twice a week?