Ok guys,

Whenever I let my car sit for 3 days or more the battery is drained to the point that the car won't start but the accessories still work, and sometimes it is completely dead.

This gets really annoying, because whenever I don't drive the car for a few days I have to jump it. And it usually takes a good 10 minutes connected to another car before it will have enough juice to start. Once it is recharged there are no problems after turning the car off for hours at a time.

I have been having the problem for at least 2 years, and I have relaced numerous batteries over this time because sometimes they are drained beyond recharging. It is really getting annoying.

So I am wondering if this problem leads anyone to point me in a specific direction? Is there a way I can trace the draw on the battery?

I have disconnected my stereo and the electrical connections on my nitrous kit, and neither of those helped, so I don't think it was anything I installed. There are no interior lights that stay on. What else could start causing a draw when the car is off? Power seats? Windows? Locks? Lighter? Let me know if you have any ideas, otherwise I might just have to try unpluging random accessories and seeing what stops the problem.

Let me know what you got.

Thanks,
Eric

 

ummmmmmmmmm, did you try diconnecting your alt. when the car is running. You may just need a alt. ?

 

No, no I didn't

I will try that, but I figured since the car ran fine for a few days and since my stereo and everything worked without a problem that my alternator was fine. Worth a shot though. See, that's why I love this board, you guys come up with the easy stuff that I don't think of!

I'll give that a shot and get back to ya.

Otherwise, any other ideas are welcome.

Thanks,
Eric

 

I know this might not help your situation but when I first purchased my car the previous owner had large speakers installed in the trunk. He took them out and for some reason the wires had been he left behind were drawing juice from the battery and I had the same problem you are. It took a long weekend to figure out he had wired his stereo into the car alarm which was direct to the battery. I went through two batterys before I fixed the problem.

Mike

 

your battery is bad, man. go to autozone, let them check it for free.

 

I don't think I've had the ****ty luck of 4 bad batteries in a row. If I have then someone hates me or something!

I will check to see if there are any disconnected wires anyplace that may be causing a drain.

Could my MSD possibly be causing a drain? Just another thought...like I said, if there is no real way to trace the problem I guess I will start hunting one by one.

What should the normal draw on the battery be for the PCM/Clock Radio/etc??? Maybe I can test to see if the draw is higher than normal? Let me know if this may work.

Thanks,
Eric

 

What kind of battery is it?

 

How about someone offer some help to this guy.....

Get yourself a 12 volt test light and disconnect the positive battery terminal. Connect the test light between the terminal on the battery and the terminal at the end of the cable. (congratulations, you have just created the typical tool used to find electrical draws by automotive technicians)

Now, with the doors closed (remember the dome light) does the test lamp light? (it may glow faintly, very faintly, depending on the kind of bulb that is in it but if it glows bright, you have a draw)
Start pulling fuses one by one (before pulling each fuse, reinstall the previous one) when you get to the one that shuts off the test light, see what that circuit feeds. Typically, the problem is something like a glovebox lamp or, most often, aftermarket equipment that is wired in improperly.

 

When I first got my car that happened, till I realized the dial that controls the brightness of your guages at night can be pushed all the way up and click and that leaves the lights on for longer then normal, enough to drain the battery if you open and close the door/hatch a few times.

 

Someone suggested this to me, but we were debating on whether or not this would be very accurate since the PCM, Clock, and a few other things have a normal draw when the car is off. I guess I can try it..can't hurt.

Thanks for the advice, I will try that and see what that gets me.

Thanks!
Eric

 

I wonder if someone knows the typically current draw that the car has when it is sitting (for the pcm) if it's not that great a good DMM hooked up in the amps setting could do the same thing as the test light, but the test light would work just as well I guess.

Anyway, if you want to eliminate the pcm as a current draw I believe there is a pcm fuse.

 

My car had the exact same problem for years, and wasn't sure what it was. My car always had problems starting (it would randomly decide not to engage the starter, and would just "click". This is also after replacing the starter as well...), my car's battery would be dead if I let it sit for longer than 2-3 days, my alternator wasn't charging fully while the engine was running, my speedometer would jerk sometimes, it would sometimes buck and sputter as if losing spark, and it finally became unavoidably apparent, when my car just stopped working (no power to anything whatsoever), yet the battery was good and the ignition switch only recently replaced. Basically, the positive battery terminal (the red plastic housing that has two posts: one that has a wire going to the battery, and the other post has all your other stuff (radio, PCM, ignition, etc.). Even from the factory, looking at it from an electrician's point-of-view, that terminal is already overloaded, with 6 or more wires running to ONE POST. My dad, who is an electrical engineer, said that for optimal electrical function, no more that two wires should be run to a single post. So, I went to Advance Auto, bought a fuseable power terminal, which had eight posts, and I bought some 30 amp fuses (as none of the wires had more than a 30 amp draw) and necessary wire connectors for the terminal, and I rewired everything on the OE terminal post to the new fuseable power terminal w/ the 30 amp fuses, zip-tied the terminal box down, then went to start it up. It had no starting problems (ever again!), no sluggish behavior, no speedo problems, alternator @ full power, and my battery never lost power again! I dunno what you've done to your car, but this problem could have resulted over time to either the nut on the terminal post being loose, or the fact I was running an MSD 6-A ignition box & an MSD Blaster coil...

 

Well, the alternator was not the cause. I tried disconnecting the battery with the car running and it kept on running.

I have no access to any electrical testing devices right now, and I am about to leave back to school, but I am gonna get back to searching in about 2 weeks when I am home for winter break.

I am gonna hook up an amp meter between the positive cable and the battery terminal and see if there is a higher than normal draw. This should be a little more accurate then guessing how bright a light should be since there is still some debate as to how accurate that test will be. (if anyone has more info on that test chime in). Then like stated before, if the draw is higher than normal I will start pulling fuses and see where I can look for my culprit.

Thanks guys!

and don't hesitate with any more ideas.

Eric

 

Current drain on our cars should be on the order of 100 mA or less when turned off and parked. I had a very similar problem and the culprit was my console latch was not catching and my console light never extinguished. This drained my battery in about 3 days if it was not driven.

The best way to find a current drain is with a Digital Multi-Meter.

First thing you need to do is disconnect the positive terminal at your battery and measure the current draw between the terminal and the battery for current drain.

Method 1: Measure for current draw using the amp meter in your Digital Multi-Meter.

Caution: If your current draw exceeds your meters current limit it will blow a fuse in the meter. So you might want to have a spare fuse on hand before using this method.

Method 2 (preferred): Get a small value resistor from an electronics store. A good resistor value for this job would be a 1 ohm 5 watt resistor. This resistor should be placed in series in the circuit between the terminal and the battery. The voltage drop across the resistor shoud be measured with a Digital Voltmeter. When a 1-ohm resistor is used the voltage measured across the resistor is the same as the current draw through the resistor (300mV = 300mA). If another resistor value is used the linear relationship is stated by Ohms Law: V=I/R where I is current in Amps.

The nice part of using the resistor to measure current is that it cannot blow the fuse in your meter. A 1-ohm, 5 watt resistor is good for 5 amps of current draw max. If you have a current draw that exceeds this you will need to size the resistor accordingly (increase the wattage rating).

If you have determined that you have excessive current draw in you electrical system, start pulling fuses in an orderly manner until the current draw drops down to 100mA or less. Remember to close the car doors after pulling fuses as the courtesy lights draw over 150 mA. Once the circuit has been isolated that is drawing excessive current you should be able to fix it.

A digital mutimeter at Home depot can be had for as little as $25
and the resistors are ususally less than a dollar.

Hope this helps

 

Have it checked out by an automotive electrical outfit. A few bucks for the check out can save you money and aggravation.JMHO