bstone Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 (edited) In the past month or so I've had to jump the battery nearly every morning. It'll sometimes click many times and finally turn over or I'll need to get a jump. I replaced the alt with an OE reman from the dealer and got the battery (Optima Red Top, less than a year old) tested at Advance Auto Parts (tested good, tho low on voltage). Think I got a drain somewhere. Now to test for it. Can I do the trick where I unplug the - terminal, clamp on a test light and then press the probe onto the - post and see if it lights up and then pull fuses until it turns off? Or do I have to follow ? Thanks, all. 97 OBW AT Edited July 15, 2011 by bstone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 The problem may be happening because the battery isn't getting enough charge from the alternator. I would start by cleaning the battery connections so you make sure all the charging power from the alternator gets to the battery. You should also find out how much voltage the alternator is putting out while the engine is running around 2,000 RPM. You should have at least 13.5 getting to the battery and up to around 14.8 volts. If you don't have the minimum then you need to replace the alternator. If the voltage is ok then make sure the battery is ok. Normal drain current is around 15 to 20 milliamps. Here is a link that shows how to hunt a problem down. http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 With car idling and AC blowing I checked the charge on the battery. It was at 14.01v. I think the alternator is working as it should. Now to find the drain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpm90001 Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Voltage should not be low on a battery that new. What was the voltage when tested? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 Voltage should not be low on a battery that new. What was the voltage when tested? At idle with AC on it was 14.01v Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 perfect timing, i have a drain on an XT6 that i'm going to be working on this week, was working on other stuff on it yesterday. pulling fusible link for a year is all wrong! thanks for the info and leaks. i already traced mine down with the pull the fuse method, like which fuse in the interior box is causing the drain. but never got further than that. be sure not to use *anything* on the car that draws power while testing milliamp draw. i accidentally bumped just the door switch and the tiny draw of the light blew the fuse in my multimeter. might want to make sure you have a spare fuse on hand for the meter if you're using one. was annoying to blow it and then have none on hand to keep working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 I don't have an ammeter, just a regular multimeter. He is a video of some of my findings from this afternoon. Please let me know if you think there is a charging problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixwFz0BLd8o One thought I had is that the terminal for the - post is pretty loose. It's hard to get it to bolt down. Maybe it's time to replace the terminal. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpm90001 Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 (edited) My guess would be bad terminal / corroded connection on either battery terminal or ground point. Check all ground points on the ground cable, and all connections of the positive cable. I would actualy un bolt them and wire brush both surfaces. Replace the loose terminal. In your first post, you wrote it would click and then sometimes turn over. Classic symptom of a bad connection or corroded cable. Your alt looks fine to me. I just went through this on my truck. Every other day it would not turn over, new alt and battery with in the year. Had a corroded connection on the starter and frayed ground wire that was corroded. Check your pos and neg cables. What was the result of the load test on the battery? Above 9.7? What about voltage with out it running? Above 12.6 or close? Also, your meter should measure low amps on the un fused side. Up to 20?? For a short period. Check your manual... Edited July 17, 2011 by Rpm90001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 I replaced the + terminal to the battery as it was broken. Added some washers on the - terminal to make the connection very snug. Also took off the starter ground and starter + cable, sprayed liquid wrench and put them back on. Drove for about an hour and will check car in morning and report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I recently had a similar problem with my RV battery. I would charge it up, and within a week it would be dead. I was thinking that I had some sort of battery drain in the system. I even disconnected the + cable at times, but that didn't help. I did notice that it took several hours longer than usual for my battery charger to charge the battery. I did think that was odd. The battery was only 2 years old, but upon testing I was told that it had a bad cell. I replaced the battery, and now all is well. So, don't think because the battery is relatively new, that it is absolutely good. Even newer batteries can and do go bad. Also, check the water level in your battery. If the water level is low, that can cause trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 I recently had a similar problem with my RV battery. I would charge it up, and within a week it would be dead. I was thinking that I had some sort of battery drain in the system. I even disconnected the + cable at times, but that didn't help. I did notice that it took several hours longer than usual for my battery charger to charge the battery. I did think that was odd. The battery was only 2 years old, but upon testing I was told that it had a bad cell. I replaced the battery, and now all is well. So, don't think because the battery is relatively new, that it is absolutely good. Even newer batteries can and do go bad. Also, check the water level in your battery. If the water level is low, that can cause trouble. No water in this battery. I pulled it out and had it tested at Advance Auto Parts a few weeks ago and it tested good. I'll retest it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aa8jzdial Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 If you don't have a milliamp mode on the meter use a small taillight in its place. As you remove the fuse with the major current path to ground the light will dim or go out. Won't display milliamps but will give you good idea where the trouble is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 No water in this battery. I pulled it out and had it tested at Advance Auto Parts a few weeks ago and it tested good. I'll retest it. Did the guy doing the testing at Advance Auto check the water level in all cells? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Did the guy doing the testing at Advance Auto check the water level in all cells? cant check water levels in sealed batteries. he did post he has a redtop, which is a SEALed battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Still got many clicks and difficult turn over when I tried to turn her on today. Also, the clock reset back to noon and all radio stations were lost. I'll bring the battery back to get it tested again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 I went back to Advance Auto Parts just now and explained my ongoing issues to the guy. He seemed to know his stuff pretty well. He brought out this large machine and proceeded to test the battery, alternator, starter and also a drain test. He had me turn the engine on, then off, on again with all the lights and AC blowing, off again, etc etc. All of them came up fine. I have the print out here. Drain Test Results: 0.56A "Pass" Charging System Test: Charging System Output Test Normal Starter Test: Cranking Normal Battery Test: Good Battery He suggested that maybe the starter is going. It is the original starter and now has 230k miles on it. I really don't know what to do next. Help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMattyD Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 0.56 Amps seems like a big drain to me. 10-50 milliamps seems more normal to keep the clock and any other long term memory type stuff alive. you have 560 milliamps! anyway, it seems like there is some kind of drain on your battery, like you said. Now you just need to go ahead and test the different circuits to see which one is at fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Yeah now we've confirmed there is certainly a drain. I wonder why the computer said it was ok. The only thing electronically that changed was me installed a new radio. That happened just about at the same time as this charging issue. I just drove 2.5 hours and so the battery is probably well charged. I pulled the radio and will see how it is in the morning. I will also go back to Advance and have them rescan with the drain computer and see what the amps are. If it's significantly less then I know the source. If it's the same then I'll begin to pull fuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 note to self: ALWAYS ask ''what other work was done when this started?" i keep forgetting this part. i think the radio is a winner. fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 i'm with JCE - radio would be a good thing to check. 56 milliamps is higher than normal from what i've read (20-30 = normal) - but *shouldn't* be enough to drain the battery overnight? have you tried to disconnect the battery or pull a main fuse/fusible link? it'll start right up if there is a drain. if it's the battery the issues will remain when pulling fuses/link/terminal connector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpm90001 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 (edited) That does not seem like enough to drain it overnight, Check My gut says it's not the radio, but sounds like the best place to start. Good luck Edited July 21, 2011 by Rpm90001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMattyD Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 My Gut (and it is a Big Gut:)) tells me that it could be a combo of a current drain from the radio or some other circuit AND a weak or failing battery. I know you said it is only a year old, but it may have some type of internal damage or manufacturing defect that has reduced its capacity to where a constant 1/2 amp draw will deplete it enough that it will not start the car in the morning. Do you have a multimeter you could use to measure the current draw on your battery to see what it reads at home? If you do, you can set the meter to the amps or milliamps scale, then you disconnect one of the battery terminals and put one of your meter probes on the battery terminal, and the other on the battery cable clamp. It should read out how much current drain you have. Of course, you need to make sure the car is off, the doors are closed, etc. to get a good measurement. You could isolate a faulty battery by borrowing one from another car if you have one, to see if that helps. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 I completely removed the radio. Heading to Advance in a few minutes to check on the draw. I don't have an ammeter on my multimeter, which is annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstone Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 NEWS FLASH: I brought the car to both AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts today and they each tested the battery. In both cases the battery came up as BAD/REPLACE. I new print out I have from Advance says: Battery Test: Replace Battery Voltage: 12.47V Measured: 536CCA Rated: 720 CCA Temperature: 89F "Battery fails to meet industry accepted standards and should be replaced." The particular Advance I was at did not have it in stock and neither do the local stores. Also this Advance is closing in 3 weeks so they aren't getting any new shipments so I have to go to another Advance a few miles away. At least I have a better idea as to the underlying problem. If the problem returns after the battery is replaced then I know there is a drain at work. P.S. I removed the radio last night when I parked the car and it didn't help starting this morning as I had to get a jump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edrach Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 That does not seem like enough to drain it overnight, Check My gut says it's not the radio, but sounds like the best place to start. Good luck0.56A is 560 milliamps not 56. More than enough to discharge a partially charged battery overnight. Can't believe that the computer said that was normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.