TomSwift

I had to go out of town for the week. When I got back the battery in my car was dead. I got a jump and had the battery checked and it was charging fine. The battery is brand new and so is the alternator so they otta be good.

I parked it last night and now about 12 hrs later it is drained again.

There is something draining the battery while it is parked but I can't tell what it is and I don't know how to check.

The only things that I can think of that could be related to this problem may be that I was trying to re-set the dashboard clock after replacing the alternator and battery and both buttons now stick so the clock continues to cycle through hr and min while the car is on.

Also the day before I left I cleaned the engine compartment with degreaser at the local DIY carwash. There was a lot of grease, oil, and everything else everywhere from years of variouse leaks. I did covere anything (electrical,intake,fuses) that looked important with tinfoil like the directions state on the can.

The engine looks great now but the car won't start.

darkspector2.0

almost sounds like there is little tinfoil stuck somewhere... where it shouldn't be... causing a short. I hope there is something to lead you in the right direction of wires because testing all the wires is gonna be a PITA

prelude_h22vtec

you know how to check for a parasitic draw? well you see what the draw is(using a multimeter) and you keep pulling fuses till the draw returns to normal. then you check everything on that circuit. it can be tedious.

Duane_in_Japan

pull the battery cable and put your multimeter in line in the amps range, then drop down to the miliamps range if the draw looks low, keep the door closed even if you turn off the dome light. BE PREPARED to change the fuse in the meter if it is too much of a draw, have you had the battery tested, have you charged it up on a drive then disconnected it till morning and have a good restart on the car, dead battery after it sat all night disconnected is a bad battery.

If you do anything to the car, power it up or anything, it may take several minutes to power down the computer, be aware of this fact. 50 ma is ok.

TomSwift

When I got a jump I used my road side assistance. I had them test the battery to see if it was getting a charge and it was.

I replaced both the battery and the alternator less than two weeks ago so I can't believe that I am having any problems right now.


Today I fixed the problem with the clock buttons sticking while waiting for the battery to charge off a jump (which took forever). I am letting the car run for like a half hour to see if it charges the battery back up. Then I am gonna let it sit for a half hour and see if it restarts.

Maybe fixing the clock buttons will do something.

I am gonna get a test light today. Should I be getting a multimeter instead? I have never used either.



Modified by TomSwift at 12:38 PM 10/15/2006

Hawkze_2.3

Multimeter is a good thing have because it will tell you the actual voltage and they're very easy to use.

prelude_h22vtec

test light only tells you if you have 12v running through. it is not a measuring tool. get a multimeter. because you need to test the amp draw...something a test like cannot do. a normal draw with the is under like 5mA, IIRC. (dont quote me on that number!!)

SKDRCR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prelude_h22vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you know how to check for a parasitic draw? well you see what the draw is(using a multimeter) and you keep pulling fuses till the draw returns to normal. then you check everything on that circuit. it can be tedious.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, i would do the same thing.

Sounds like you have a short somewhere.

xxmastermindxx

what would be normal draw under good conditions, i.e. no shorts, everything normal? just as a reference to find whats sucking juice, my battery started doing the same thing. but mine started when it started getting down to 40 degrees over here, when i keep it in the garage over night theres still enough juice to start, still weak though.

Hawkze_2.3

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xxmastermindxx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what would be normal draw under good conditions, i.e. no shorts, everything normal? just as a reference to find whats sucking juice, my battery started doing the same thing. but mine started when it started getting down to 40 degrees over here, when i keep it in the garage over night theres still enough juice to start, still weak though.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you sure it's not just because of the cold temperature?? All batteries are weaker as they get get colder even new ones....

xxmastermindxx

it probably is because of the cold weather. i even left it disconnected overnight and it was still really weak in the morning. but, when i leave it in the garage, even though it still starts its SUPER weak.

yea, cold weather it is. hope the new battery helps.

TomSwift

It turns out that the clock was the source of the drain on my battery. It was stuck scrolling through hour and minute settings even with the car shut off. Apparently this was enough of a draw to kill the battery over several hours.

Thanks for the input guys.