Okay I have a problem I think. I replaced my battery with a die hard gold battery, it dies after one day, I tried many batterys it just keeps doing this, I made sure everytime that there was nothing on what can be the problem?

I have a 1996 civic dx hatch

 

Did you check to makesure your alternator is plugged in, also make sure its in working condition.

 

Okay maybe I'm not being clear. I changed the battery, the car starts up fine, all day but when I turn off the car, makesure nothing on like interior lights for the night. Wake up in the morning its dead again what can be wrong?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LukieLuc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Okay maybe I'm not being clear. I changed the battery, the car starts up fine, all day but when I turn off the car, makesure nothing on like interior lights for the night. Wake up in the morning its dead again what can be wrong? </TD></TR></TABLE>

maybe he didnt make himself clear. check your alternator! the car will run off the battery if the alt has gone bad. so check that

 

Okay i checked the alternator by unplugging the positive battery terminal while the car was running it stayed on meaning the alternator is in good condition. So it was running great yesterday, i just tried to start it this morning and it didn’t work, the battery was completely dead. I think there is a short some where, where should i start diagnosing this problem?

Things to know:
Alternator looks new (works great)
Distributor is new
Battery is Brand new

 

you have an excessive battery drain.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kjcrew_eg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you have an excessive battery drain.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do i fix this?
How do i find what is draining the battery?

 

Hard one to fix, start checking things that you have done to the car recently, and looking over any split wires you may have.

 

The car is 100% stock, it has nothing done to it, I bought it with a new alternator, and dizzy, and just recently put a battery
And it just dies when not started from night to morning

Are there any wires that you would suggest i check first?

 

fuse? good grounds?terminals? timmeh

 

make sure its not the alarm

 

I don’t have an alarm

Can I use a multimeter to check every fuse to see how much power is running though them when car is off? Would that help determine the problem?

 

You could go that route, it may be hard to isolate because if it before the fuse, it will produce no voltage, but if it was present at the fuse, it should have blown the fuse, unless there was something using it, an unfused circuit in your car that would cause a big drag, like a starter or an amp.

If your multimeter can read amps, take your battery cable off, and hook one lead to the post of the battery, and the other to the battery cable, and see how much current it is pulling. It should be around 750mA at most, and that is for the clock, radio presets, and the ECU. This can be kinda tricky because if it is pulling a lot, it may blow the fuse in the multimeter.

 

Ok so unplugging the positive cable doesn't always mean that its not the alternator. Esp if its a brand new battery

 

does ypur car have a glove compartment ligth, check if it stays on mine did for a while.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by roycivic92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">does ypur car have a glove compartment ligth, check if it stays on mine did for a while.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good idea, i wont have time until friday to try these ideas
I will post an update on friday

 

It's a grounding short - probably to a dome light or something of the sort.

I've seen it too many times, it's annoying as hell. My advice would be to spend 50 bucks and give it to an automotive electric shop - they can find those fast.

It's stupid crap, like the wires to the dome light will ground out against the chassis - you won't notice the difference because the draw is so small - but then when you let it sit overnight it all grounds out to the chassis and kills ur battery.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LukieLuc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Okay I have a problem I think. I replaced my battery with a die hard gold battery, it dies after one day, I tried many batterys it just keeps doing this, I made sure everytime that there was nothing on what can be the problem?

I have a 1996 civic dx hatch</TD></TR></TABLE>


I had the same problem with my 1996 dx hatch. You should check the wires that run from the alternator back to the battery, it could be that the alternator is not charging the battery(but it will still run the car, just not charge the battery). Secondly check the wires that run to the tps sensor, there should be 3, one of which also goes to the alternator, if pinched or cut, no alternator. Thirdly, check the fuse for speed sensor/alternator, if blown no charging from the alternator.

Good luck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jers99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok so unplugging the positive cable doesn't always mean that its not the alternator. Esp if its a brand new battery </TD></TR></TABLE>

That has nothing to do with what I said, I said to check the current draw with the CAR OFF, to determine how big of a drag it is. disconnecting the battery cable and running a meter in series with it allows all current in the car to pass through it, to determine how much draw there is, which could point to suspect components.

 

up for more ideas

 

Syndacate is right. Something is being grounded. Your best bet is to take it to an electrical expert that can find it fast.

This same thing happened with my old car, after I went through 2 batteries. The light in my trunk was somehow grounding out and draining the battery every 5 hours the car was off.

Good luck.

 

first thing's first...get a hold of a digital multimeter and test your vehicle's voltage while the car is off. you should have approximately 12.6 volts DC. most systems will range anywhere from 12.0 to 12.8 while the car is off and all accessories are off. with the car running...test for DC voltage again...you should have anywhere between 13.8 and 14.4 volts DC across the battery poles. if you have less voltage than that while the car is running the alternator might be the culprit. it might also be your alternator belt as well if it's not tight enough it won't spin well therefore no chargy battery. if that doesn't bear any fruit...test all off your fuses for continuity.