So...
For the last 3 weeks, I've had a dead battery weekly and I've reached the point where I'm more ready than ever to sell this car!!

I have a minimal level of auto know how, so my process has gone as follows:
batt died-replace
batt died-replace
batt died-replace
check alt-replace

now I came out of work tonight, and it wouldnt start, got a jump and started just fine. So as my father taught me over the years ( he was a master mechanic ) its battery starter or alternator.

Now, my question- on my starter there is a little "wire" i guess that has started to work loose on the car. So I temp fix it(keep it from wiggling around) we put a tie around it so it wouldn't move, as he said the starter itself is good. Can the starter be the source of an electrical drain when the car is off and sitting over night, knowing that I have changed the batt and with a tested alternator? What other things should I be looking into?

 

Ridiculous to keep swapping in batteries.

Parasitic drain. Look up how to test for it.

The messed up wire-fix it. Stop messing with patch jobs.

 

I would look up ways to test or source the problem, but I am not aware of a starting point to go from. As I stated I am not a super mechanic, I only have limited knowledge in this area - Hence why I came to HT for some direction.

 

If you looked it up you wouldn't have said you don't know where to start looking. Google.

 

If dad is a master mechanic id be leaning on him for help.
Youtube has videos on that subject itself.
Search parasitic battery drain.
One guy to lookup is" Eric the car guy"
He has many many vids that can help the layman out.

 

-Solder and shrink wrap insulate the loose starter solenoid wire.

-What car do you have? How do you know that the alternator is properly charging the system?

Parasitic drain measurement
Disconnect battery ground wire from (-) battery post. Set your digital multimeter to read DC milliamps (mA). Connect meter red (+) probe to battery post and meter (-) black probe to disconnected ground wire. What is the mA reading?

 

Thanks I'll go on youtube for some information.... And I def would use my dad but he is 1000 miles away! Appreciate some direction.

 

I'll have to take it to someone to do the solder and shrink wrap thing, I have no clue about that but hopefully someone will.

2000 honda civic ex - GSR Head/B16 Block and before I put the alt in, I took it to the store to be load tested and said it was fine.

 

Ok guys, I just watched the video from Eric the car guy, I must say it was very smooth to understand, So I thank you for that bit of information that I have now just learned. I am going to send that to the person who will be working on the car, and I'm going to try and get another battery in the meantime.

 

*Update* I took the car to wallyworld to get them to check the battery and they said it was fine and charged it. I proceeded to then take it to autozone to get starter and alternator tested, what was about a 10 minute trip. Soon as I got there, car wouldnt start again, and the employee said their tester said the battery was at 35%. I dont understand how this could be. Anywhom, he used a jumper box... started right up.... Is this truly only an alternator?

 

Have. The. Alternator. Tested.

 

While the car is running remove the negative battery cable.
If the car dies the alternator is bad.

 

Please avoid this^ test that risks damaging sensitive electrical components in your car.

 

Im a Hyundai tech and this is what why follow. the specs maybe different than hondas
if you have a PDF viewer you can use this on how to do a parasitic draw
http://www.mediafire.com/?rck6s61oyoea7ki

 

Thanks Guys.... I went back to my boys shop.... and he changed the alt and its running fine at this time....!!!

 

you can also put a fluke meter on the battery terminals and turn on loads aka headlights, wipers,etc and see if the voltage drops and then charges back up. or buy a load tester.