ok so the past two weeks, my battery has been draining on me. my car onlyhas 15,000 miles and the battery should still be good for a few more years. It takes two to three days and then it dies on me. Keep in mind that I haven't been able to drive it for the past two weeks, thanks to delays with my smsp cat.

Now before everyone starts jumping on me and saying that I left some light on....i didn't. trunk light was off. overhead light was off. headlights were off. parking lights were off. what else could be draining it? the stereo can't be it because that is only on if i turn the key. so what other electrical device could I be forgetting. Or could it just be a dead battery?

I have tried to figure this out for the last couple days and I'm getting ready to just toss the battery. any ideas?

TIA

 

If you haven't been able to drive the car for the past two weeks, how is the battery getting recharged every "two to three days"?

If you're not going to drive the car for extended periods of time, disconnect the battery.

An alarm will kill a battery very quickly also.

 

thanks reid...i was about to ask about the alarm. The thing is that I have left my car for two weeks on vacation with the battery connected so I assumed that the alarm wasn't doing it. thanks for the help.


to reid for the quick and helpful replies

to me for not knowing to disconnect when just letting the R sit


[Modified by jdmspoonitr, 7:17 PM 11/23/2002]

 

unscrew the screw on the top right and check to see if the distilled water in it is low.

My batter had been dogshit for the past week so I checked and it needed distilled water.

filled it up and it's all good now.

 

this is the 5th post you have made about your damned battery... in the same forum

 

actually to my knowledge this is the only time i ever asked about my battery...if you can show me all the threads i have started then I will apologize

 

I had the same problem.

The car stereo could drain the battery too. It has the 2 positive wires, one is from the ignition to turn on the stereo, the other is ON all the time for the memory and other stuff. If that one is short, then it will drain the battery. Try to unplug the fuse that goes with the stereo deck (not the fusebox in the car) and see that helps. If it still does drain the battery, then it is not the car stereo. hope this helps.

 

an alarm will NOT drain an almost new battery to the point of not starting the car. you only have 15k on the car...that battery is pretty damn new. i have left both of my cars for over 2 weeks with out any problems numerous times and i have an alarm and lojack on both.

 

I read in another post that if the batteries that came stock on the R are allowed to die completely once, then they suck *** even if you charge them back up. Apparently this is true. About a month and a half ago I left the trunk light on and my battery died. I recharged it with my charger till it was full and now it will die even if I turn off everything. I dunno.....I can see this becoming a PITA so I might just get a lightweight battery replacement.

 

Your battery terminals could be corroded. This will trick a charger/or the R's charging system into thinking that the battery is fully charged when it isn't.

It only takes a miniscule amount of corrosion to do this. Tray taking off the battery cables, cleaning them and the battery terminals with a brush, coating with Vaseline, reassembling and charging. If that doesn't do it, you probably have a bad battery. Dead. Deceased. Move on from there.

John

 

just to let you all know.. Acrua warranties the battery for a free replacement for first 2 years. If it hasn't been 2 years then I would just bring it in for a new one. Just a thought for you


tj

 

Take it to Autozone or an equivalent auto store in your area and have it checked. It is usually free.

 

What's the correct way to disconnect the battery?

Remove radio cable and other power cables, then positive clamp, then negative clamp? Or keep negative clamp attached for ground?

 

i believe this is called deep cycling the battery, and doing it basically ruins the stock battery.. time for a new one if this has happened..