Battery Problem

pinkmx-3 · Post by **pinkmx-3** » March 17th, 2005, 3:21 pm

My car keep draining my battery some how. i've had to get it charged twice already. on the secound charge i had them test the alt. and it was fine. i also had the car put on a diegnotes for two hours and nothing came up. i cant find any lights being left on when i leave the car. so what could be the probelm???

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 17th, 2005, 3:51 pm

You have a short somewhere.. Though I think the real problem is the paint color.. if its really Pink.. the car probably hates itself

j/k With the Key in the Off position, use a multimeter to check your battery's voltage. You should be getting a reading of 12.7volts or so. Minor variences are fine, like 12.79 or 12.69. Any more or less is likely because of the short. Now.. remove each fuse one at a time from the fuse block under the dash on the drivers side. Check the voltage at the battery each time you remove a fuse. When you find the battery's output is higher than the original reading you took, likely the fuse that is out is indicating that circuit is the one with the short in it. From this point you should be able to track down where the short is. This is by no means a fool proof way to find your short.. but it is a place to start.

Tunes67

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 17th, 2005, 3:52 pm

When you say diagnostics I'm assuming that the battery was given a thorough going over. That's the first thing that came to my mind. I reviewed some of your previous posts and it appears that this is a fairly new vehicle for you and that you've encountered a number of difficulties to date. Are you completely confident of the level and quality of service from your mechanics?
If you suspect that there may be a circuit left on somewhere, then itmay be a bit of a trial and error process. I'd probably do some of the simple things first, making sure every little light bulb and circuit worked as per specs first. Than check those other things like the rear hatch light, the dome/map light's. Is there an after market sound system in the car. Was in connected correctly, or is there perhaps something inside the head unit always on or an external amp hooked up directly to the battery that is not turning off when the head unit is turned off.

This is just speculation. Pink MX3, your going to have to give more details and descriptive info of how long it takes to kill the battery? Is there a substantial sound system in place - details on that? What type of weather is your battery exposed to? How old is the battery? Do you trust the mechanics decision that the alt is OK? What are some of your driving habits? Are there aftermarket driving / fog lights installed? Any aftermarket interior or under-car lighting or electrical period that's been added to the car? All of these things could play a part in a battery not keeping it's charge. And lastly, maybe the battery is toast, ie maybe one dead cell..who know's. Get back to us with some more info if you still haven't sorted it out. Hope this helps and good luck.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 17th, 2005, 3:57 pm

Tunes, if it's pink (93' Raspberry) GS than she's got them NICE leather seats that I've been scouring the country for. And it's all good!!!

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 17th, 2005, 4:03 pm

Heh.. I dont mind the Raspberry color.. and in good condition I dont think it looks pink either.. suppose it could fade though.. And man.. I hope you get that leather interior soon.. dont want you frothing at the mouth at a meet sometime whenever you see them heated seats

Tunes67

yvan · Post by **yvan** » March 17th, 2005, 5:15 pm

alrite, here's a way of finding out whats draining your battery.. get a multimeter.. use the amp setting,( mA/A) disconnect your negtive battery terminal..put one led on the battery post,, and the other on the battery connector. start by disconnection one fuse at a time..current reading will drop when the fuse on the bad circuit is pulled. normal reading should be around .02 A to .05 A ...anything higher then that = something is draining the magigi out of your battery.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 17th, 2005, 5:20 pm

get a multimeter.. use the amp setting,( mA/A) disconnect your negtive battery terminal..put one led on the battery post,, and the other on the battery connector. start by disconnection one fuse at a time..current reading will drop when the fuse on the bad circuit is pulled. normal reading should be around .02 A to .05 A ...anything higher then that = something is draining the magigi out of your battery.

Yeah this is the procedure I was thinking of.. DOH!! Amps.. not volts..

Tunes67

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 17th, 2005, 7:09 pm

Tunes67 wrote:Heh.. I dont mind the Raspberry color.. and in good condition I dont think it looks pink either.. suppose it could fade though.. And man.. I hope you get that leather interior soon.. dont want you frothing at the mouth at a meet sometime whenever you see them heated seats ;)Tunes67

Frothing???, you can see that?, "as he walks away in complete embarassment"

pinkmx-3 · Post by **pinkmx-3** » March 17th, 2005, 9:56 pm

Well my car isn't pink YET

but it is a GS. i've had the car sence dec. 04 and really haven't driven it much. it has no aftermaket sound system, lights, or parts. except for a short ram intake we had to make cause the oreginal tube was cracked Badly. when my car died on me is when i took it it get diagnost and it turned out he distributor was the problem so they rebilt on for me. i had a prob. with the oil leaking into the top spark plugs so we changed both of the gaskets, all plugs, and wires. i had the alt. checked at "Advance Auto" when i had to buy a new battery. so this on is Brand spanken new. no one has worked on my car but me and my b/f cause the mechanics i've been to wanted to charge me an arm and a leg to do the things we've fixed stated above. sence i dont drive the car yet i try to start it Every week. one day my car wouldent start at all like the battery was completly dead. but i sat there a few mins and it started.....so im at a lose to what could be happening..... maybe i bought a lemon

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 17th, 2005, 10:32 pm

So I take it the car has been sitting for a fair amount of time then? Its actually quite common for cars to develope electrical issues if they have been sitting outdoors for extended periods of time.. Condensation (morning dew) gets into everything and will eventually cause corrosion. On the plus side.. just driving the car daily for a month or so should dry things up and for the most part take care of all but the serious problems. I'd go pick up one of those little portable battery jump start kits (not the cheap big ugly yellow ones) but a decent quality one.. if it costs $45 or more its probably ok.. Carry that around in the hatch with you in case you need a jumpstart.. and just drive the car daily for a while and monitor how it runs and any quirks it might have. I doubt you got a lemon.. it probably just needs a little TLC and some road time.. use it or lose it, so they say

Tunes67

pinkmx-3 · Post by **pinkmx-3** » March 18th, 2005, 11:01 pm

I went to go check under the hood one last time to see if every thing was still conected and i found that on the Altenator was pretty gross from the leaking oil i had. and i saw that a plug was really wiggly. So i got it off, cleaned it up and noticed it was missing the clip thingy that attaches it onto the Altenator. The only thing i could do is push it on really hard hopen it dosen't come off. ya think is may be my short???

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 18th, 2005, 11:45 pm

I dont know if oil is a good enough conductor to be a short to be honest.. If you have the time.. remove the alternator and give it and the surrounding area (wires, belt, pullys, etc..) a good cleaning.. steam clean it if you can (the area not specifically the alternator) Check all the wires for cracks or breaks in them as this can lead to improper conductivity. After everthing is clean.. put it all back together.. and take it for a good hour drive including some good freeway speeds.. As Yvan mentioned.. you can test for shorts with a multimeter between the negative battery cable and the negative battery terminal, then pull the fuses one at a time to see if the current draw drops significantly. Good luck.

Tunes67