Author Topic: Battery drain culprits  (Read 4098 times)

gravyface

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Battery drain culprits
« on: June 06, 2010, 03:40:04 PM »
Let my car sit for 4 days a few months ago and needed a boost; battery was dead.  Figured that since the battery was from 2001, it was time for a new one and bought a new battery.  Just got back from a two week vacation and battery was dead again.  The only things electrical that I've changed since I've owned it was to put a new head unit in.  Also, the antenna motor died at some point since early March, or around then.  
I checked out the antenna motor and the wiring looked rough: somebody spliced in a connector (maybe for an amp?) to the red/white power cables with gobs of tape; the coax cable for the antenna was not even hooked up, it was cut off and hanging there where the splicing was done.  Since the radio works with no antenna hooked up, I just cut the red and white wires and put marettes on them so that hopefully it's the bad motor/wiring/splice job that's draining my battery.

Any other battery draining culprits?  How likely was this the issue?

carlos318is

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Battery drain culprits
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2010, 04:30:35 PM »
I have the same problem mate after 5/6 days with non starting the battery will be dead and the battery is only 2 months old and the alternator is working fine
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colin86325

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Battery drain culprits
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2010, 08:36:12 PM »
Trunk light staying on?

carlos318is

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Battery drain culprits
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2010, 03:08:37 AM »
Quote from: colin86325;93450
Trunk light staying on?


Now thats a idea never looked at this one :D
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locknload

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Battery drain culprits
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2010, 09:08:18 PM »
Quickest way to find out is a clamp-on ammeter.  If you have access to one, just clip it over the + cable on your battery with the ignition key out and the doors closed.  Hold down the trunk light switch or remove the bulb and the meter should read 0.0, or close to it.  You may get a tiny, tiny reading from the digital clock and radio memory, but anything more than that is a problem.  Of course, as already posted, if the trunk light won't go out, that's a problem also.  You can also use a multimeter that isn't a clamp-on, but you will need to disconnect the + or - cable from the battery and wire the meter (set to amps) in series.  Advantage to doing it this way is, you can shut the trunk lid to test the light circuit there while the meter is attached.

jscribble

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« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2010, 10:34:09 PM »
My glove box light did this to me over the winter, which was brutal, but easily solved by removing the whole damn glove box. I like to be thorough.
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AlexHarris

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« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2010, 12:50:11 PM »
easy way is to watch current (amps) flow and slowly pull your fuses one by one while watching your multimeter, and when you finally find the fuse that drops your current flow to 0, your can further investigate just that one circuit!

carlos318is

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Battery drain culprits
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2010, 05:01:47 PM »
What if you dont have a clamp on ammeter
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