What's Killing my Battery (and me)?

[thelhb]

I recently retired my GN from daily driver status. I noticed that after a weekend of non-operation my car’s battery was totally dead. Since the battery was several years old I replaced it with a new one. Along with replacing the battery, I also checked inadvertent current draw such as making sure interior lights were off, I disconnected the hood light, and checked the fuse box to insure aftermarket items such as radio, alcohol injection unit, and gauges weren’t run to a constant hot.

Good News: Car started up after 24 hours of non-operation. Bad News: Car battery was dead after 48 hours.

What gives guys????

Thanks for the help

 

[acoen]

Two places I would check first, the fan delay relay which can fail at any time and run the cooling fan in the middle of the night causing a flat battery (charge the battery and disconnect the relay and see what happens). I also had a problem with my trunk light, sometimes it would stay on while the trunk lid was closed. I used the same trick you did to determine where my draw was coming from.....Good luck....HTH

 

[2QUIK6]

My fan delay never worked properly (running the fan after shut down when hot) but I never cared....then one day my battery started being drained...I found that even though the fan did not run, the relay was drawing current, like around 1.7 amps. Unpluged it and no more drain. The relay is on the driver side fender, I believe it is the bigger one of all of the relays there. Been unplugged for years now.

Another drain I encountered was the "bell" for the lights being on after key off/shutdown or fasten seat belt bell....it would be faintly ringing for no reason...sounds like my ears were ringing..just barely could hear it, can either replace the bell module (common problem) if you like the bell warning when you leave your lights on or don't fasten your belt...or disconnect it, its under the dash just to the right of the steering wheel near the console.

 

[TurboBuckeye]

I had a bad door lock switch that would try to lock the doors every once in a while when the car sat. It was real intermittant too, I only found it because I heard the door locks click one day while working in the garage

 

[soundguy]

I had the power antennae motor switch go bad and kept running all the time. killed battery after couple days.

 

[84GNwith87eng]

Simpler than all those...turn car on, engine off. Make sure the 'Volt' dummy light comes on. If it doesn't, its either a burned out bulb or weak connection from dash cluster.

This will prevent your alternator from charging the battery

 

[novaderrik]

but the bad connection at the cluster won't cause an overnight drain.

 

[PhilM]

Did you do an actual off current draw test... with a meter? Thats the first step, then you know for sure what the draw is, and if it is an intermittent problem or not. Just get a DMM and setup leads for amperage, then disconnect a battery lead... measure between the disconnected lead and the battery post it was removed from. By your description, it seems like you just did a quick check to make sure nothing extra was on.

Phil

 

[Lee_Burough]

You haven't mentioned the most common and obvious cause for battery drain....Do you have an alarm?

Good Luck

 

[MIB]

I used a meter and started pulling bulbs and disconnecting accessories until I found what was drawing current. I found out that it was my dome light

 

[Lee_Burough]

I used a meter and started pulling bulbs and disconnecting accessories until I found what was drawing current. I found out that it was my dome light

Sometimes its the low tech solution that pays off....Glad its relatively simple for you.

Could have been a much, much bigger problem. :biggrin: