Battery keeps draining

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DaisyDart

DaisyDart

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Hey guys,

So this is the new problem, today i took the car out and everything ran great, parked her, and came back out a couple hours later, and the battery was completely drained. I charged it, she starts fine, runs fine.. i parked her again came out a couple hours later, came out and she was dead again. I dont even know where to start with this car. I checked the battery while she was running and the alternator was charging her. So could it simply be the battery is no good. it seems like somethings draining the battery as shes parked.
Ideas!?
 
First thing to do is get it charged up, and then park it. Disconnect the battery ground. In reduced light, put your 12V test lamp from the battery NEG post to a good ground, like the engine Make sure everything is off, dome, trunk, etc, and see if you can see a light

If you can, you have a "big" drain

If not, leave the battery disconnected overnight and see if it will start

Could be either. Otherwise, charge it up, take it to someone who knows what they are doing and has a "carbon pile" battery load tester.
 
Seems like the same problem i had. In my case it was the battery that would drain (old battery). Put in a new one and no problems since. The only load it had on it when off was for the radio memory. Hope it helps.
 
67Dart273 said:
First thing to do is get it charged up, and then park it. Disconnect the battery ground. In reduced light, put your 12V test lamp from the battery NEG post to a good ground, like the engine Make sure everything is off, dome, trunk, etc, and see if you can see a light

If you can, you have a "big" drain

If not, leave the battery disconnected overnight and see if it will start

Could be either. Otherwise, charge it up, take it to someone who knows what they are doing and has a "carbon pile" battery load tester.
Click to expand...

To add to this if the light stays on as stated above start pulling fuses untill the light goes off then trace down the short
 
If you can't find a short in fused and/or non fused branch circuits, the short is inside the alternator. Seen this a quite a few times before in all types, not just Chrysler.
 
RedFish said:
If you can't find a short in fused and/or non fused branch circuits, the short is inside the alternator. Seen this a quite a few times before in all types, not just Chrysler.
Click to expand...

I recently had the same problem on a newer VW. The alternator was dragging down the battery and if it sat a couple of days it would be dead. I found the problem with an ammeter in series with the battery. Once I disconnected the alternator wire the ammeter went to zero. Of course being a VW it was a real pain to work on too.
 
Sounds like a bad cell in battery, had same problem with last 4 batteries i have replaced, Happens all at once no prior warning, just came out and battery is dead ,jump it and all is good shut it off and will restart right away but if you leave it set for longer time will be dead again.
Time for new battery!

Lon;
 
lkopaska said:
Sounds like a bad cell in battery, had same problem with last 4 batteries i have replaced, Happens all at once no prior warning, just came out and battery is dead ,jump it and all is good shut it off and will restart right away but if you leave it set for longer time will be dead again.
Time for new battery!

Lon;
Click to expand...
Let us know what batteries you are buying! They must be pretty bad. I have one that is 7 years old in my Dart, and have a several cars where the batteries are 5-7 years old and doingn OK. The Dart battery gets disconnected if sitting for long.

Have you checked your battery voltage with the car warmed up and at fast idle to see if the system is over/undercharging them?
 
Put a big NHRA disconnect switch between the seats SAAB style. When you are ready to roll, turn to ON and hit the road. When you are parked, turn it OFF. Take cartoon key with you, theft deterant!
 
Have the battery load tested. Regardless of "surface charge" (like a voltmeter says it has 12.6 volts) it can be a bad battery.

I am an Interstate dealer at my shop and we have had a few bad cells right off the truck. All you can do is get another one. I load test every battery before I install it in a car.
 
hey guys sorry about the delay! Im still here, ive just been brainstorming and fixing everything i can before winter hits!, well , as for the battery, it did it twice, and never again. I had contacted the previous owner and asked him when he bought the battery and he told me 4 years ago. So chances are it was just a cruddy old battery being weird... Thanks for the help though, ill probably end up just replacing it rather then test it considering its age, what do you guys think?
 
not long ago there was thread on here about who sells a "good" battery!!!!
$150 doesn't necessarily buy much anymore in the " good battery world" and warranties?? ha!???
 
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