Someithing keeps killing my battery, cant find what it is Options

[viruz_one]

For some reason my celica always seems to drain my battery when I park it and dont use it overnight. After a jump it fires right up and have no further issues. What I have done when its completely dead I jump start it, drive it for like an hour and let the alternator charge the battery up. When I go to park it overnight, I remove the main 60A fuse in the engine bay and leave it like that. The next day It fires right up no problems, but if I leave the fuse in place next morning, starter just starts clikkkin, cant even crank the car. I have looked for something thats draining the power but cant find anything, I dont even have a stereo in place. Any help appreicated.

[nics]

how old is you battery?

[Hanyo]

take your car battery to be charged and tested at any auto parts store. its free and can save you some head aches. simple as that.

[viruz_one]

Its really not that old, I would say about or a little less than a year old. I was running it on my other car (Infiniti Q45) and didnt have any problems ever. Well except one time it did die out on the Infiniti but after that I never had a problem, even playing the stereo for hours it would turn on no hesitation.

So you guys think its the battery?? Ill try that to get it tested, maybe it purchase a new one next weekend, but i have feeling something is draining it.

[str8thugginit4ya]

Make sure and get your battery tested before you go and buy a new one.

[1994Celica]

For some reason my celica always seems to drain my battery when I park it and dont use it overnight. After a jump it fires right up and have no further issues. What I have done when its completely dead I jump start it, drive it for like an hour and let the alternator charge the battery up. When I go to park it overnight, I remove the main 60A fuse in the engine bay and leave it like that. The next day It fires right up no problems, but if I leave the fuse in place next morning, starter just starts clikkkin, cant even crank the car. I have looked for something thats draining the power but cant find anything, I dont even have a stereo in place. Any help appreicated.

make sure your cables are tight mine were loose and it didnt start chek your hook ups.

[Random_Stranger]

It's your battery. Brand name does make a difference.

[vile_v]

Random is right... brand name batteries are usually known to provide better quality. But that is simple logic (you get what you pay for)

on another note. its not always the battery.
- check if you have any aftermarket hookups examples of. LED wiring, amp wiring, like sources that could draw from the battery.
- if you do, disconnect them, one day at a time to see if your battery is drain the next day.
***example: if you have a led wiring hookup, disconnect it. anf if your battery is fine the next day. you know its your led right? ***
(i once had a power draw from the on/off switch of a glow gauge set)
- check for any burnt bulbs, rarely but sometimes they can still draw small amounts of power
- you might have a bad relay somewhere in the car (a big pain in the you know what but its happen to me before)

hope this helps, good luck.

[viruz_one]

Thats exactly what I think it is, something is wired to constantly pull current from the battery. I got the battery charged and tested and it works fine. Left overnight, next day its dead. UGH!

Anyways jump started again drove it around and the battery is holding a charge. I remove the main 60AMP fuse, left it overnight. Put fuse back in, starts right up.

I see an alarm siren in the engine bay so im going to try and find where it leads to or at least test it with a multimeter. Dont see any LEDs or anything like that, other than that security red LED. Guess im gonna have to get dirty tomorrow and try to find this mysterious power draw.

[D-Man]

step one is to test it. autozone, napa, o'riley, and advanced will do it free... FREE!!!

step two is to post your results.

now; i'll tell you like i told my ex... "get tested then we'll talk"

[johnnehh]

now; i'll tell you like i told my ex... "get tested then we'll talk"

I lol'd.

[epocsirhc]

It doesn't sound like a battery but a parasitic drain. Do you have a dvom? If so you have to go through and pull every fuse while monitoring the amps being drawn until you isolate the problem. You could get a battery capacity test done but from what you have described you will be wasting money on a new battery.

This post has been edited by epocsirhc: Feb 4, 2010 - 1:06 PM

[trdproven]

if you say your battery and your alternator is good. something is drawing from it, do you have an amp that is running without a working remote? anything directly connected to the battery?

[viruz_one]

It doesn't sound like a battery but a parasitic drain. Do you have a dvom? If so you have to go through and pull every fuse while monitoring the amps being drawn until you isolate the problem. You could get a battery capacity test done but from what you have described you will be wasting money on a new battery.

What is a "dvom?" SO test every slot in the fuse box and find one thats pulling current? I can test it with a multimeter and see how much volts its drawing or amps.

if you say your battery and your alternator is good. something is drawing from it, do you have an amp that is running without a working remote? anything directly connected to the battery?

I actually dont have any type of stereo hooked up, well i do have a deck wired in but the faceplate is removed and no speakers are wired. I guess ill remove it tomorrow and see the results.

[trdproven]

you can tell if your player is not using a remote, try turning it on without putting in the key.

This post has been edited by trdproven: Feb 5, 2010 - 1:17 AM

[Stambo]

get a multi meter and take the neg or positive calbe off and set it to measuare amps, use the multi meter as a jumper between the battery and the pos. or neg. cable. You should see a current draw, now start pulling fuses and when you pull a fuse and the current draw drops, you know that you have a parasitic drain from that specific circuit.

[blu94gt]

get a multi meter and take the neg or positive calbe off and set it to measuare amps, use the multi meter as a jumper between the battery and the pos. or neg. cable. You should see a current draw, now start pulling fuses and when you pull a fuse and the current draw drops, you know that you have a parasitic drain from that specific circuit.

This. I can't remember the exact numbers, but most cars will pull a small amperage when completely off (like .5 of an amp at most). So you'll never get it to zero.

[Stambo]

yea i realize that, the computers need power to save memory and what not. But you'll see a big difference when you pull a fuse the current will drop noticeably

[delusionz]

I binned a 1 Farad capacitor due to this.

If I ever get another farad I will hook it onto a high power Relay.

[GrimReaper]

I'm suspecting a low battery as others said but also your gen may be not charging sufficiently. Enough to not making the battery light comes on but not enough to maintain your battery. Another thing... make sure your battery light comes on when you turn the ignition, if not, remplace the bulb cuz when the bulb is blown, the gen does not recharching the battery at all, as stupid as may sound...

[epocsirhc]

Did you ever find out what was causing the drain? Also I apologize dvom=multimeter.

[cibrit-]

I had problems with my car when I first got it. It just kept draining the batter and pissed me off.

Before I took it to the electrician I took a test light to every fuse in the fuse box and found out what that was powering. This would be my advice to you before you go taking it to an electrician. That is, unless you can find an electrician that will fix it for cheap like I did .

[Batman722]

it's either your battery or the voltage regulator in your alternator.

[cibrit-]

That's the name!! Thanks batman, I completely forgot the name of it xP. But yeah, the voltage regulator was bad.

[Velliety]

I had the same thing happen - mine turned out to be my headlight switch. My battery was being drained even with the headlights off. Replaced the switch, no more dead battery.

[viruz_one]

OK bumping this old thread back...

After further inspection, i noticed that it had some sort of aftermarket LED mounted by the driver side-side vent. I pulled it off and followed the wire until I came across an after-market ALPINE alarm system. This thing was wired straight into the main power fuses. I cut all the wires attached and resolder them together. I guess we'll see how it works from now on but after leaving it a few hours it seems to be ok.

Only problem is now my side blinkers are not working at all. I'll have to test and see what is affecting those wires. Anywyas might have pics up if i get a chance. But relieved for now!

[Batman722]

did you unokyg your hazzard light switch ? that would cause the blinkers not to work at all.

[viruz_one]

LOL! OMG Yes I did! I actually removed all my center console and trim where the hazard switch and clock are. Disconnectd them to get better access and see if I found anything fishy in there.

Saved me some time Batman Thanks!

[Jaws4God]

the voltage regulator in your alternator.

can autozone or advanced auto check for that? I have a drain and not sure why... wondering if its this or possibly the headlight switch like happened to the other guy..

[chacha]

you can check yourself....if you can start your car, then turn it on with the batt juice you have....then with the car running....unplug the positive terminal on the battery off....if your car is still running...it's not your alternator (it is still good)....if it dies...you have a bad alternator and you need a new one. Saves you the trouble of taking out your alternator. If the alternator is bad, take it off and give it to the shop to test the voltage for reassurance.

Because your batt is low already once you figure it out...take it to those shop to have them charge the batt correctly....make sure they know how to charge it because the guys at Autozone didn't. I had an optima D31a battery for super duty stuff....they tested it and told me i had a bad battery; told me to buy a new batt. took my batt to kragen or o'rilely....charge it with the right amount of amps and heal my battery back to life. I told them what the autozone guys did and he told me i would have turn my optima batt into a bad one by charging it with the wrong volt and amp current.

This post has been edited by chacha: Dec 20, 2010 - 10:46 PM

[Jaws4God]

you can check yourself....if you can start your car, then turn it on with the batt juice you have....then with the car running....unplug the positive terminal on the battery off....if your car is still running...it's not your alternator (it is still good)....

I was under the impression that the alternator could still charge the battery when running but when you turn the car off the voltage regulator can kill the battery...

[trebilihp]

you can check yourself....if you can start your car, then turn it on with the batt juice you have....then with the car running....unplug the positive terminal on the battery off....if your car is still running...it's not your alternator (it is still good)....

I was under the impression that the alternator could still charge the battery when running but when you turn the car off the voltage regulator can kill the battery...

I guess it can. I'm having the same problem, and I noticed that lights were over lighting when I reved up the engine. Looks like the alternator is overcharging the system and this could be caused by a defective regulator. I mesured a 6A current passing trough the positive cable of the alternator while the car was of and nothing working. That MUST be what is draining the battery. I'll chage the alternator thursday and give you some news.

By the way, got a new paint?

This post has been edited by trebilihp: Dec 21, 2010 - 9:05 PM

[trebilihp]

Was actually my alternator. Changed it, runs well. Look if there's a leak from the positive cable of the battery. If there is, (wich is actually the problem here), unplug the positive cable from the alternator. Chek if there's still a leak from the battery. If not, it might be a short in your alternator, caused by some blown ''diodes'' (don't know if we call it this way in english) in the regulator, cause the alternator is plugged in parallele with the electrical circuit.

Might not be the problem, but at least try this test and you might be set for your alternator..