Battery keeps getting drained
 

Hey guys,

So my previous battery which was 6 months old completely died on me, could jump start it then it wouldnt be able to start back up if left for more than a few hours.

Took it to my mechanic as the battery was still under warranty(interstate). He tried to charge it and it wouldnt charge more than 40%

He replaced it and it was good for about 3 weeks of weekend driving. Now it is sitting at 9 volts instead of the 12 ? And car wont crank...
Any ideas?

Checked the grounds and tried cleaning that up a bit. Will try jump starting it again tomorrow and see if I can get the car to turn over...

Gonna replace all my fuses as well.

1. Did your mechanic check the charging system?

2. Did he check for drains (clock, electric antenna, stereo, etc.)?

Those are the basics...

Put a DVM on the battery and remove/replace each fuse one by one to see where the drain is occurring. Post your results.

Are you sure that your trunk and deck lid lights are turning off? You don't have an after market alarm system installed in the car do ya? What about any other after market electronics? If you have any of these I would start pulling fuses, disconnecting these items for starters.

Like Draco say's, with a voltage draw like that you should be able to chase that down...

DVM is this a voltage meter ? Sorry for the noob question. I dont even think i have trunk lights. Gotta have a look at where that is but its a 75 so maybe they didnt have it?

Had an aftermarket immobilser but that got disabled by the PO as it was one of those old school plastic chip readers that you had to put in and it would often malfunction. That may be the reason.

I'll try the fuse suggestion too.

It should be reading 12 volts though right?

Ok. So did a bit of troubleshooting yesterday. Now my battery is reading 0.5V so its completely drained after OP. What was changed? Well the day i made the OP, i checked the ground wire where the negative battery lead attaches to the front of the trunk and unscrewed it and sprayed carb cleaner to clean the grounding point. Found out that the brown ground wire had the bracket snapped off. Need to replace that. Was able to screw it behind the negative battery lead but thats possibly not grounding properly now?

Yesterday i did further troubleshooting and had a look for that trunk light. Found it was disconnected. Connected it back up and there was a dim light.

Had a look at the front of the trunk and my washer fluid pump was also disconnected so connected that up

Had a look under teh steering wheel and found a green and white wire going to the back of the head light knob also disconnected, connected that up too.

I replaced any dodgy looking fuses in the trunk

Had a look at the engine bay and had to replace the 3 fuse panel as I cracked it a few days ago tightening the screws

Tried to jump the car after that and the minute I connect the jump leads to the battery, my hazards start flashing, fuel pump starts pumping, basically all my electrics start going crazy and my key isn't even in the ignition??

Tried starting the car and it still won't turn over. Thats another issue.

I went around with a volt meter but i'm not even sure where I should be checking??

Tried disconnecting everything that I connected above and still same issue...

So the only thing I can think of is that maybe the ground with the missing bracket may not be grounded properly now?

Ideas?
Sorry I really have no idea regarding electrics... super frustrating

Sorry missed this post.

Well we thought it was a faulty battery as the battery wouldnt charge above 40% and that was using an external battery charger

I dont think he checked for drains which seems like the culprit now...

I mean if i jumped the car and was able to drive it all the way to my mechanic, doesn't that mean the charging system is working?

Only other thing I can think of that I changed recently before the drain start happening was the light bulb in the passenger side interior light which wasn't working before... and thats defitnely not on...

Yea I checked and the volt meter read 0.5V at the battery terminal

lol

I'll have to buy a separate battery charger as having my other car sitting and running in the garage is pissing off the neighbours...

Hang in there, sounds like things keep getting worse. Might be time to take it to a expert. Might be cheaper, before things start melting and catching on fire.

Put the voltmeter on the battery with the car running. Observe for 5 minutes or so. Should be a constant 13.5 - 14.2. If it is not, probably the voltage regulator or alternator. My alternator would run the car, but did not charge the battery very well so it would always go dead. I replace the voltage regulator and all is well now. In the above test, my battery would read 13.8 or so for a minute, spike to 17 volts for a second, then back to 13.8. After about 3 minutes, it went down to 11 volts and stayed there.

If you want to check the charging system, simply monitor it for a little while and see what it is doing.

Yeah problem is that my car wont crank over even when I try to jump start it

so thats why im trying to sort the electrical issues first

then move onto the running issue. All happened in a span of 2 weeks. Car was running before that. Super frustrating...

Take the battery back to test and recharge if good, you should still have a warranty on it.

Ground is import to make the component work. As you have a fresh charged battery, you will see the draw right away. as you pull the fuses you will see it spike. That will be the component that is faulty.

Also see if there are any direct connection to the battery's positive post, i.e. the imobilizer. See if removing that also results in a spike. if so found culprit.

Jim

Ok so an update.

Took the battery and got it recharged by my mechanic. He said the battery is fine and its sitting at 100%

Plugged it into the 911 and the fuel pump turned on without the key in the ignition. It behaves as if the key is in the ignition on position?

Tried pulling fuses 1 by 1 to see if the pump would stop, tried pulling the relays as well and nothing would stop the pump from automatically...

There are 2 red wires connected to the positive terminal, even if i disconnect those, still does the same thing

I fixed up those ground cables I mentioned earlier...

Really stumped....

DVM is reads the battery at higher than 12V now...

Truly stumped....

Car is having issues starting and I dont wanna keep trying just in case it drains battery again.. need to get the elctrics sorted first

Would welcome any more ideas...
Is there a fuse for the fuel pump? I dont have a fuse cover...

That is strange, get under there to see if there is loose connect. I am surpirsed the fuel pump relay is not killing the pump. Hmmm.

Well we found your current draw at least.

Isn't the ignition connected to your pump? May be an errand connection there?

Having a charger and a DVM is almost mandantory....as to the pump coming on w/o the ignition.

Sounds like the ignition switch is going. DVM and test input and output power.....sounds like you have an open circuit.

I'm not sure.... ive been told i don thave the stock pump on my car... I dont even have the red fuel pump relay

Maybe that is the problem:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...tem_2-1c21.jpg

Well my car has always had an issue where the turn signals within the car stay on & when the car is on and it does this too when the battery is connected without the key in the ignition so thats why i thought it was an ignition issue?

Could it be due to the transmission ground strap? I have yet to look at this yet?

Whoa, check the ground behind the gauge.

It won't hurt to check the ground straps either.

But the pump has an open circuit as JB stated. The pump may have a fused open due to the lack of a relay. Try tapping on it to see if you can jar it off.

Ok thanks guys. Appreciate the tips. Will see if i can trace the pumps. Its annoying as on my car its behind the rear driver side quarter panel.

Oh my :eek:

A lot of alarms engage the turn signals. Maybe the PO only pulled the alarm half way? I.e took away the horns so it is silent. Removing an alarm can be a pain if you don't know what you are doing, especially if it had the immobilizer installed.

But wouldnt the cables be attached to the battery posts if I had an alarm? I tried disconnecting those and it didnt make a difference?

Car was driving fine for hte last few months so just random that its doing this now.

a week ago i remember reading the battery at 9Volts so it still had juice then it got drained to 0.5 volts over a few days so there was defitnely a drain but the pump wasn't turning on...only when i attached it to a jump lead source it started doing that so I must have done something... i did check the horns and maybe plugged the leads into the wrong sockets on the horns.. i'll give that a shot next

Drained Battery.
 

As per the previous post, lifting fuses, and other ideas is a good beginning.

If your car has/had an after market alarm system, this may well be the issue.

I have helped other P-Members with this identical issue, which, in many cases led to a defective/alarm system.

Here is a link which for your model/year electrical diagrams.

Manuals

You may pm me as required.

Good luck,

Gerry

Ok got another update
Had a play ard again.

Few funny things now. Firstly I dont think its the fuel pump, I heard a whirring sound and assumed it was but it wasn't.

Its the 14 pin connector in the engine bay. Checked voltage and there was 12V coming from pins 14 & 11 even when the car is turned off. So a few electrics stay on if the car is turned off if the14 pin connector is connected...

Thought it may have been the 3 fuse panel i installed and maybe the wires i connected to each post may have been wrong but I tried taking out the fuses and it didnt make a difference.. Checked back of fuse panel and its 25 25 5 (3-2-1) so i changed the last one. Didnt make a difference.

Found the wire attached to the distributor was also disconnected(must have knocked it loose when checking the cap and rotor) so I connected that back up.

Tried starting the car for the hell of it and it did start up but ran like ****. Kept backfiring so turned the ignition off but the car kept running! Had to disconnect the 14pin connector to turn the whole car off.

So thats where I stand at the moment... welcome anymore tips.

Ok found this. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1302701382.jpg

So makes sense why the car wouldnt turn off as 14 & 11 is Starter and Alternator. Hopefully i didnt screw up the alternator by unplugging the 14pin connector....

If your alternator/regulator not producing 14.1 - 14.7 volts to charge your battery and provide enough juice for the operation of the car, electrical demand of the running car will discharge a good battery. Alternator and or regulator must be tested to make sure that problem does not lay there.

Well my main issue right now is that when the car is not even on, a few electrics are working...

Need to work this issue out before i even look at the battery recharge...

Ok just to finish off this thread.

Brought it to a fellow pelicanite wrench here in Van and he was able to help me troubleshoot the issues.

Ended up being 2 things. First was the alternator needed a rebuild. Once that was done, still had to troubleshoot the constant power even when the ignition was off and that was caused by a faulty headlight switch. This was replaced and now my electrical woes are fixed! YAY!

What was the specific failure of the headlight switch?

Best!

Doyle

Not quite sure to be honest. Think it was causing an open circuit so would just have constant draw on the battery.

Sounds like a diode is failed in the alternator. That will drain the battery.

Need a new alternator, or rebuild your existing unit.

Quick check. If you can charge the battery enough to start the car. disconnect the ground from the battery. If you tap the ground cable against the neg pole of the battery and you get small spark, you have something draining the battery.

Nothing else should be powered to draw that much current.

Yeah that was all done and issue is fixed(as above). Thanks for the tips tho.