2 year old duralast gold 9.75v after 2 weeks

[horse123]

Left for vacation. Car was working fine. Came back 2 weeks later, car wouldn't start. Voltage at 9.75.

Generally everything shuts off with the car, radio, lights, cigarette power ports.

I'm guessing there's a moderate parasitic draw, but once I determine the milliamps, where do I go from there to figure out what it is?

 

[crazyoildude]

Before you blame the Battery test the Battery and your system.. You can do a simple check to see if your car is killing the Battery.. take the cable off the battery and using a test light connect one end to the cable and the other to the battery if the light lights up even very dim you have a problem with a circuit in your vehicle..

 

[horse123]

You didn't even read my post did you?

 

[Cujet]

Yikes, I hate quiescent current. If it's not something simple like a dome light or reading light, I wish you well! They can be maddening to find.

Maybe you will get lucky and find it's a bad battery....

 

[aualtima3.5]

Sounds like a dead cell.

I had same thing happen on a car last year.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: horse123


I'm guessing there's a moderate parasitic draw, but once I determine the milliamps, where do I go from there to figure out what it is?


You start pulling fuses until the draw disappears. It is that simple.

 

[horse123]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: horse123


I'm guessing there's a moderate parasitic draw, but once I determine the milliamps, where do I go from there to figure out what it is?


You start pulling fuses until the draw disappears. It is that simple.


So obvious! Thanks

 

[OVERKILL]

You are quite welcome.

 

[Donald]

You need to disconnect the battery, fully charge it with plug-in charger and then test it or bring it to have it tested.

Before you go looking for parasitic draw, you should verify it was not something you left on but did not see it when you got back into the car.

 

[bullwinkle]

Keyless entry, clock, & radio all draw some-but 2 weeks is too fast, I would bet on bad battery. Good news is you're inside the 3 year free replacement for a DG battery.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

There are charts online for measuring voltage drop over fuses - based on the size (physical) and capacity of the fuse. If you have a circuit that is drawing more than a few MA, then you have found the circuit that is causing the issue.

 

[Bluestream]

Some good online videos on tracking down a parasitic draw. Have to me careful as the on-board computers and modules can stay on up to 30 minutes or longer. Not like the old days were you just pull fuses.

 

[JHZR2]

Best option is to do the following:

- place ammeter with fused 10A setting, or better, a clamp on DC meter that can read to mA, onto the positive battery line.

-wait for the vehicle to go to sleep and fully be off. Could be 10 mins.

-start pulling fuses. Sometimes there are bigger high-level fuses that run to other blocks in the car. Trying to chart it out can help save time.


Don't underestimate a bad diode in your alternator. When one went in mine, the battery had not bled to zero.

Also could be a bad cell - internal short.

Could also be user error... Any chance some bulb was left on for a while?

 

[horse123]

Zero draw... maybe 1 milliamp from one of the main positive cables going to the battery.

Nothing was left on, I don't have alzheimer's thanks.

If it doesn't happen again after sitting for a couple days, should I assume it was a one-off thing where maybe the radio or something didn't fully shut off for some reason?

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: horse123
Zero draw... maybe 1 milliamp from one of the main positive cables going to the battery.

Nothing was left on, I don't have alzheimer's thanks.

If it doesn't happen again after sitting for a couple days, should I assume it was a one-off thing where maybe the radio or something didn't fully shut off for some reason?


Just because you think you don't have alzheimer's, doesn't mean that you might have left a glovebox slightly unlatched or a visor light running.

I don't believe your measurement. Typical parasitic draw is between 5-30mA, unless its something like my old MB diesels, which only have a clock to keep up.

A vehicle with a 30 mA drain and a fully-charged 70 amp-hour reserve capacity battery will last around 23 days. But if the battery starts at a lower state of charge, which could have been due to short tripping, using a dome light or radio, etc., it can easily drop into the two week range.

Obviously most cars don't have a 30mA draw, since lots of cars can sit for a month or more and start OK. But it doesn't take much to get there.

Does the car have an immobilizer or alarm?

 

[crazyoildude]

Overkill hit it on the head... Sorry, i did not post the instructions, My fault

 

[AirgunSavant]

Is it possible you have Alzheimer's but forgot?????
What was the question again?



Originally Posted By: horse123
Zero draw... maybe 1 milliamp from one of the main positive cables going to the battery.

Nothing was left on, I don't have alzheimer's thanks.

If it doesn't happen again after sitting for a couple days, should I assume it was a one-off thing where maybe the radio or something didn't fully shut off for some reason?

 

[Vikas]

If you are measuring 1 milli amp draw on a car which was built after 1990, you are not doing it correctly. There is NO argument against it. Go back to drawing board.

 

[kc8adu]

check each cell with a hydrometer before you charge.
all 6 down= run down by car.
1 or more down and others ok=bad battery.
easiest way to tell.
dead cell is close to 1.00 sg.
good is 1.265-1.3 sg.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Don't rule out a bad battery. I am on my third gold replacement. They all went the same way, suddenly, in less than 2 years.