Battery keeps draining every few days ugh

gathermewool

gathermewool

Site Donor 2025
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
10,249
Location
New England
1. 14 Forester XT

2. 83k miles

3. No loads (lights, sockets, key fob far away, doors remain unlocked in garage, doors shut entire time)

4. Battery 10 mo. old Napa The Legend Premium Group 34

5. Battery tests well. After sitting overnight (not on charger) it will start the car very quickly. Afte

5. Dead every few days of sitting, started a few weeks ago (11.X VDC each time)
Smart charger used

6. Unusual charge behavior: my CTek smart charger used to complete a charge well less than overnight. Since I got the new battery, it will STILL be charging at 14.4 VDC when I check the next morning. It’s obvious the parasitic draw is so great it won’t allow the charger to trip off when the battery is actually full.

With a bench PSU, it draws more amperage when full than any battery I’ve ever charged. I can’t recall exactly how much, but will know by tomorrow morning.

/

My current plan of action is to fully charge it and then disconnect the neg lead for a couple of days to see whether the battery has micro shorts.

If the battery insnt self-discharging I’ll check the parasitic drain using my DMM.

If high I’ll start pulling fuses.

/

Any other ideas would be appreciated.
 
I might have to :D

Ill use my fluke first, but who knows how longer before all of the circuitry calms down.
 
Gathermewool, has anyone EVER used that vehicle to jump start another vehicle, and had the engine running on it when they cranked the other vehicle? If so, the following information from a recent post I made may apply. This is a copy of it:

There is a very small but real chance of damaging the output power diodes of the donor ( good ) vehicle if the engine of it is running.

If jump-starting with the good vehicles engine not running does not have enough to crank a totally dead vehicle, then get all the keys and or fobs for the dead vehicle in your control so there is no way they can try to start it. Then run the good vehicle, connect to the bad with it running for 15 minutes to put some charge on the bad battery. Turn off the good vehicle. Give them there keys and or fobs back and have them try it again with the good vehicle not running but still connected.

If you value your alternator, NEVER allow anyone to try to start a dead vehicle with your good vehicle connected to there vehicle and yours running. NEVER NEVER NEVER. If you do and it damages the diodes of your vehicle they can fail leaky that will slowly discharge your battery while your vehicle is not running. And your vehicle may have to sit for 2 or 3 days to have the battery go dead, but it will go dead every time you let it sit unused for 2 or 3 days until you have the alternator diodes replaced with new ones, or a whole new alternator. What is interesting is this problem can stay hidden for a very long time until you do not use that good vehicle for a few days. It can be months or even years later that this causes a problem if you use that vehicle every day it will not show a problem, until it sits unused for a few days.

It use to be with 1970's and 1980's vehicles that the chance of damage by jump starting with the good vehicle running was much greater. Now days, the pulse with modulation method of output voltage control used in alternators reduces the possibility of this type of damage, but there is still a smaller chance of damaging those diodes. The bottom line is that the risk to the good vehicle does not have to be taken, because the battery of the good vehicle alone should be plenty of enough power to start the dead vehicle. And if it is not the chance of starting the bad vehicle can best be increased by charging the bad battery from the good vehicle for 15 minutes, then shut off the good vehicle before attempting another start of the bad one, and repeat an attempt with the good vehicle not running.
 
Thank you for posting this information. Many times when checking for draws we used to disconnet the alternatior power cable, thank you for explaining the reason behind this; it's been a while.
 
JimPghPA said:
Gathermewool, has anyone EVER used that vehicle to jump start another vehicle, and had the engine running on it when they cranked the other vehicle? If so, the following information from a recent post I made may apply. This is a copy of it:

There is a very small but real chance of damaging the output power diodes of the donor ( good ) vehicle if the engine of it is running.

If jump-starting with the good vehicles engine not running does not have enough to crank a totally dead vehicle, then get all the keys and or fobs for the dead vehicle in your control so there is no way they can try to start it. Then run the good vehicle, connect to the bad with it running for 15 minutes to put some charge on the bad battery. Turn off the good vehicle. Give them there keys and or fobs back and have them try it again with the good vehicle not running but still connected.

If you value your alternator, NEVER allow anyone to try to start a dead vehicle with your good vehicle connected to there vehicle and yours running. NEVER NEVER NEVER. If you do and it damages the diodes of your vehicle they can fail leaky that will slowly discharge your battery while your vehicle is not running. And your vehicle may have to sit for 2 or 3 days to have the battery go dead, but it will go dead every time you let it sit unused for 2 or 3 days until you have the alternator diodes replaced with new ones, or a whole new alternator. What is interesting is this problem can stay hidden for a very long time until you do not use that good vehicle for a few days. It can be months or even years later that this causes a problem if you use that vehicle every day it will not show a problem, until it sits unused for a few days.

It use to be with 1970's and 1980's vehicles that the chance of damage by jump starting with the good vehicle running was much greater. Now days, the pulse with modulation method of output voltage control used in alternators reduces the possibility of this type of damage, but there is still a smaller chance of damaging those diodes. The bottom line is that the risk to the good vehicle does not have to be taken, because the battery of the good vehicle alone should be plenty of enough power to start the dead vehicle. And if it is not the chance of starting the bad vehicle can best be increased by charging the bad battery from the good vehicle for 15 minutes, then shut off the good vehicle before attempting another start of the bad one, and repeat an attempt with the good vehicle not running.
Click to expand...

Never with this vehicle
 
Hi! I am currently going through the same situation with my 17 Subaru Outback. If it sits for 3 days the battery is dead. I've never jumpstarted any other vehicle with the car. I'm using a battery pack to start it when needed. Battery is good. I replaced the horrible and underpowered battery within the first 20k miles of ownership IIRC. I went up a size and used Interstate.

I'm thinking mine is tied to the rear liftgate somehow. No evidence, just a theory.
 
My 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 does this, it could set weeks in the summer starts right up, below zero with a brand new battery and sitting in the driveway maybe a day or two and it’s drained
 
Rmay635703 said:
My 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 does this, it could set weeks in the summer starts right up, below zero with a brand new battery and sitting in the driveway maybe a day or two and it’s drained
Click to expand...

weird. I’m hoping it’s the battery, although that bad boy was on the high end price-wise!
 
Three ways:

1. Starter starts super fast

2. Foxwell BT100 Pro shows near 100% state of health

3. Ironton load tester shows good
 
Is your Subaru one with Starlink and are you subscribed to the concierge service or the extended roadside assistance? Your Subaru is always connected to the mothership by wireless communication. Notice it says “SUBARU STARLINK’s in-vehicle Wi-Fi Hotspot keeps you and your family connected using AT&T’s 4G LTE nationwide cellular network.”
 
About 27 years ago while living in S.C., I bought an '84 Cadillac Sedan De'Ville. Got home, parked it, got up the next morning to take the family to church, and it had a dead battery, so I had to take the other car to church. After church, I started looking for the issue. I can't recall what led me to check, but I pulled the fuse block and found a quarter sliding around on the back side of the fuse block. Apparently the preacher that owned the car before me used to throw his change up on the dash.

Put the fuse block back in place, without the quarter, and charged the battery. Never had another issue with the battery or charging system.

I know this is very unlikely, but thought I'd throw it out there. Just in case.
 
It would take a while, but you could use the divide and conquer trouble shooting method:

1) Pull all the fuses, and wait the amount of time it normally takes for the battery to go dead. Put all the fuses necessary to run the engine back and try to start it. If it does not start, then it is something not on a fuse, such as the alternator output circuit, starter, or anything else not on a fuse.

2) If it does start, put a full charge on the battery, and let it sit again for the required time with 1/2 the fuses in. Then test with the necessary fuses to run it installed.

2 b ) If it does not start then it is one of the circuits that had an installed fuse. Charge the battery and put 1/2 of those fuse in and the other half of those out ( so now you would have about 1/4 of the total fuses in ) let it sit again for the required time and with the required fuses to run it test again.

2 c ) However if does start then the problem probably is with one of the circuits that had a pulled fuse. Charge the battery. Install 1/2 of the ones that were not installed and let it sit again for the required time. Test again and if it does not start it is one of the circuits that you recently installed a fuse for. If it does start, it is one of the circuits that does not have a fuse.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By continuing to work with half again what you previously worked with you should be able to isolate it down to the actual fuse, and circuit that is causing the problem. Then it will be a matter of breaking that circuit into sections. Such as if it is a power window fuse, what window?
 
I’ll have to look into that. At work today and maybe tomorrow, so we’ll see how much time I can devote to this.

No starlink

I do recall something about the rear hatch, after having thought about it last night.

I‘ll respond more in-depth later
 
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