DEAD BATTERY

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DEAD BATTERY - 12/23/2007 10:38:37 AM    ryobi43   Posts: 1 Joined: 12/23/2007 Status: offline I have a 2002 Surbuban that the brand new battery dies when the truck is not started for 2 to 3 days. There are nothing that I can tell that is staying on when the truck is turned off. Post #: 1

RE: DEAD BATTERY - 12/23/2007 10:48:11 AM    EuroGoldLS Posts: 2031 Joined: 7/12/2007 From: Princeton, NC, USA Status: offline Although its possible that the battery is a bad battery from the factory, you need to check for parasitic drain. Open the fuse box while the vehicle is off and use a test light or multimeter to check for power on all the fuses.  If you find a fuse with power on it, see what it goes to. That will narrow your search for the offending short.  _____________________________ PM me for a custom sig or avatar! Please do not PM me about forum problems! (in reply to ryobi43) Post #: 2

RE: DEAD BATTERY - 12/23/2007 7:48:47 PM    Gryphon Posts: 38 Joined: 12/19/2007 Status: offline Easy drain check: take a turn signal bulb, attatch a couple wires (or just use a test light) and disconect the negative cable. Put the light in between the cable and terminal. If it lights up, you have drain. You may consider looking at the cables and conections as well. Rare on a newer truck, five years is plenty of time for corrosion to seep in and build up. It could be keeping your batery from getting a full charge. _____________________________ Rob '99 Suburban 1500, 5.7 Vortec stock...for now. '86 CJ7 daily driver, some mods, usualy dirty. (in reply to EuroGoldLS) Post #: 3

RE: DEAD BATTERY - 12/23/2007 8:09:30 PM    vf171 Posts: 41 Joined: 5/24/2007 Status: offline Another thing to keep an eye on, make sure you're getting charge to the battery. I've replaced a couple of alternators on some of my GM's over the past decade. I'd look for the drain first though as suggested. If you don't find one I'd think about having the alternator load tested. _____________________________ '02 K2500 Suburban - 8.1L '03 Saab 9-3 ARC (in reply to ryobi43) Post #: 4

RE: DEAD BATTERY - 12/26/2007 7:33:54 PM    golfer   Posts: 610 Joined: 10/8/2006 Status: offline   This is referred to as " parasitic drain " , all modern vehicles will normally have a small amount of parasitic drain for the various electronic control modules and constant memory for things like stereos, etc. The test for this : With a Multimeter set to DC amps , without the key in the ignition, doors closed and everything OFF 1 - disconnect the Negative battery cable 2 - attach one lead from the meter to this negative cable 3 - attach the other meter lead to the negative battery point wait a few minutes for the reading to settle ( this is for everything to re-initialize ) and observe the reading, which should be somewhere in the ball park of .010 (milliamp) to .020 (milliamp). [ 1 amp = 1000 milliamp and 1/2 amp = .500 amp or 500 milliamp ] This will depend on what accessories your vehicle has. If you find a high reading , for example .500 amps ( 500 milliamp ), you can do one of two things to locate which circuit is responsible for the high draw. #1 - leave everything connected as mentioned above - remove one fuse at a time and see if the reading drops significantly just remember to shut the door or disable the interior lights so they aren't on. #2 - reconnect the battery cable - pull one fuse at a time - place one lead of the meter on one terminal of the fuse socket - place the other lead of the meter to the other terminal of the fuse socket - observe and record the reading This will direct you to which circuit has a problem. (in reply to vf171) Post #: 5

RE: DEAD BATTERY - 12/27/2007 9:08:26 AM    rruelas   Posts: 84 Joined: 1/14/2007 Status: offline Things that have happen to me in the past was a hood light staying on even when it was closed. I removed the fuse first then open the hood felt the bulb and noticed it was hot. And this was after the car was sitting overnight. I disconnected the hood light and it fixed that problem. I also had a old car that the glove box light would stay on even when you closed it. You might want to pull the glove box light and the hood light and see if that helps. Those are two drains that wouldn't be noticable. Right now i have a problem with the factory CD changer on my silverado. When I put copied cds or CDs that are scratched up, the changer keeps trying to read them even though the ignition is turned off. That would be enough to kill my battery after a few days. I have to take out the cds if Iam not driving the truck for a while. You can get a solarpowered battery charger that sits on top of your dash. This helps keep the battery charged when your truck sits for a while. It kept me from having a dead truck until I found the battery drain. I think I paid under 20 bucks for it. Hope this helps (in reply to golfer) Post #: 6

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