I bought a 97 Neon from a local dealer 6 weeks ago and had a CD/radio put in the dash. The problem is that the battery drains if left over night. The dealer can't find the problem and the local "auto electric" shop put it on a machine to monitor any drain and said the lights in the radio were flashing after sitting for an hour. I changed the radio back to a factory unit yesterday and this morning the battery was dead as a door nail. Can anyone help??
Measure the drain current using an ammeter. The amount of flow may give you some idea of how it is being drained. Then start looking at the simple things like trunk and interior lights. If still can't find it, pull fuses one at a time to isolate the circuit that is causing the drain. Then take it back to the dealer and point them to the right circuit so they can find the problem. Keep in mind that it might be a pinched or frayed wiring harness as well. Does everything electrical currently work properly?
The "electric shop" measured the drain and it was within limits. After an hour of watching the car the radio light began flashing and the meter showed the drain like it was bounging up and down. As I stated, I replaced the after market radio with a factory unit yesterday and still have a dead battery this morning.
Other than having to jump start the car everything seems to work great.
Check the battery. If the voltage is below the minimum threshold, then all kinds of funny things can happen with a computer controlled car. You may even want to remove the negative battery post and see if it is still dead the next Am.
Has anyone suggested the obvious - a new battery??? Check the old one with a MidTronics transconductance tester - should be standard equipment at any well equipped auto-electric shop.
Oh yea...I did have a new battery installed.
the parasitic draw spec is .35 of a volt any more than that and you have a dead battery by the way look at the top of the battery and make sure it's clean and dry
if there is any acid c> Other than having to jump start the car everything seems to work great.
Before or after the problem began?
Draw is not measured in volts, but in anps and milliamps. If you put a voltmeter in line and use it for an ammeter, the actual value measured is a pretty worthless number, as the sensitivity of the voltmeter is not specified. A low sensitivity (say 500 ohms per volt) meter will read a lot lower than a high sensitivity (say 500,000 ohms per volt) meter.
Now, how much draw DOES it take to kill a good battery? Depends on the capacity of the battery, but a typical 500cca battery might also have a 90 amp hour 20 hour rate. If so, to kill the battery (down to 9.6 volts) in 20 hours would require a constant draw of something like 4.5 amps. In 10 hours it would take something close to 9 amps. I have left the radio running (accidentally) for a whole long weekend (thursday night to Monday night) and still had enough power left to start the old SL6 Valiant with a several year old battery - so if this battery is going dead overnight from a parasitic draw, it should not be a hard one to find!!
I had a very simular issue with my 95 Neon. Here are a few things to look at and or try. Remove the trunk light. (I do not know how, but that was an issue with my 95 Neon, even though it was setup the same way my 2001 Neon was) Being as the first generation Neons where very bad for the battery getting corosion, check,clean and or change the following;battery terminals, wire leading from Positive terminal to relay box. Being that this sounds like it started after the new sterio was installed, check the wiring to the new/old head unit. Did they use a wiring kit, or cut the leads? You may want to disconnect the Sterio, and allow to sit over night to see if it kills the battery. ( removing the sterio Fuse will not be enough as the headlights are also connected the the factory sterio.) Let me know if the above works or not.
Mike mlawrenc(at)gmail.com
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