Q - S10 eats batteries about once a year?

Just a shot in the dark... perhaps a small parasitic loss, not big enough to cause overnight starting issues is causing daily deep cycling of the battery?

Erik

I was kind of thinking that too, but was hoping that someone else had this problem and found a quick cure other than having to break down each individual circuit and testing for high resistance shorts, while singling out normal drains such as radio clock, normal seepage between contacts in connectors and other things, broken cable strands, and failed insulation on wires. I'm not looking forward to that kind of investagative work, but will do it if needed.

The manager at the local Checker Auto, who is my current battery source, said I should pull one of the cables from the battery every night and reconnect it in the morning and see if that cures the problem. Sounds like logical advice, but that would be a year long project, and I am hoping for a quicker cure, though, I understand that I may not get one.

Thank you for the reply. I do hope that someone else has other thoughts that involve less work, but I do understand that hopes and dreams are not always consistant with reality and I might have to face facts and travel down the longest road.

Chris

Measure the parasitic load and see what is happening. Just remove one battery terminal and connect an appropriate VOM (on ammeter scale) in series. If you have an ammeter that will store the maximum current during that period it would be best. Normal parasitic drain should be in the range of 50 milliamperes or less .

During the quiescent period, if you start showing spikes up to several hundreds of milliamperes or even a couple of amps. then you need to do some troubleshooting.

Batteries are also sensitive to heat and vibration. You might try mounting the new battery on a rubber pad and being sure the holddown bolts are properly tight. If you can direct a little more external air to the battery to avoid what must be pretty high summer Arizona engine compartment temperatures, that might also help.

During this year of battery life, do you check the electrolyte occasionally? (I know, some batteries say they are sealed, but many can be opened to top up with water or electrolyte)

Have you checked the charging voltage with a known accurate volt meter? That's your first step. Do a running test, idle, driving and trips.

Take it to a combatant tech to have it analyzed to find why it is not be charged properly, WBMA

And bring you nunchucks with you. Probably a charging/volt reg issue frying the battery, or you're buying crap batteries. I've had a parasitic draw on my car for years, and the batteries still last much longer than yours. Maybe don't drive the car as much as you though. Car won't even start if I let it sit more than about 8-9 days. Had the current undersized battery about a year and a half, and had to 2 amp charge it overnight 3 or 4 times because I let it sit idle too long. Battery still does the job. I'd say something wrong with your charging or crap batteries. How are other batteries handling the heat in your location?

--Vic

Not normal. I have an 02 with the original batt. in it. My 97 is on a replacement but it also has a total of 3 batteries in it. Two matching ones that are up front and one deep cycle that is in the rear. The back battery runs the inverter for 110 power and for the extra lights. The two front ones are for normal use (I do have the LEDs connected to them when the ignition is on) I HATE getting a call in the middle of the night and not having the vehicle start!!!!

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. This weekend I will do some more testing, taking into consideration your sugestions.

PeterD, I test the voltage across the terminals with the battery connected and truck running, right??? I do have a Fluke 77 thats been very accruate so far.

Thanks, Chris

yes test across the battery, engine running. At idle, and at 2000 RPM. Post the results. The Fluke should work just fine for this test.

I believe that Fluke has a min/max function also, so you may be able to check for intermittent current drains. This can be a handy function.

With the engine off, you can measure the battery voltage accurately and correlated with the temperature you can get a rough idea of the charge. IMO this measurement is not highly indicative, but it may tell you something.

O.K. I tested the accross the battery with the engine off and got a reading of 12.95 volts. With the engine running, at any RPM, I got 14.65 volts.

At 80F the voltage with the engine running should be in the range of 13.8-14.4.

A fully charged battery (ideally) would show a terminal voltage of about 12.6-12.7 volts.

You might actually be running slightly "hot".

Sorry for forgetting the temp., it's about 85 today. Thanks hls, maybe my voltage regulator needs to be replaced???

Perhaps... The overvoltage is not too much, but it does appear to be an overvoltage.

Slightly overcharging. Ideally it should be about 13.7 to 13.9 volts.

14.65 in a warm/hot climate would shorten battery life. Possibly the alternator's regulator is defective.

I'd consider that were this my repair job.

Thanks guys!!!

I would check the connections to the ECM first. Make sure they are CLEAN. Also check the grounds really well. The 02 uses a signal line from the ECM to tell the alternator what voltage to provide. The regulator in the alternator itself doesn't control charging.

You should have one large red that connects to the battery through a fusible link. Then on the small harness you will find a red and a gray wire. The gray wire is the field signal to the alternator The red wire is the sense wire to the ECM. You should see the same voltage on the red wires and the gray wire will change voltages as the load and temperature changes.

One thing that you can do is alter the circuit so that you can use the internal regulator.

I would probably throw a scan tool on there and see if the ECM is seeing the same voltage that you see on the red wire. It could be that the ECM is failing.

Thanks Steve W.!

Good to know. I will try to check thoses wires and connector this or next weekend.