Battery dies in car

I have a serpentine belt, and it is not glazed. It grips like a tiger. Also, the belt tensioner is working correctly.

The problem has been fixed. It was a poor electrical connection at the alternator VR even though the plug was mechanically sound and inserted all the way. Wiggling the wires going into the plug revealed the fault.

My fans are electrically powered; there are two of them right behind the radiator.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman
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I have had a long running war with my Reatta, which is 'mostly', won, but I have the occasional lost battle with it.

That car is full of dark ages electronics and modules. Occasionally, it just doesn't seem to shut down all systems, and the battery may go flat. Just about when I start trusting it, and it may be months between occasions, it goes off on a drunk.

Looking through JC Whitney this morning, I noticed a couple of master disconnect switches which could be helpful. But they are not cheap, about $25. If I installed one of those, then when I chose to trust parking the car at the airport for a week, I could disconnect the battery from the total system. And, it would make an ideal place to insert an ammeter for the occasional bit of trouble shooting. In this way, the ammeter could be shunted into place before opening the disconnect switch, and all systems would remain in their existing state.

I may work on this a little. I love the Reatta, but she is like being married to an unfaithful woman...she may reform, and she may recur.

Reply to
<HLS

Take it one step further. I would like to not only have an ammeter but also a digital voltmeter, giving me readings -all- the time. In real time. What I get instead is an IDIOT LIGHT on the dashboard, which tells me that the alternator took a dump. But it won't come on for intermittents. It comes on only when the thing is outputting zero current. If it is outputting less than what should be coming from it, then no idiot light.

this is unsatisfactory imo. OTOH, if I screw with the vehicle in any way, I've voided my warranty. Which places me between a rock and a hard place as far as *mods* are concerned.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

I like GLicks answer on the ammeter. Just like an unfaithful woman, one day you'll catch it :) . 25 for a switch isnt expensive for one of that rating. Marine stores carry them too. I have one on my boat for two batteries , batt one on, batt two, on, both on, both off. You might have a sticky relay or defintely something thats not shutting off when it should. Were the weather conditions the same during all these failures? Ya gotta figure the battery is a power supply device and the only way you'll actually fix it is to monitor what its doing and hopefull wont have a fire in the process waiting.

Reply to
ed

That ammeter will need to be a digital one with good sensitivity at the lower end. A typical 60-amp analog ammeter isn't going to register the 1 amp or less that drains a battery over time.

Dan

Reply to
Dan_Thomas_nospam

my parasitic drain after the GEM module turns off is 11 milliamperes.

I suppose that I could disconnect the battery for long term storage, but the car gets used too much for that.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

"Lawrence Glickman"

11 ma is not much drain, but as you say upon long storage it could flatten a battery. I bought a couple of battery disconnect switches for my cars, so that if I have to leave them at the airport for a month, I cut all the drain off. Also, there is the chance that some crappo electrical component comes alive at times and drains the battery.

I had this happen on an 89 Buick Regal and it almost drove me nuts. I finally found that the seat belt retractor relay would sometimes come on at night, maybe when it was very cold, and the battery would be flat the next morning. When I disconnected the battery during the night, of course, no problem. Finally I caught the car in one of its infidelities, and quickly found the relay problem.

Reply to
hls

I thought about a knife-switch disconnect for the B+, but because there is Zero Room between my battery and the engine hood, I would have to splice in an *ordinary* knife switch somewhere in that red cable. That means I would have to build an insulated enclosure in the engine compartment, put the knife switch in there...too much trouble, and one more connector I have to worry about.

Of course, in your situation where the vehicle is parked "at the airport for a month," no question I would take the wires off the battery terminals. Both of them to be on the safe side. I think if I left my battery in the vehicle for a month, the thing would be dead when I went to start the car.

Even in the Dealer Showroom, for this exact vehicle I bought off the showroom floor, when I looked under the hood they had one of the cables disconnected.

Unless you live in Sunshine Country where it doesn't snow and you have a lot of daylight, then you can use a solar panel. But I rather park inside a garage rather than on the roof, and I keep my car in a garage, so a lot of good that would do me.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

The problem with disconnecting the battery on newer cars: the ECU loses its internal memory and the engine runs like a toilet for a while after starting again while it figures out all the stuff it forgot, unless we have non-volatile memories in these things now? I don't know. My old Ford F150 sure didn't like being disconnected. And any security system won't work, either.

That might be a fire-regulation safety thing, or just to keep the dome/hood/trunk lights from killing the battery, since they might be left open a lot.

Dan

Reply to
Dan_Thomas_nospam

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My 2003 Ford sedan rides fine after the battery has been disconnected. I've had it disconnected a number of times already. It does not run like its in the toilet. I don't know if the memory is non-volatile or not, but suspect it -is- volatile. Anyhow, all that's going on is the PCM is learning the right fuel/air mixes and possibly shifting points for the tranny.

Let me put it this way. I've got 2 identical vehicles ( same as mine ). One has had a battery disconnected The other has had the battery continuously in circuit.

You wouldn't be able to tell which was which.

Security system didn't work? You're not driving anywhere without a battery. As soon as you reconnect the battery, the security system is activated.

possibly. Makes me wonder about all the cars on the Dealership's lot. They have hundreds of cars out there on the lot. Imagine having to worry about their batteries dying until a buyer comes along. I'm sure they have at least one wire disconnected.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

Reply to
ROY BRAGG

What a PITA that must be. You've maybe got hundreds of vehicles sitting on a lot, rusting away, batteries draining down, waiting for a customer to rescue the vehicle before it goes to $hit.

If you just wait for the batteries to run down on their own, you chance sulfiding of the plates, and then you're talking money. The customer's money of course. The customer ends up paying for _everything_, including the Salemsan's daughter's piano lessons.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

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