battery problem

jimisouljah

jimisouljah

Active Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Location
Kannapolis
Vehicle: 88 4runner

Problem: If it sits for more than a couple of days the battery dies and has to be jumped off. The battery is a red top Optima and is only a year old. The clock on the dash is on all the time. Is this common or should it turn off when the truck isn't running. Wondering if this is the cause of the battery dying after a couple of days of sitting.
 
After having it fully charged, pull the cables and then re-hook it several days later. If it still has charge you have too much drain. I doubt the clock would do it. If it won't crank, I'd say it's the battery. Not uncommon for red tops, but, sounds like it looses charge way too quick. If you said a month, I would believe it as red tops do that.
Also, when you charge it, keep in mind those gel cell batteries do not like a fast charge, a slow 2 -6 amp charge over a day or so is best to charge them.
Hope this helps
 
Take the ground off your battery, and hook a test light between it and the negative terminal of your battery. It will light.

Start pulling fuses under the hood until the light goes out. Put them back in one at a time and that will tell you which circuits are pulling a load from your battery.

From there it's just a matter of tracing out what those circuits are, and what in them is causing your battery drain.
 
Check the amperage between the positive post of the battery and the positive batt cable with everything off including the hood light to see if you've got a power leak somewhere.

My money is on the fact that it's a redtop optima though. This is what they do.
 
Some Random Website said:
1. If you don't already have one, get a digital meter capable of reading up to 10 amps DC. Sears sells them for less than $50 - I bought one on sale for $14.99 that I leave in my truck.

aflashoffroad.com_electrical_Batteries_image_DSC_5818.jpg


2. Your battery must have a reasonable charge for this test - it won't work if your battery is dead. Quick proof - if your dome light operates normally, you're fine. My truck wouldn't start and the batteries were down to 5.5 volts so I put a charger on the batteries overnight. They are now 12.2 V. When I started the truck the voltage went to 14.3 V so the alternator is working.

3. Check to make sure ALL loads are turned off. Unplug anything you may have plugged into the cigarette lighter. Remove your keys from the ignition. Close all doors so the dome lights are off.

4. Disconnect the thick positive (Red) cable that goes down to the starter.

5. To start make sure your meter is set to the 10 amp DC range. Some meters have a special connector for the red probe when you are reading current. The meter pictured on the left has one jack for high amps and one for low amps. If yours does, make sure the meter end of the probe is in the right connector. You can either do this next step by just holding the meter probes to their respective contact points (you won't get a shock from 12 volts) or you can use probes with alligator clips to snap them in place so your hands are free to do something else.

6. Connect the positive probe to the battery - either battery is fine, electrically speaking, since they are connected together by the negative (Black) wires. Polarity on digital meters doesn't matter because they are autosensing.

aflashoffroad.com_electrical_Batteries_image_DSC_5815.jpg


7. Connect the negative probe to the red cable that is still connected to the vehicle. Make sure this cable and your probe do not touch ground.

8. If there is a severe current draw (more than 10 amps) it will either pop a fuse in your meter or destroy it outright. That's why you need to test for a short, otherwise, your meter should now be reading the current drain on your battery.

9. If your vehicle has an alarm system or remote locks, the current draw may be around 2-3 amps for a few minutes after you last close the door. This is normal. If you're not sure, wait at least 20 minutes after you last open or close a door before you take a reading.

10. If everything is normal, you will read less than 35 milliamps, or .035 amps. If the current drain is higher than that, you need to find out what is draining your batteries: You can start by pulling fuses until the load goes away. If that doesn't reduce the draw, you need to look for a wire that is corroded or frayed.
Click to expand...

Same Website said:
It took awhile to figure it all out over several YEARS. I kept replacing batteries, with the problem much worse in the winter than summer, when it was rainy than dry.

I had several shorts in my truck.

the winch
the light system to all gauges
a hot wire to an amplifier

When you do a parasitic draw test in a dual battery system and you have an electric winch, you should rewire the truck temporarily as two separate circuits, one to the winch and one to the truck. Each should be checked independently from the other.

If you are drawing too much current in the truck, my first steps would be to check engine compartment components. Disconnect the hot wire to the alternator to rule out diode backdraw in the alternator itself. Then, disconnect the main engine cable connection to the electrical block.

Disconnect all add-on components wired directly to the battery or positive main engine block terminals. Look for elimination of the excessive amperage draw, one item at a time. Disconnect the starter motor, check the draw.

Once the engine compartment is ruled out, I would go to the fuse box under the dashboard and disconnect all add-on components wired to the fuse box or extra hot leads (one always hot, one ignition controlled hot) that AMG supplies for add-ons. Do this one at a time, looking for correction of your excessive current draw.

Finally, I would pull all fuses one at a time.

In my case I had corrosion on the winch hand controller connection that allowed for a constant low current flow. Even the wires to the winch were blackened inside their insulation. The winch itself never activated spontaneously. I moved that connection far away from the winch and away from salt spray from the road.

I had a short in the shifter that ultimately caused a short to ground and blew fuses when I turned on the lights which activates the panel lights. I replaced the shifter (obviously, more to this story).

I had a large aftermarket hot wire to the amplifier (connected to the battery with a fuse) that rubbed the insulator coat off and grounded to the body when it was wet or metal of the body contracted in the cold and completed the circuit.
Click to expand...



Pretty Much what Braxton said.
Happy Hunting!
 
the altanater isn't putting out like it should be. It is only a year old but is full off mud and grease. Do you think a good cleaning would do the trick?
 
ok....so the altanator was bad
good news...covered under warranty...new one installed
battery was bad as well...and also covered under warranty!:beer:

we're back in business!!

thanks for the help. We'll see how she holds up
 
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