Battery keeps dying

billytheman1188 · 08-26-2012, 04:57 PM

Well....it started last night. I was at my moms, come out later to leave and it's dead. No lights were left on....doors were shut all the way. So i jumped it, drove it for about 45min to an hour. Get home late last night. Go out 20 min ago to try and start it...DEAD....no lights come on...nothing. Last night it was almost dead but the lights still came on a little. I plan on getting an optima yellow top but idk how old this battery is. It's a diehard gold.....and the car started fine the last 2 weeks....idk. Short somewhere? Haven't started pulling the car apart yet....was prob gonna do it tuesday or wed....but i'm jw what you guys are thinking before i check with my buddy.

Papa Rad17 · 08-26-2012, 05:05 PM

alternator

sleepyalero · 08-26-2012, 05:15 PM

yeah, sounds like the alternator is not doing its job... take it to autozone, they do free testing to see if its good or not, if it is good, try replacing the battery, then go from there.

billytheman1188 · 08-26-2012, 05:22 PM

How could the alternator have anything to do with the batt dying? You think it's drawing a charge from the battery causing it to die? I have a H/O alt on the 3500 so i wont be using this one but i'm jw what's causing it to die.

zearchyo · 08-26-2012, 05:28 PM

u can test the alternator by ur self, its pretty simple man. First start the car, once its running disconnect battery cables from the battery, if car dies u gots bad alternator, if engine keeps on running its something else bro. Tree shade mechanics to this little trick all the time to troubleshoot faulty alternators.

zearchyo · 08-26-2012, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billytheman1188

How could the alternator have anything to do with the batt dying?

Because by the alternator being faulty the car is running solely on the battery. The Battery is only there to kick start the car, once the car is running the alternator takes care of keeping it running. I’m not a genius or anything. If I’m wrong please someone correct me, just trying to help.

sleepyalero · 08-26-2012, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billytheman1188

How could the alternator have anything to do with the batt dying? You think it's drawing a charge from the battery causing it to die? I have a H/O alt on the 3500 so i wont be using this one but i'm jw what's causing it to die.

alternator is there to charge the battery, bad alt means no charge to battery.

zearchyo · 08-26-2012, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepyalero

alternator is there to charge the battery, bad alt means no charge to battery.

well either way, if he disconnects the battery while the car is running, he'll then see if the alternator is faulty or not.

Can someone else agree to what sleepyalero said? If ur right ill admit I was wrong, but by alternator being faulty it’s draining the battery dead bc the car is not being supported by the faulty alternator. And if I’m right, can we make this a how to troubleshoot a faulty alternator sticky then

billytheman1188 · 08-26-2012, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zearchyo

u can test the alternator by ur self, its pretty simple man. First start the car, once its running disconnect battery cables from the battery, if car dies u gots bad alternator, if engine keeps on running its something else bro. Tree shade mechanics to this little trick all the time to troubleshoot faulty alternators.

Thanks man. I'm gonna go try that in a couple min. Watching some pre season football

Manning is killin it!

sleepyalero · 08-26-2012, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zearchyo

well either way, if he disconnects the battery while car is running he'll see if the alternator is faulty or not.

Can someone else agree to what sleepyalero said? If ur right ill admit I was wrong, but by alternator being faulty it’s draining the battery dead bc the car is not being supported by the faulty alternator. And if I’m right can we make this a how to troubleshoot a faulty alternator sticky then

i think we are technically both right.

zearchyo · 08-26-2012, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepyalero

i think we are technically both right.

sounds good sleepyalero

03Sleepr · 08-26-2012, 06:22 PM

have your battery tested while you're there..sounds like it may not be holding a charge.

a.graham52 · 08-26-2012, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zearchyo

u can test the alternator by ur self, its pretty simple man. First start the car, once its running disconnect battery cables from the battery, if car dies u gots bad alternator, if engine keeps on running its something else bro. Tree shade mechanics to this little trick all the time to troubleshoot faulty alternators.

Do not do this! It's a spectacular way to kill computers! The battery is a big sponge and it absorbs spikes of power. The fact that u drove it an hour off of a simple boost teller me u have battery trouble! Go to a parts store and get the battery/charging system tested.

billytheman1188 · 08-26-2012, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a.graham52

Do not do this! It's a spectacular way to kill computers! The battery is a big sponge and it absorbs spikes of power. The fact that u drove it an hour off of a simple boost teller me u have battery trouble! Go to a parts store and get the battery/charging system tested.

Yea....well i unplugged the batt earlier with it started and it didnt turn off. Either there is a draw somewhere or its a bad battery. Didn't think the alternator was the problem .

zearchyo · 08-26-2012, 11:19 PM

yeah probaly battery is bad,

tnalero99 · 08-26-2012, 11:22 PM

I would have to say it sounds more like a short somewhere to me. I have had 2 alternators die on me, first would start throwing dummy lights on as everything dimmed, second one just lights would dim or surge with the motor. Both times the alternator was still putting out some current but not enough to keep up with charging battery. My experience is the car will run about 5-7 minutes on just battery so any longer would tell me alternator is good. Had something like this happen with another car and it was a power wire to the radio was cut and touching a metal brace in the dash causing a daw with the car off. I would look for any bare wires touching on metal, start with areas you may have worked around recently in last 2 weeks as you may have rubbed some coating off a wire or something loose.

a.graham52 · 08-26-2012, 11:36 PM

I still say have the battery tested first. It's the easiest and least evasive test. My experience is last week we had a '10 malibu come in with 36k miles. Boosted to get it to us, boosted to the get into the shop. Shut it off and tried to start it. Started nicely. Shut it off and tried to start it again, no love. Battery voltage was 12.2V. Tested battery with our GR8 battery tester and we had a bad battery.

BLK03GXS · 08-27-2012, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billytheman1188

How could the alternator have anything to do with the batt dying? You think it's drawing a charge from the battery causing it to die? I have a H/O alt on the 3500 so i wont be using this one but i'm jw what's causing it to die.

So do you allso believe that the chicken is independent of the egg?

read this http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine6.htm

or this http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-...r-problems.htm

Having a little basic knowledge will get a lot farther on the side of the road then posting via iphone.

And then go to your local auto whatever and have them, charge and load test your battery, and then test the charging system.

With the above statement it is advised that you follow them as listed.. because if your alternator is for example.. making sufficient current to run your car while you disconnect the battery for a short time..
but not enuff to recharge the battery and run your blower fan, and lights and whatever... so just because you were able to drive for 45 min and not be stranded dosent mean that your alt is 100percent.

Like the chicken that precedes the egg.. or whatever way it happened your battery should be mostly charged before testing the capacity of it. if you boost your car and drive it to part-changer store deluxe when they test your battery without charging it, it will fail. When your charge a battery, with any kind of descent battery charger you can see how much of a draw reference the current you make available to the battery to consume... this lets you know if it is even able to accept current... using your jumper cables is like holding a funnel over a container and then just dumping a bucket of water over the funnel and all... yes some of the water went into your container but not in the way it was intended..
if you had poured it slowly you can fill it to its capacity.

in this way your battery may have absorbed enuff current to run your car on the way home.. but not filled itself to its Capacity.. and because of this when you went to try and start your car after it wasn't sufficient.

Once your battery has been charged for some time (unless it will not accept a charge which means its garbage usually) then you can Load test it to see if it has retained what it is rated to.

Now if you have never load tested a battery or charging system, you probably don't own a load tester, or battery charger. Take it to a shop, or a friend that knows that they ar doing... take the battery out of your car and trickle charge it overnight if possible.

while you have your battery out do yourself a favour and check it for cracks, swelling of the case and if there is a "eye" check to see if there is a colour when you look into it before and after you charge if possible.. sometimes battery will have a dark eye when they are simply discharged.

Check on your battery tray, for signs of leakage of your battery fluid, will look like a stain or maybe calcifyied stains. You may see this on the battery too...
Then inspect your cables, and connectons for corosion.

I cant count on my fingers (or toes) how manny times a freind or co-worker has had starting/batt issues that were because a cable was loose, corroded or damaged.. allso check the condition of the connection from your alt to your battery where it is visible and esp the connections.

doing these things can save your a lot of trouble( but esp money), where taking it to a shop who will charge your for parts and labor for bad parts or whatever when it could be a loose cable or corrosion.

Dc systems work as a closed loop, the power has to get back to the battery from the alt to charge it just as it has to flow from the battery to your computer or starter or whatever... if your connections are loose or corroded or dirty, your alternator may be making full output and only 20 percent or less may be going to the battery.. in this way you can see how it may take a few weeks/months to end up with a dead battery, and changing either part will not cure the problem.

BLK03GXS · 08-27-2012, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a.graham52

I still say have the battery tested first. It's the easiest and least evasive test. My experience is last week we had a '10 malibu come in with 36k miles. Boosted to get it to us, boosted to the get into the shop. Shut it off and tried to start it. Started nicely. Shut it off and tried to start it again, no love. Battery voltage was 12.2V. Tested battery with our GR8 battery tester and we had a bad battery.

So what your saying "master tech" is you load tested the battery?

a battery that was dead? hmmm

a.graham52 · 08-27-2012, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLK03GXS

So what your saying "master tech" is you load tested the battery?

a battery that was dead? hmmm

The GR8 battery tester is a GM required tool. It charges the battery before testing it. And in that particular case it actualy failed the battery before the charge was complete. U don't question the General, or his magic.