Battery dead... Why??

[Vroom]

I went out to my car after not driving it for a few days and noticed that I didn't have power. When I opened the drivers door, I hear a fast clicking... like a time bomb. The thing is, this was without the keys in the ignition. When I closed the door it went away. The clicking was coming from the brake pedal/fuse box area.

I checked the voltage at the battery (in the trunk) and it was at 5 volts. I checked and there was no visible reason for the dead battery; no ext. or int. lights on, etc.

Any idea what might have happened? All I have to go on is the clicking; otherwise it seeems like a completely discharged battery. I've had dead batteries before, but never had this clicking when the door is open.

 

[DavidT]

well, our cars do strange things when the battery is dying...
time for a Odyssey or Optima upgrade

 

[wuzzzer]

Same symptoms here when my battery died.

 

[Vroom]

I just thought thought the loud clicking was weird without the keys in the ignition was weird.

I recently hooked up my amps again. But the remote turn-on was working fine. I honestly can't figure out why the battery drained. It's certainly sat for days at a time before and not had a problem.

Oh well.

 

[NKPlus]

Maybe you have a short or a bad battery? :corn: No?

 

[SHO#7]

The clicking was most likely a relay. When you opened the door, your dead battery tried to turn the lights on inside the car. That made the battery even weaker, causing a relay to try to open. You heard the relay , trying to work.

Mike

 

[Bonestock]

These are electric cars. There is always a current draw. Sounds like normal. At some time, batteries die. OEM batteries are junk and you do good to get past three years. On relocated trunk battery sytems, the alternator pushes voltage all the way to the trunk, a longer path of resistance. Maybe you need to go to a higher battery cable gauge and/or alternator cable gauge. On the clicking, many have said it, many have seen it: dead and dying batteries cause the car to freek.

 

[Vroom]

SHO #7-- That's what it sounded like. Good call.

Bonestock-- I actually did add heavier gauge cable going from the alternator positive to the battery cable (with a fuse on it). This is part of the "big 3" wire upgrades people do for car audio performance (less voltage drops, etc.).

This wasn't the OEM battery. It was a Duralast bought from Advance Auto Parts only a year or two ago. It was drained while I first installed my system over a few day span, so I brought it in and had it charged and tested and it was deemed just fine. No other incidents since then until now. It seemed pretty random for it to die now, as the car has gone days before without the battery draining too much.

I figure I'll pull the battery and bring it to Advance Auto within the coming weeks and get it charged, tested, and/or replaced under its warranty.

 

[Mr. SHO]

AFAIK, Duralast batteries are not maintenance-free. Check the level of the electrolyte. You probably have 3 dry cells.

 

[Vroom]

Nope, I've kept up with the water level.

 

[Mr. SHO]

Well what are the stats on the battery? Most batteries are marginal when it comes to handling the abuse of the SHO. Two years would be a pretty good run for the average battery.

 

[BodylessSHO]

AFAIK, Duralast batteries are not maintenance-free. Check the level of the electrolyte. You probably have 3 dry cells.

Actually they are completely sealed and maitenance free. And they come from Autozone, not Advanced. Duralast is Autozone's part company name. You have a Die Hard battery, if you were wondering.

 

[Vroom]

The stats are nothing special; just the model that Autozone or Advance sells for our cars.

 

[Vroom]

I called Autozone and they have the battery on record, purchased a little over a year ago. That's too soon for a battery to die in my book.

What exactly does it take for their test to prove the battery is bad? Like I said, I had it charged and tested a couple months ago and it showed no problems.

 

[Vroom]

The voltage today is 0.1 volts. The clicking is gone, which is understandable. Sturdevant's, the only local car parts store, isn't open on weekends. Autozone, where I bought the battery, is in my home town 40 miles away. I figure I'll get it charged and tested here at Sturdevant's and keep an eye on the voltage as the car sits over the week. I don't want to replace the battery and later find out that the problem was something else.

 

[SHOZ123]

It takes at least 8 hours to completely charge a car battery.

 

[Vroom]

Do you suppose they'll do it for free, then? When I had it charged at Advance a couple months ago, it was only down to 10 or so volts.

 

[RoadSHO]

Having the same issues with my 97. Battery holds a charge for 3-4 days them goes dead. Electronic test indicated a .25 amp draw on the battery. We couldn't find the source of the draw. The shop suggested disconnecting the CD player. Don't know how old the battery is. Any suggestions would be helpful before I buy a new battery.

 

[SHOZ123]

.25A is way too high. It should be ~.05A.

Connect an amp meter in series with the negative cable and battery. Then start pulling fuses to see which one drops the load down. Get a wire diagram of the ciruit that is drawing too many amps.

 

[shoguy98]

I was having a battery issue a little while back. I was using an Advanced Auto battery which wasn't even a year old. It kept getting discharged on me for no apparent reason. Had to hook it up to a charge on a few occasions to charge it and after a few days the battery would be low again. Took it to two different Advanced Auto's to have it tested and both places says their machine reported a good battery. Took the car to the dealer. Alternator was fine, the draw was within factory specs, the battery wasn't putting out enough cold cranking AMPs according to the dealer. They recommended a new battery. Went back to using the MotorCraft battery and all electrical issues experienced previously have now gone away. Not going to go with an Advanced Auto battery anymore. That last battery didn't make it to a year. My previous two Motorcraft batteries both lasted 2 and half to 3 years. I noticed Ford increased both the full warranty and pro-rated warranty on their batteris now so maybe this new battery will last longer.

Oh every time I had a dead battery, I got the clicking noise