Thread: car consuming batteries

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Is it draining the battery or overcharging it!!! Check the output at the alternator, and see if you have a short somewhere that is draining the battery.... Most parts stores have an inductive amp gauge that they can check the amperage output of the alternator. A simple check to see if you have something draing the battery is to have the key off, then remove the negative cable, when you get the negative cable almost to the negative battery post, is there a spark? If there is, you have something draining the battery.

sounds like a draw to me also, thats what i'd check first. i like to add to what dave said is if its a computer car that won't work because the computer is a Constant draw on the bat., not enough to kill the bat. but enough to see a spark. the computer cant be over .002 amp draw or it will kill the bat.

I'll take it to a store to test, but one other thing may be my starter. I now have to tap my starter with a hammer or something hard to get it to crank. I don't know if those starter problems can drain or it is simply a falty starter.

Originally Posted by lt1s10

sounds like a draw to me also, thats what i'd check first. i like to add to what dave said is if its a computer car that won't work because the computer is a Constant draw on the bat., not enough to kill the bat. but enough to see a spark. the computer cant be over .002 amp draw or it will kill the bat.

Geez, showing my age again, nuttin I own is even new enough to have a computer!!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Geez, showing my age again, nuttin I own is even new enough to have a computer!!!!

I'm older than you dave and I have a computer. age dont have anything to do with it. you just love to file points I guess.

[QUOTE=lt1s10]I'm older than you dave and I have a computer. age dont have anything to do with it. you just love to file points I guess. [/QUOTE

I'm kind of fond of the 2 wire "plug and play" HEI's on the market now.....but I do have to admit there are some dual point dizzies around here....

well this certainly does not have a computer, the engine is a 71', body a 50.
thanks for the responses, hopefully I'll find something out this weekend and get more than
a month out of a battery.

[quote=Dave Severson]

Originally Posted by lt1s10

I'm older than you dave and I have a computer. age dont have anything to do with it. you just love to file points I guess. [/QUOTE

I'm kind of fond of the 2 wire "plug and play" HEI's on the market now.....but I do have to admit there are some dual point dizzies around here....

sense you're into the Hei now, what do you do with the your extra time you save not having to keep those dual points shined up? that should amount to a few hrs. a week.

one thing I probably should have mentioned about the symptoms is that the battery still cranks the engine over fine. You wouldn't know that the battery has a problem except for the fact that it just won't fire, for some reason spark isn't being delivered properly. When this starts happening (cranking fine but not starting) I take it in to the store and they test it and it says the battery is no good.

If it cranks over there's nothing wrong with the battery. You've got an electrical supply problem somewhere.

Now you've injected a whole new dimension to this problem. If your battery is bad it won't crank the engine over "just fine." A battery either has juice or it doesn't.

I think what is happening is that you took your battery back and some unknowledgeable clerk THINKS the battery was bad. How did they determine that? Did they load test it?

There is something totally different going on here than you originally explained. We thought you were saying the batteries wouldn't hold a charge after a month.
You have got to be more specific when asking these questions if you want to get a reasonably accurate answer. It is hard enough coming up with solutions via a computer anyway, because we are trying to diagnose it without the benefit of seeing the vehicle.

Don

I'm older than you dave and I have a computer. age dont have anything to do with it. you just love to file points I guess.

My 57 has no points and no stinkin' computer either. Hate points. Always did, always will.

Don't like computers either, but they are getting more common, except my ones at home. They got fried last week by lightening.