My car is killing battery

[bast1981]

Hi,

Since i got my Pontiac. I've put 2 new batteries in it. Both times the car killed the battery. The battery would drain and after a certain amount of time the battery would no longer hold a charge. The battery would be toast. I dont drive my car everyday. Someties i can go a week without driving it. I think there may be a drain somewhere. The alternator is fine i checked it.

Anybody had a similar problem ? One thing i noticed is when it's really cold outside. I lose my  healights when making a turn.

[Professur]

Rust. Makes for bad grounds. But if you're using Canadian Tire batteries, I'd suspect that first. Worst batteries I've ever seen.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Professur

[bast1981]

That's an idea. I'm going to check on the grouds. I wonder if one day i will be able to find a Pontiac who is not rusty, Here in Quebec,Canada it's really rare with the salt they put on the road during winter.

[Last Indian]

First off if the battery is toast! As in fried and won’t hold a charge than that can only happen one of two ways. The most likely is over charging, you say you checked it? With what and how? The other is a short and that’s not to likely without blowing fuses somewhere. Secondly if it's fried it's not drained! A drained battery that is depleted of power will charge up. A depleted battery that’s been cooked won’t because the plates have been destroyed or there isn't enough water left. This can also occur with a junk battery like Professur said.

[Frosty]

While this is a rare thing, it happen to me with my S10 Blazer years ago. I would put my key in the ignition and nothing would happen. I would check the battery, it seemed okay but I would have to charge it from time to time. I had the ignition switched checked, it was okay. Turned out to be the starter that was bad and it in turn ruined the alternator. Now this occurred with a 4.3L V6 engine. However, this sounds similar. So I had ro replace both the starter and alternator. So I would have both items checked if possoble.

Take your battery to your local auto parts store and have them run a load test on it. That will see if the battery is truly fried. As Last Indian states, its from over charging or ruined plates internally. A depleted battery can be recharged.

Putting the car on a trickle charger like Battery Tender is a good idea if the car is going to sit for awhile. This will keep the battery fully charged. A Battery Tender JR runs about $35-40 USD.

 

[bast1981]

I have a battery tender installed on my car. I unplugged the car during the summer months. That's went the battery completly drained. The little green hole were you can see the acid was completly dried out. We then boosted the car to make it start. It would start and work fine for a while. The battery woud drain again and we would have to boost the car again. In my head was that a car did not need to be plugged during the summer.

It's my second battery i went throught like this. I did had some issues with the security system. For exemple the security light coming on while driving. Once the car did not want to start. I had to reset the security system. My car is really quiet aside from the strap after the alternator is noisy.

I made a short video of my car running and posted it on youtube for you guys. Excuse the beginning i was checking my paint.

https://youtu.be/lwQmNbWXJNM

[Last Indian]

Ok, first cars that use computers (pcm, bcm, etc.) only last about 28 days on a fully charged battery. So no, summer or winter makes no difference other than depending on where you have it in the winter could result in less time. Also if you try to start a pcm car that is charged below 11.7 volts you run the risk of damaging the pcm or bcm. The security system malfunction won’t affect the battery as far as being fried. What you described leads me to believe the internal regulator is bad. If you haven’t checked the alternator on a machine that makes all those measurement you can’t know the alternators true condition. The fact that you tell me it's noisy is often an indicator of a defective regulator. Whether it's under or over charging, both have their problems. Likewise battery charges/tenders can create problems.

[TWO LANE BLACK TOP]

Sounds like one of the 3  diodes in alternator is bad.With the key off One way to check is to take the ground wire off the battery. Put just a regular test light one end on negative terminal on batt put other end to cable itself. If lights up real bright you definitely have a power draw. If lights up to where it is hard to see really dim.Normal radio clock memory ETC.  If really  bright or see at all unplug the PLASTIC plug from top or depending how it is clocked or from side of the alternator Not the heavy guage red wire If the test light goes out or really dim Shows bad  diode If one of the diodes or the rectifier bridge is bad power feeds back thru system will kill battery every time .IF test light stays ON the problem is elsewhere unfortunately late model alternators are designed not to be rebuilt...also be sure to check all grounds One other thing bad regulator generally causes battery to boil over from over charging.... IF all that check OK look around main fuse block wire harness under the hood and under dash make sure no wires have rubbed together and wore thru insulation and are touching each other also around radio harness especially if have aftermarket radio Also with car running check output of the alternator with multimeter red lead to at heavy guage red wire on back of alternator ground black lead right to the case of alternator should put out somewhere between 13.7 to 14,5 volts any less than that will not keep batt suficitantly charged if OK .There check at batt if a lot of voltage drop  shows major resistance in cables if that is case clean terminals real good.Diodes can be bad and still charge like it is supposed too one other thing make sure glovebox or consol lights are turning off when closed Hope this helps good luck

Edited March 8, 2017 by TWO LANE BLACK TOP