Battery keeps dying...

[legendary70]

Hello all.

I have a 2005 ford explorer 4.0.
lately it has been killing batteries. new battery lasts about a month. I dont know if its the alternator or a short somewhere. I drive the truck about 2 miles to and form work. not sure if that is far enough to keep batt charged. not sure what is going on. any ideas?

no work has been done recently. my rear camera has no connection. it says to check signal. IDK

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you check the voltage with a multimeter?

 

[Donystoy]

If you have never had any previous issues with only going two miles to work it won't be the cause now. Charging voltage with engine running should be in the 14.5 volt range. If that is fine you might have something causing a current draw. Had a similar issue a couple of years ago. Put an ammeter in series with the battery and found excessive current with engine off. Traced the issue to the trailer plug at the rear that had corroded. Installed a new one and all is fine now.

 

[mentaldemise]

I had a similar issue with the rear wiper not parking all the way. Would drain the battery flat in a few days of not driving it.

 

[TechGuru]

Have you had AutoZone run a check on your alternator/charging system?