Dead Battery - Electrical Problem - Help me Diagnose!

[pmassche]

Problem: Dead Car - Will not start

Three Weeks Ago - car started fine in the morning, drove 1 hour - stopped for breakfast - Half hour later - CAR WON'T START

Problem goes away for 2 weeks

Last Week - Dead battery - Engine does not turn over - Took it to mechanic to diagnose

Battery, Alternator, starter, ALL FINE

Found 2 mili-amp constant draw on the battery from FUSE 25 when car is off. Removed fuse 25 (7.5 v) from the fuse panel - Car drives fine for 3 more days (FYI - FUSE 25 powers the power windows, dome light, wiper blades, and some engine electrical system)

Yesterday - With Fuse 25 removed, car still does not turn over - DEAD battery again

After a boost, the problem came back today. Drove it to a different City. Started and stopped the car five or six times. Came home. Let the car sit for 6 hours - BATTERY DEAD again!

It seems if the car sits overnight, it is drained by the morning.

Any suggestions?

I will have to take it back to the Ford dealer tomorrow, but I would like some suggestions before I take it in.

 

[Maniak]

That small of a drain is normal.. and should be fine..

I had to chase an electircal problem on our '92 a while ago..

it would intermittantly not start.. I found that when it wouldn't start the battery voltage was about 6 volts give or take a few...

I change the cables and still had the issue....

I then got one of those battery disconnect things and put it on the battery..

Then, every time I parked the truck I would disconnect the battery (by turning the knob on the disconnect thing) and found that the battery voltage was still dropping..

I replaced the battery and now all is fine...

the hardest part was getting the other place to take the battery back.. What I had to finally do was bring the battery in to them when it was dead.. bought a new one.. had them charge it and let it sit a few days.. I came back 1 week later and it had no power so they gave me credit towards the battery I just got.

~Mark
Edit:
I almost forgot.. While I was trying to find the problem I picked up one of those self jump starters.. It cost me $49.99 and it is a battery in a box with jumper cables.. That way when it didn't start I could start the truck in about 30 seconds anyway...

 

[Alec]

Yup, might just be that the battery can't hold the charge. Like Maniak said, a small draw is normal when the truck is off. Though you might have a shorted ground somewhere.

Have you done any wiring on the truck yourself?

 

[Opera House]

A good battery is about

60 amp hours, so any drain has to be significant. An Explorer will start with about 7 amp hours left (I've done it). If you have a charger at home, I would first put it on to get it fully charged. Then I would put the headlights on for 2 hours. This would use up about 25 amp hours. If your battery is dead after this period, don't blame the car. A quick auto store test will not give a good total capacity test. I've had relatively new batterys fail this way.

 

[MrShorty]

Sounds an awful lot like the problem I had over the end of the summer (Dead Link Removed ). turned out to be a bad battery.

 

[VOATMJ1]

I agree with all of the other posts, get a new battery! Trust us when we tell you this. I have had the same problems in the past, I had mechanics test the battery and all tests were good, but sitting for 8 hours or more would = a dead battery.

I changed the battery with a new one, all ALL problems went away. A battery CAN test good and still be bad.

Spend your money on a battery, vs. the Ford dealer. you'll come out ahead on that deal. All the best!

 

[pmassche]

Well Guys,

Four of you in a row told me to get a new battery.

Well, if the FORD dealer wants $80 an hour for service, less then one hour labour will buy me a new battery.

So I decided to go to the auto wrecker instead of the dealer.

They tested the battery (quick 5 second test), and once again the battery seemed fine. But this time I did not believe them.

So bought and installed a slightly used battery for only $50.

So far so good, the car seems to starts fine!