dead battery, why?

[nnero]

My battery for my 2005 FordExplorer battery keeps going dead on me. I just bought a new battery and the same result. I had the alternator checked as well as the starter and all works well. I believe something is draining the battery but not sure to check. Called a mechanic and they charge $60 an hour. I don't have the funds currently to take care of the potential Cost so was thinking about disconnecting the battery every night. Was hoping to get some good advice about my problem.

 

[drdoom]

Check the door ajar switch, that is often the cause.

 

[Exproblems]

My battery for my 2005 FordExplorer battery keeps going dead on me. I just bought a new battery and the same result. I had the alternator checked as well as the starter and all works well. I believe something is draining the battery but not sure to check. Called a mechanic and they charge $60 an hour. I don't have the funds currently to take care of the potential Cost so was thinking about disconnecting the battery every night. Was hoping to get some good advice about my problem.

Due to the "door ajar" problem DRDoom mentioned, do the dome lights come on and then drain the battery when the vehicle sits for a while un-used? If so, use the "thumb-roll, dash light dimer switch" on the dash and roll the switch downward to the "off" position when not using the vehicle. The switch turns off your dome lights from coming on when you open a door (as a door ajar would do) and it also dims your dashboard lights to it's lowest brightness. The dome lights will also stay off when the doors are closed and the vehicle is running when the switch is turned to the "off" position. Do this until you can find out which door ajar sensor is the problem. In nighttime driving, you will lose the brightness of your dashboard lights with this switch turned off. In the meantime, get some WD-40 and spray the hell out of the lock/latch mechanisms on all of the doors, including the tailgate. This has been known to help with door ajar issues. Spray them down good a few times a year.

 

[Reprise]

When I had this problem, that's what I did when shutting the vehicle down - turn the interior lighting to 'off' with the wheel switch.

When I was driving, I did notice that after about 10min of driving (enough time for the interior light timer to expire), I could turn the switch back 'on', and regain the dash lights. Sucks if you're short-tripping, because you have to wait for that 10 min or so every time after starting.

If it is the 'door ajar' issue, fixing it took care of a lot of problems with my X, so much so that I rethought my opinion of the vehicle after replacing the driver's door switch (that was what worked for me; it's definitely easier to do the WD-40 trick if it's effective in your vehicle)

 

[zeizeies]

I used to have similar problem.
I took off two "main" fuses every night, almost two years... If not, wasn`t any sure if it`ll start next morning. New altenator, new battery etc., no help, two days was too much for it.
I finally tired totally few months ago, and checked battery leak once again; it was still over 0.5A instead of typical 0.02A reading. Then I started to drop fuse one by one and checkind the amp readings; etc etc.
Cutting the long story short: quilty was the original 6CD player. As a temporary fix I cutted power supply wire and put on-off switch. Drain dropped to 0.02A. No problems after that.