shawnlexus

So my battery keeps draining on me. I used my "good" battery out of my ls400 that i drive everyday and it still drained that one. I know it is not a weak battery becasuse i never have problems with LS.

It will stay charged all day but nights it will totally die. When i go to jump it, it jumps right away which is weird it does not need a minute or two of charging to turn over the motor. The alternator cannot be bad because a jumping the car on a cold morning will run all day.

I am hoping someone has had a similar problem. Battery terminals have never been tight but that doesn't have too much to do with it.

good2go

iTrader: (6)

I fail to see why the alternator CAN'T be going bad

Isn't it possible that it's just gotten really weak and isn't able to generate any more than just enough to run the engine, but no accessories . . . like your headlights at night ??

SCVIP300

iTrader: (6)

Sounds like one of the plates is going bad in the battery.....

in combination with the cold weather it will not keep a charge for more than 2-3 hours....

Time to replace the battery....getting a new alternator will help, but not resolve your problem....

KrazeMatik

iTrader: (11)

if you want to know if your alternator is bad or not get the car started (jumped if needed) then remove the positive and neg terminals, and if the car runs then the alternator is good

verals05

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like the alternator might not be charging the battery. That would probably your answer if the battery is good.

good2go

iTrader: (6)

He's tried 2 batteries so far, one of which was a "known-good-working" battery. What makes you think it's both batteries?

Almost.

You really need to add a significant accessory load and run it at more than an idle to conclude that it's putting out enough amperage to run the car as well as charge the battery. And of course, you can always get any auto parts store to test your alternator for free if you pull it out.


agreed

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

Batteries cannot magically discharge, you have a gremlin.

put an ammeter on the battery and start pulling fuses until you see zero drain.

You can also be seeing an issue that I had with my alternator that is rare where the regulator is shorting out only at certain points of rotation and drains if it is shorting when shut off. You'll find the issue regardless of what it is, with a simply fuse test and the ammeter or dmm.

ShibbySC4

Can't you just go to a parts store like Advance and have them check to see if your alternator is good or bad?

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

It dies overnight he does not need to check his alt it dies while he is NOT driving it.

shawnlexus

i put a fully charged battery in the car from my ls400 "daily driver" and the battery was drained in the morning. The doors were closed no electronics running, just the clock on the dash. The battery was dead in the morning, i am thinking that i have a "gremlin" something pulling amps from battery constantly.

I am not saying the alternator is good but obviously it is not the problem of an draining battery when the car is not running.

shawnlexus

the car is dying over time while sitting in the garage, not running. has nothing to do with alternator.

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

Well never say never, it COULD, but only if the regulator is shorting to ground and that is a rare occurrence. It happened to me last year. When you connected the + battery post it would arc just like going dead to ground and kill the battery. It's very very rare though.

In any case nobody but YOU can find the short and the only way to do it is with a DMM or ammeter and pulling fuses so have fun.

shawnlexus

yep ill be out there tonight getting problem taken care of

SH_JZZ30

iTrader: (1)

I noticed your sig says you're lowered on 18s. Have you checked your fender harness?

shawnlexus

other sc, she is not lowered.