Battery draining gremlins

[Boostzor]

So i bought a new battery 2 weeks back and ran the car a week after it was installed for about 40mins. 7 days later it is dead flat.

The only thing i can see that is running is the immobiliser led which i figure could run off the battery for a million years and never run it down.

The terminals are getting calcified (bluey white crap) build up on them. Charged the battery enough to start it 2 days ago for 10-15mins and 24hrs later it was dead flat again. I figure i have a drain somewhere but i cant figure out where it would be, id take it to a sparky but i cant get it started to get it there plus i dont get my license back till 12 days from now.

Thoughts, recommendations, ideas??? :confused:

[Remix-]

I'd be getting the alternator checked out.

[strutto]

Certain alarms have been known to cause this problem... One in particular actually... It's name starts with D...

[blind_elk]

Check for stupid things like the light in the boot not turning off.

Check the regulator in the alternator. If it is over-charging the battery, the battery will die. Check with a multimeter that the battery voltage doesn't exceed about 14V when the engine is running at some revs, ie not at idle, say 2500 rpm. Although even then, I wouldn't expect a brand spanking battery to be killed off that quickly. So could also be a crook battery.

[Boostzor]

Oh yeh forgot to mention that.

Had the starter motor rebuilt about 3000k ago and he checked out the alternator and said it was putting out enuff current. Dont know if it can drain power or not?? can it? remember its just sitting there im not running it.

This is a 1987 nissan auster and the alternator was close to new when i got it about 20000kms ago.

EDIT: the previous batterry suffered the same fate, was still like 1 year old. Thought it might be crook but i guess not if the same thing is happening with a new 1

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

to check alternator, start up car, and then remove negative battery terminal, if car stalls/stops then you're alternator is screwed

if the battery was low on charge when you bought it, and you haven't driven it for longer than 10 minutes at a time, then it's never gonna get a chance to charge up, and every time you start it, it'll loose charge.

Also, the battery will slowly loose charge over time, a lot of imports that you buy from japan need a jump starter pack to start them when they arrive, coz they've been sitting at docks / on a boat for weeks.

[Boostzor]

I dont think there are any lights in the boot but thats like the light in the fridge enigma, "does it really turn off when u close the door" Im pretty sure it does.

The thing im thinking is that the leads are pretty old and they have been taken on and off any amount of times. Some of the lead is a bit frayed an im wondering if this could cause a .....ahhh "arc" or short curciut or something that is using power.?

[T88 ON BOARD]

I have been suffering from a battery problem for a long time with our gtr r33....If your alarm has its own back up battery it will constantly drain your main battery.....

If the alarm system's battery is down then it will drain and drain your main one until it is full (Most times it just drains it out but never charges itself )

Your best option if there is no mechanical/electrical problem is you just simply have to start your car every two days...and after every use either connect up a tric charger or disconnect the battery....

Hope it helps although this info could not be your problem

[Gizmo73]

Yep - ive got the same issue as Tony has stated..

If my car lies idle for >2 days, the battery goes dead.

For me, its my car alarm (this one starts with a B !) and the bloody backup battery - so if i plan on leaving the car in the garage for >2 days i now disconnect the battery.

Pain in the ass, but better than the alternative.

By the way - your calcium on the leads could mean that one (or both) of them are too short (ie they are putting strain on the terminals). Spend $12 and buy yourself another longer lead, could fix the problem.

Also - if your calcium buildup gets too much on the lead, it wont get a clear connection !! Which could also be a reason why the car wont start.

[Boostzor]

That sounds reasonable, started it on friday after charging it for 3 days and this morn its falt again. I do have one of those dodgy alarms but it went haywire on me so i got a sparky to "diconnect it" meaning that i no longer need the immbob key ring thing to drive the car, i have since taken it off my keyring.

Is there a way to cut it out completely and go back to stock? im no sparky but can i just remove the battery or something?

As far a the calcium goes i got some terminal grease this weekend and that should fix the problem by sealing it up good.

[cooks44]

to check alternator, start up car, and then remove negative battery terminal, if car stalls/stops then you're alternator is screwed

Don't mean to jump on anybody, but I wouldn't recommend this one. If the load the alternator is charging is removed whilst in operation, you're almost guaranteed to burn out the regulator diodes.

Take it to a sparky, they will test each winding independantly under load to ensure it's all fine.

Now, to find out what's going on with your dead battery - get a multimeter that has a 10A current setting, remove a battery terminal and connect the multimeter in series with the battery and terminal (make sure you connected that extra "10A" terminal on the multimeter before hooking anything up! If you're not sure which way it goes, get your friendly electronics guru to help) DO NOT TURN YOUR IGNITION TO ON OR START - You will burn out your multimeter!

You should now be able to measure the current being drawn from your battery whilst the engine is off. My (crappy) alarm draws about 80-120mA (0.08 to 0.12 on the display) most of the time. If the current draw is much above this, you're guaranteed to develop a flat battery quite quickly. I start pulling out fuses to identify the culprit circuit, then start trying to remember what I've wired things to.

Last time I had this problem, I found something wrong with the control circuit for the central locking. It was drawing anywhere up to an ampere at rest!

[Boostzor]

Damn could have told me that before i did it on friday!!! still it didnt die or anything and i only had the lead off for a short time.

So ill need to recharge the battery first i guess and then its a trial and error, fuse by fuse nightmare of finding the problem.

Right now im going for the alarm as the problem but we shall see.

Central locking eh, hmm mine is a bit wonky, good call.

I reckon im just gonna go through and pull out my central locking, alarm and turbo timer as they are all busted anyway.

Thanks for all the help guys

[nmcmahon83]

Happened in my GTS-t... I took out the globe in the boot and hasn't happened since...

[Jordan]

I lost the globe in the boot of mine, and now I actually want to get the boot light going and I couldnt find the bulb anymore

I didnt take it out myself, but all I could find was a blade type socket which was empty, I guess thats where the bulb goes I take it, must be a funny looking bulb

[Boostzor]

Alot of ppl mention the boot globe thing, sounds dodgy. I dont have a globe in the boot nor do i have a globe fitting for one of my tailights so i had to solder the globe to the wire, its gold i tells ya gold!!!

[blind_elk]

For me, its my car alarm (this one starts with a B !) and the bloody backup battery - so if i plan on leaving the car in the garage for >2 days i now disconnect the battery.

I think you have a problem there. I don't drive mine for a week, but it still fires up first go each weekend.

[boj01]

What is a Nissan Auster??

[Boostzor]

Hehe surprised that hasnt some up before now.

Its practiacally a pintara n12 but its called a ta-12 ('87).

Looks similar to a pintara. With the old nics ca-18det in it.

The wiring is dodgy as hell as pretty much every owner has played with it.

[slyline]

I'm having the same dilemma as you with my old battery. I was going to buy a new battery last week. I disconnected my old 1 and took it to Robbos in campsie and had the guy there test it for me.

He said that i didnt require a new and that it was working fine but a little dead. The guys was 80% sure that i may only have loose connections.

I remember that i just recently did a boot install and may possibly didnt connect it tight.

I got home from robbos and topped up the battery with battery acid. I made sure this time that i tightened both terminals, Jump started the car as it was flat and let it idle for around 10mins while i got ready to go to work.

Up to this day i'm yet to have problems starting the car.

**Fingers crossed**

I believe you have disconnected your battery many times and may not have tightened it properly, you might want to give that a go.

[Boostzor]

SOunds liek uve only had it in there for a few days though. Ive tightened em up pretty good but no luck. Get my license back on firday so ill just drive it every day and i wont have a problem as i takes more than 2 days to run itself down.