Electrical problems - random dead battery

[InvisiBill]

It's been probably about two months now since this started. What bugs me most is that I can't seem to find any pattern to why it does it.

One morning I got in the Sy to go to work. It wouldn't start because the battery was dead. The dome light and stuff would come on, but my volt gauge was very low and it would just "RRRRrrrr" and die when I turned the key. I threw the battery charger on for a few minutes, just long enough to get it started. It's about a five minute drive to work, then I shut it off until lunch. It starts right up, I drive to McD's and back (about half hour total) and shut it off until 5:00. Start it up and drive the five mintues back home. It's fine all day. It's fine all day the next day as well, doing the exact same thing.

The day after that, it's dead in the morning again. Throw it on the charger for a few minutes again, and it's fine for a few days. Does it again one morning, and it's fine for a week. Leave the battery charger on overnight one weekend to make sure it has a good solid charge. Fine for a while, every once in a while it's dead as usual.

This Friday it was dead again. Jumped it with the battery charger as usual. After work, went to dinner with the woman then hung out at my cousin's place. Made a run to Taco Hell (a few blocks) while we were there. Drove about 10 minutes home. Saturday morning, I moved the Sy to the other side of the driveway so we could rid of the 8" of snow that fell after we got home. A few hours later, we needed to run to the store, and it was dead again. We left it there until today, when we jumped it and moved it back. Let it run for a few minutes, then stopped and restarted it just fine. Later tonight, it was dead again.

I have no idea what's causing this. It only seems to do it on cold days, but not on all cold days. The only electrical additions I have are a CD player adapted to the stock harness and an alarm with a stock harness adapter. Both were in my S-10 with no problems, and both were installed in the Sy a long time ago. The battery was put in just before I bought the Sy a year ago (per seller's word, date etched on battery, and shiny new appearance). I didn't make any changes that coincide with all this starting.

It's not the purple starter wire click problem. I have that occasionally, and this is completely separate. It drains the juice from the lights, and doesn't have enough power to crank the engine. My volt gauge seems to be reading normal, about halfway between the 1/2 and 3/4 marks (which I'm assuming don't match up to the listed numbers anyway). Right after I have to jumpstart it, the gauge seems to read higher, just under the 3/4 mark. Running the truck for just a few minutes after jumping it seems to make the problem go away for just as long as leaving it on the charger overnight did.

I plan to check and clean up all the grounds when it gets a little nicer. I haven't checked voltages with a meter yet, but the stock gauge seems to be pretty consistent at least. It doesn't seem like it'd be the alternator, since the gauge reads fine and the truck runs fine, and running it for just a few minutes even seems to give it a good charge. It doesn't seem like the battery either though, since sometimes it'll be fine for a week or more. Intermittent short? Common place for this to occur?

Any suggestions are appreciated, as I have no idea where to start on this, besides throwing a bunch of money at it until it goes away, which I'd rather not do...

 

[dlove]

I have run into this several times. After you have cleaned the battery connections and it is still acting up I would have the battery tested first. Don't care how old it is. If it is marginal at all replace it and hope for the best because the intermittent electrical problems can be a pain to troubleshoot.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: dlove on 2002-03-04 14:29 ]</font>

 

[InvisiBill]

I have one of the fancy gold-plated terminals on the (+) side for when I get my amp put in, and it's still shiny. I haven't taken it out and checked, but the regular (-) terminal still looks pretty clean as well. I'll check those, but at first glance they wouldn't appear to be the problem.

Anyone know the Optima part numbers for our trucks, and approximate retail cost? Where I work is an Interstate dealer, so I can get at least a little discount on them...

 

[TYPHOOL7]

Any suggestions are appreciated, as I have no idea where to start on this, besides throwing a bunch of money at it until it goes away, which I'd rather not do...

I would reccommend you get the OPTIMA Yellow Top Deep Cycle Battery it is what i got after having that same problem. I searched and saw it was posted for $171.95- $168.95, but i say you can get it cheaper, try the interstate dealer they should say around 140.00, make sure you get the D750U. Do you have a 93? Have you thought about the weight in the back, where the sounds are, triggering the auto load level all night and waisting your battery. My truck did that for a while with the stock battery and my sounds!

 

[V6 Kompressor]

In order for your battery to be properly load tested, charge the battery all night, preferably 24 hours, with an automatic charger. If the battery tests good then, hook a test light between either the positive or negative cable end and the corresponding battery post. Leave the other side hooked up. Make sure your key is off, hood light is unplugged, doors closed, ect. You should have a faint glow from the test light due to memory loads from the ecm and radio/clock. If you open a door, the light should glow brighter, showing you that you have increased the load. If the light is already brighter than normal, than you have a drain on the battery. You can find it quickest by removing each fuse, 1 at a time until the light gets dim, you also have to hold the door switch in to keep the interior lights from coming on while you do this (It helps to have a friend watch the test light, while you remove/replace fuses). When you get to a fuse that dims the light the most, read the legend on the fuse box, and that will tell you what circuit is drawing down the battery. Then you need to look up the circuit on a diagram and see what is on that circuit. Then you need to unplug the components, one at a time, until you dim the light. I find mostly stereo systems and glove box lights being the culprit for drained down batteries. Also cold weather will kill a defective battery in no time at all. If pulling the fuses don't kill the drain, then disconnect the alternator, then the fuse links under the hood. Wholesale prices on the optima batteries usually start at $115 for the red top/ don't know for the yellow...Good luck and buy plenty of beer!!!

 

[InvisiBill]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to at least check on the Optima, though I've been impressed with some of the StreetWires stuff since it was still in the experimental stages. That's probably even more overkill for me, but I know they specifically addressed some of the Optima's problems while they were designing it. http://www.teamrocs.net/ces/report/page2.htm is about all I can find on it online though...

That's a great idea Dragrace55. It's logical, and rules things out step by step, but I probably never would've thought of it.

Edit: I guess I just had to hit Submit before I'd find it... http://www.eau.com/sw/batt/ is much better.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: InvisiBill on 2002-03-04 23:59 ]</font>

 

[KGB Pilot125]

Just go get a new battery. my truck was doing the same thing. I took it out and took it to the interstate battery distributor, it was a 60 month battery and the punch out was from july 99 so i was thinking it was a newer battery. well they looked at it and said it was from DEC 1993 I was damn thats old. anyways it had 2 dry cells in it. they said the battery was still good just fill it up and recharge it. well that didnt work so I just got a new exide and no problems. Check to see if any cells are dry. and since its only when its cold I would say its time for a new one anyways.

 

[turboj91]

Your truck is pissed that its out in the cold & snow and is purposely playing games with you (lol). Seriously, I agree with the previous advice 100%. My first impression was the battery. Any problems they have are magnified by cold weather. I don't know what your daily temps. have been, but is there any relation to the problem occuring on the colder days?