samson_420

iTrader: (1)

WTF? ? ?

I got my car over a year ago. It came with this ragedy old acid crusted battery. So I replaced it with the cheapest POS i could find at WalMart(35 Bucks).

Then about 6 months later it seemed to have poor voltage, around 11.8 or so. So I took it back and got another Wally World gem. Same ****, about 5 months later, which is now.

I jumped my car today, the battery was toast for no reason. I let it sit for about 3 hours, the voltage is down to 11.6 or so WTF?

My running voltage is around 13.9(minimum of 13.6), steady. It's been like this ever since I redone all my big wiring.



I always bought cheap *** batteries from WalMart and they out live the car.

Can they just be bad?


WTF?

I have no drain, checked with my VOM. It idles at 13.8 or what ever, I shut it off, it drops to 12.44 or so, then it will start dropping to low 11's< these are not the 11's I want to see. And this happens even when I disconnect the battery from the car.





How in the hell can my car kill batteries??

proporio

Does the car sit for a long time between you driving it?
There could be some parasitic drain on the battery. How's your alternator?
Check the battery cables for corrosion.
Might need a trickle charger to keep it charged.
I doubt the walmart batteries are bad, more than likely something with your car.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

My car sits about two to 3 weeks between runs. I don't drive it much at all. I tried to track down a drain before and found nothing.

When I put the battery in, it was at about 12.4 Volts the first day and exactly the same the following day.

Everything is in great shape, charging all the way down the cables.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

Well, went to WalMart and got battery #3. Cost me a whopping 22 Cents.

Seems good for now, but I think there has to be drain somewhere.


What can be draining my battery, really?


I am stock for the most part, what can be causing a very small drain on the battery?

Nothing stays on after the car is shut off.

biggb1783

have you done a bettery daw test to see how many amps it's pulling??

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

Pulling - When? When cranking or what.

phantazn

iTrader: (7)

weird. i bought a cheapo wally world battery 3 years ago for 30 bucks and everything still runs fine. idle it sits around 12-13v. i did however, notice a significant dip whenever the air pump turns itself on.

i had a stumbling idle every other start up but that was fixed by swapping out the fuel filter. since i got the corolla the ta would go for 2 weeks at a time without being driven, and it starts up every time now without a hitch.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

It has to be a microscopic drain. . . But by what?

slvr98camaro

iTrader: (1)

radio?

if you only drive it about every 3 weeks, i would just disconnect the battery in between drives.

it only takes a few seconds to disconnect/reconnect it, and you wont have to keep getting new batteries

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

I thought about that. It just sucks all my presets are gone.

I am going to try to start it more often, but it still should be able to sit for a longer period of time.

jmilz28

iTrader: (13)

That's too long to sit for a cheapo battery. I'd get an Optima if I were you. I'd also replace the cables, that corrosion cancer is hard to get rid of and will affect your whole system over time and be hard to track down.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

Here is my other post. . . . If you can figure it out, you know f-body electrical system way more than I do.

unSStoppable

iTrader: (1)

call me crazy but that could be your problem

2001NBMZ28

Don't know what's going on, but the LS1 calls for a minimum 690 CCA battery according to my helms. I'm on my third battery and just over 27K since new - lots of small trips - never lost radio presets even when they died.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

Ah, I love the Camaro attitude. If your car is sucking down the battery, get a bigger one.

Actually I would have already if I had any money. But, still this would not be a good long term solution.

Friedrice

iTrader: (4)

Hell, I just use an autozone duralast but that had more CCA then anything lol. Cost like 70 Bucks.