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Originally Posted by LethalGT
Hello All,
I have a 93 Chevy Lumina LS van and recently the battery is dead after it sits for about 2 days. I've had it checked out, but they cant find what the problem is. My question is would a bad starter cause a battery drain? The starter on this thing is just about dead. I'm going to replace it, but just wondering if that would cause a power draw. Thanks
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Get the battery load-tested.There is always a minor drain at least on the battery (viz. the car's clock). Also any battery loses some charge if it sits even for one minute. What I'm saying is that if your battery is border-line, sitting for 2 days could finish it off.
If you can get the car started (i.e. jumped), an easy way to check the alternator (after removing the jumper cables) is to set your multimeter to volts and place it on the battery terminals. It should show about 13.5 volts. Put your finger on the throttle and rev the engine high (or have someone step on the gas). It should go a little higher, hopefully 14 to 15 volts.
After the car has run for a while, turn it off, the multimeter should be at least 12.4 volts indicating the battery is now recharged. But this is just surface charge. You still have to put a load-tester on the batter (at Autozone, or buy a hand-held load-tester for $50.00) to confirm that the battery can hold its charge long enough to be reliable.