'05 Elantra Electrical Issues

[oxzk396]

Hi all. I have an '05 Elantra. Bought it brand new. Nice car, but I've been through 3 headlights on each side and now it's randomly not starting. Car starts perfectly in the morning and then battery is drained in the afternoon. I get it jumped and it's fine for about 2 weeks. Starts perfectly and has no issues. All of a sudden, drained battery again. Is this all normal for this? Should I take it back to the dealer for service on this?

[dmiller66]

If you are still under warranty, I would def take it back....I just replaced my battery in my 2002. Sounds like something is definitely wrong.

[IH-Warranty]

Just out of curiosity, was this resolved. If so, what was the problem?

[lowsonoma1999]

Originally Posted by oxzk396

Hi all. I have an '05 Elantra. Bought it brand new. Nice car, but I've been through 3 headlights on each side and now it's randomly not starting. Car starts perfectly in the morning and then battery is drained in the afternoon. I get it jumped and it's fine for about 2 weeks. Starts perfectly and has no issues. All of a sudden, drained battery again. Is this all normal for this? Should I take it back to the dealer for service on this?

Could be a number of things causing the battery draw. How many miles?

As far as the headlights. Are you buying aftermarket bulbs? If so, that is probably your problem. They take a long life bulb. A new bulb from the dealer lists at $10.42. Headlight bulbs are actually covered 5yr/60k miles as well.

[oxzk396]

It's got about 51K miles. I have been buying aftermarket bulbs, but if I'm getting a spike (as shown by the burn marks on the prongs on the bulb), I don't think that would change from OEM to aftermarket, would it? I haven't had any work done yet, but I will say, even in this cold Cleveland weather, it's been starting just fine now for a couple months. Only thing I notice now is when I put the windows down, my headlights dim a bit. I just think there's something wrong with the electrical. I had a Santa Fe before this and never had any issues like this.

[oxzk396]

Just as an update, I took the car to the dealership (headlights burned out AGAIN) and they won't look into the actual problem. They changed my headlights and battery (dead cell), and told me that it would be "too much work to find the actual problem why the headlights keep burning out." So basically I have no answers on my headlight issue.