Car dead overnight

Khill · #1 01-22-2009, 01:52 PM

So, basically, my 04 TB doesn't like to wake up in the morning and I have to end up using my jump-box to get it going again. This has been happening for about a week straight. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for finding the culprit faster than metering every fuse, or disconnecting things 2 at a time and waiting for it to die again.

No work was done on the TB, it just up and decided to die one day, and every day after that. Other than that it has no problems and regular service.

So far I have ruled out (disconnected) everything aftermarket, so now I'm getting both

and

I also metered the alarm (viper 791xv) at .44 amps, so i don't think that could be doing it.

maxwedge · #2 01-22-2009, 02:15 PM

How about checking the battery under load first.

brcidd · #3 01-22-2009, 02:24 PM

Sounds like a bad battery-- but if you metered your alarm correctly at 0.44 amps- then that is the problem-- any amp draw for an extended period over 0.050 amps (50 milliamps) is too much - will drain a battery overnight. Yours is reading nearly a half an amp- way too much draw...

Khill · #4 01-22-2009, 11:45 PM

thanks for the replies

i thought the battery could be having problems too but i took it to sears today and without going into detail (because they didnt) they said the battery was fine.

as for the car alarm, what would a normal draw be for one? aside from its alarm stuff, it has the little led in the dash and thats it. would it say on the box? I metered it by sticking my multimeter where the fuse would go.

Im sorry to be such a bother with this, but i dont really have the time to do the research on my own because of my college schedule. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Khill · #5 01-23-2009, 06:59 PM

ok it died again, so i had it tested by another place today and they said the alt and battery are fine. The mechanic said there was about a 1 amp draw on the battery when everything was off, and also that my battery was pretty deeply discharged, so i left it at the shop so they could charge it. When I got back to the shop, the battery was charged up and I asked them to test it again.

This time, the draw was gone! And it hasnt come back since. I'm guessing something reset when they disconnected the battery to charge it. Either way, I'm optimistic and I guess I'll wait until it dies again to try something new.

maxwedge · #6 01-24-2009, 10:59 AM

1 amp is too much, but keep in mind there are modules that can take a few minutes to go to sleep, if you check the draw witht cables disconnected it will always show this, the draw must be checked with a non contact type ammeter that clamps onto or surrounds the cables, after the draw down time for the modules.

Khill · #7 02-09-2009, 06:13 PM

Ok so I went and left the negative battery post disconnected overnight and came back in the morning and it worked fine. That was a week ago and I haven't had a problem since. Seems I had a module that wasn't falling asleep properly and reset with the power outage.

thanks for all your help

POST REPLY TO THIS THREAD