I just bought this car about 6 months ago. I am having trouble with the car dying overnight. New battery, only a month old. Used to die if I didnt drive it for a weekend, but now it dies overnight. I checked all the fuses and even unhooked the factory amp overnight. Also I had ORielly's check the alternator and the starter and they said it was good. Still cant figure it out. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Does the car have an aftermarket CD deck? Any other aftermarket add ons that could possibly be staying on after the car is turned off? Also, do all the dome/courtesy lights go out when the doors are closed? Trunk light as well?

 

No it still has the factory CD/Radio in it. All lights are out as well.

 

Still no luck. 2 days of searching and pulling fuses. Guess its time to call a garage to see if they can find it!

 

it could be a bad cell in the battery?

 

Get the battery load tested, just because it is new doesn't mean it isn't bad.

If it is dying overnight the battery is either bad, or there is a drain. If you have a multimeter than you can see if it has the load while the car is off?

 

I had the battery tested along with the starter and alternator and Oriellys said it was good, battery needs charged. I explained to him it dies overnight. Thanks I might try to replace battery again.

 

Did the guy at the parts store say anything about the alternator??

Also, you may want to check connections at the battery, starter and alternator for corrosion. Literally, take them off, clean the terminals with a wire brush and re-connect.

Potentally, you could have a poor connection and the battery won't charge like it should. I've even heard of the battery wires corroding from the inside.

I had a car that would loose all electrical power while driving, which shut down the engine (lasted about 5 seconds any time it did it, so you could pop into neutral, restart and back into gear and away you went). Problem was dirty connections at the starter.

 

x2. If you don't have a multimeter, see if an auto parts store will let you borrow one and use it in their parking lot. To check for current drain, disconnect the negative battery cable. Then hook up the multimeter between the negative battery post and the disconnected negative battery cable. Make sure the multimeter is set to a high current/amp setting just in case you do have a drain; otherwise you'll fry the multimeter. If you get no / very low reading, move the multimeter setting progressively to a lower current range. A reading of about 15 - 30 milliamps is about normal. To drain your battery overnight, it would probably have to be significantly higher.

If no current drain is found, then bad connections already mentioned are likely the culprit.

 

Thanks all. I will keep trying to find it. All good info. If and when I find it I will let you all know. Hard to keep on it when you work 2nd shift though!