Hi Everyone,

I've got a 96 Magna Executive, and my car battery (Which I replaced a week ago) has died on me again.

Before, everyone says alternator! I've had this car for about a month, now for that time, it's ran great, except I realised the horn wasen't working, the relay was simply taken off. I got this fixed. Now a week later, my car battery dies on me, I got a new battery, then once again around a week later the car battery goes.

It appears that something is draining the battery, something unusual is going on.

If anyone has had a similar problem before or know whats going on let me know.


Thanks.


Smithy.

Diodes in the alternator.Get it checked out, if you have a amp meter use it to see if there is a currant draw when IGN is turned off.

Yeah, if one or more of the diodes of the alternator rectifier is f#*ked, & goes closed circuit, then the alternator coil would then be a load, & drain the battery.. ie. the alternator will do the opposite of what it's supposed to, even with the Ignition off.

An ammeter has to be in series with a load, not like when you test volts, where you connect in parrallel, so to test current draw with the ignition OFF, disconnect the positivebattery lead, use a multimeter (like $20 for a cheapo one from Tandy/Dicksmith) on its 10A socket & connect it between the Battery & the lead. That'll read any current draw through your entire electrical system.

do the test above and if you find an current load at the battery thats greater than the ECU,stereo and clock memory enable, then try the same test between the main wire and the b+ terminal on the alternator to see if it's the current load.

Thanks for the replies.

My nextdoor neighbour is fortunately a mechanic. We charged the battery up, and it got up to about 12.85 on the multi, Started it up and it got well up to about 14.60, The car is currently idling at the moment, I put the air con on, and then high beam, then the cd player, all up we still quiet happily were on about 14.18 on the multi.

The only thing we could think of is a faulty battery or something is draining the power overnight while the car is off.

My guess is the cd player or something is draining the power, but I'm not sure. If anyone else has any idea's let me know.

Cheers.

Problem Solved!

You wouldn't believe it, when I originally purchased the car, I told the dealer they need to fix the boot light, because there wasen't one. Obviously there wasen't one for a reason, they replaced the boot light, but sure enough, I checked the boot from the passenger boot entry just then, and sure enough the bloody boot light was on! It's been draining the battery the whole time since I've had the car.

Looks like the boot light was missing for a reason.

Thanks for your advice this morning guys.

Problem Solved!

You wouldn't believe it, when I originally purchased the car, I told the dealer they need to fix the boot light, because there wasen't one. Obviously there wasen't one for a reason, they replaced the boot light, but sure enough, I checked the boot from the passenger boot entry just then, and sure enough the bloody boot light was on! It's been draining the battery the whole time since I've had the car.

Looks like the boot light was missing for a reason.

Thanks for your advice this morning guys.
I was going to reply saying the the horn was missing for a reason. Anyhow. Its good to hear
you found the problem.

Problem Solved!

You wouldn't believe it, when I originally purchased the car, I told the dealer they need to fix the boot light, because there wasen't one. Obviously there wasen't one for a reason, they replaced the boot light, but sure enough, I checked the boot from the passenger boot entry just then, and sure enough the bloody boot light was on! It's been draining the battery the whole time since I've had the car.

Looks like the boot light was missing for a reason.

Thanks for your advice this morning guys.

Uno what, mr. altera should get a read of this thread. His bootlight isn't too healthy either. Maybe its teh same reason why it isn't htere