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Old 05-26-2019, 09:16 AM   #1
V
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Battery drain?

ok, car is an '88 GTA, 5.7 auto, bone stock.

Installed a new battery in june of last year.
The car had pretty much sat outside from then to about a month ago.
I drove it maybe twice in july and august with no issues.
When I went to move it after the winter, battery was completely dead(which was expected). I jumped the car and it fired up after being attached to the cables for about 5 minutes. I drove the car to my new house about 10 minutes away where I let it run longer, maybe an hour, before I shut it off.

I pulled it into the garage that night and it had started up right away with no problem.

Two days later I went to pull the car out again, and the starter would just click, and wouldnt turn the motor over. Not a bad starter btw, battery was indeed low. So i jumped it again, started instantly. Let it run for a little bit.
parked it in the driveway. Went to move it the next day and once again, battery too weak to start the car. Same thing happened again when I went to drive the car 2 days later. After a jump, its fine. That day I drove around for about 3 hours, making a few stops and shutting the car off at those stops, but it started fine when I went to go again. I got home, parked the car, a week later, battery is low again, too low to spin the motor.


I took the battery back to advance auto, they tested it and said it was good and wouldnt replace it.


Car has no radio connected, no aftermarket wiring, and using a multimeter, I only found a 0.01A, or 10mA draw. Nothing changed with the car in the past year. So I'm not entirely sure whats going on. I was pretty sure the winter froze the already dead battery and killed a cell or such, but Advance swears its good. So now the battery is back in the car. I did more testing for a drain, and still only got 10mA(online they say up to 50mA is normal). As of now, I left the battery unhooked and everyday I'm going the check the voltage. If it somehow starts dropping then I know its the battery for sure.


The only other thing I can think of is that the headlight control module is on the fritz. I did cycle the lights before testing for a drain so perhaps it "reset" or fixed itself now.



I really don't know where else to look.
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Old 05-27-2019, 06:22 AM   #2
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Did you check the alternator output? If the alternator output is good, I would put the battery on a good, slow battery charger.
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Old 05-27-2019, 06:31 AM   #3
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Battery sure sounds bad. I say invest in the optima digital 400 charger/maintainer. It definitely helps borderline batteries come back to life and can be used as a trickle charger, which would help prevent your issue too.
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Old 05-27-2019, 07:18 AM   #4
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Alt was charging at 14.59v at cold idle.

I'll look into the charger. I have been wanting to get some type of trickle charger since the car sits 99.5% of the time.
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Old 05-27-2019, 04:33 PM   #5
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I use the auto meter charger for the Camaro and my Murray lawnmower. They also sell a cheaper unit if needed.

https://www.amazon.com/Auto-Meter-92...SK1GTDDXK9XKJB
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Old 05-27-2019, 06:03 PM   #6
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On my buddies gta i have in my garage here, the hatch motor solenoid randomly clicks and i think that is what killed the battery overnight
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