Wierd electrical problem

Kangae

Buzzin' Half Dozen
Sep 13, 2007
249
0
0
Utica, New York
Well I seem to have alot of these in my car, but the most recent one is most important.

Ok, so I had my car parked for the weekend because I didnt go anywhere, and come sunday night when I try to start it my battery is dead. So that was dissapointing but I had just assumed I did somthing stupid. However, when I charged the battery overnight and checked for lights that were on or other such things, there were none. Also I started my car at that point to see if it would start, went inside for about 20 mins, came back out and my battery was dead again...

Not sure exactly what is happening but now even jumpstarting wont work, it just dims all the inside lights heavily and doesnt even try to turn over.
 

p5150

ASE and FAA A&P Certified
Mar 31, 2005
1,176
0
36
Central Idaho
clean you battery cables/posts. Possibly replace your battery cables and the main electrical power supply cable that goes to the junction box from your + post.

If that doesnt help change your battery.
 

Kangae

Buzzin' Half Dozen
Sep 13, 2007
249
0
0
Utica, New York
Well I've tried cleaning them and the battery is realativly new. I havent replaced the bettery cables but if there was a problem there would is still be drawing a huge ammount of power when I try to start the car?

I mean if thats the problem then I guess I have to replace them but I'm just trying to make sure first.
 

Kangae

Buzzin' Half Dozen
Sep 13, 2007
249
0
0
Utica, New York
Well I know that at this point the battery will fail any test I give it, but erlier today when it got off the charger I doubt that would have been the case. Not tested the alternator but even if that wasnt working I should still be able to start it right? Also, no jumpstarting wont work, havent tried pushstarting because this house is on top of a hill and if it doesnt work I doubt many people would be willing to help me push my car back up the hill to the house...
 

Kangae

Buzzin' Half Dozen
Sep 13, 2007
249
0
0
Utica, New York
Well I guess I found the problem, its my cd player. I'm surprised though, its the only thing other than the car's normal draws thats drawing any current, but its not drawing more than its supposed to judging by how much the difference was when we unplugged it and plugged it back in and what it says on the box. So my question is, can the stock battery not handle an aftermarket cd player? By the way, the cd player is not on at the time, just drawing enough current to maintain my radio stations, clock, and volume level.

Edit:Heh, guess I should have mentioned that it got jump started and that problem, I'm not exactly sure as to what it was, seems to have dissapeared, and now after the drive home my battery is looking sort of healthy.
 
Last edited:

ForcedTorque

Join the 92 Owners Group
Jul 11, 2005
6,099
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Satsuma, Alabama, United States
The CD player should not be a problem for the car if everything is working properly in the charging system. On the other hand, if you have narrowed it down to the CD Player for sure, and all else is fine, you have a short somewhere in your connections, or something hooked up wrong.
 

p5150

ASE and FAA A&P Certified
Mar 31, 2005
1,176
0
36
Central Idaho
Kangae;975059 said:
Well I've tried cleaning them and the battery is realativly new. I havent replaced the bettery cables but if there was a problem there would is still be drawing a huge ammount of power when I try to start the car?

I mean if thats the problem then I guess I have to replace them but I'm just trying to make sure first.

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If you need new battery cables it will seem like its drawing a lot of power - in reality it isnt drawing enough.
 

Kangae

Buzzin' Half Dozen
Sep 13, 2007
249
0
0
Utica, New York
ForcedTorque;975281 said:
The CD player should not be a problem for the car if everything is working properly in the charging system. On the other hand, if you have narrowed it down to the CD Player for sure, and all else is fine, you have a short somewhere in your connections, or something hooked up wrong.

Well the thing is though that its drawing exactly what its rated to draw normally on the cd player box, and narrowed it down by removing the fuse labeled "Radio", it removed a significant part of the draw so I figured that was it.
 

p5150

ASE and FAA A&P Certified
Mar 31, 2005
1,176
0
36
Central Idaho
If it was a short it would probably blow a fuse or smoke /

I still think you have a bad set of battery cables.