After my car sits for several day with out running it the batt is dead. So something is draining it and i have no idea what it is. I only drive the car maybe one time a week. So if i had the batt fully charged and when i go to park it, if i just disconected the neg batt terminal to keep it from going dead? Would this mess anything up? I would rather just have to put the batt cable on everytime i want to drive it then have to jump the car. Sound like a good idea?
Batt keeps dying after it sits. would this work?
- Thread starter Rynb15
- Start date
That does work. I used to do that on a seldom-driven car I had. FWIW, you can use a switch on the terminal (popular in marine applications because those are seldom used too).
Also if you have an alarm or something you would like to keep functional while the battery is disco'd, you can do that.
Good luck.
Also if you have an alarm or something you would like to keep functional while the battery is disco'd, you can do that.
Good luck.
That would keep the battery from dying.
However, any adaptive tuning the computer has done will be erased each time you disconnect the bat. This could cause the car to run pretty poorly for 20 min or more each time you drive it.
Actually, with those mods you shouldn't have too much trouble with this.
I would put some serious time into finding the drain source. This will be a very challenging task I'm sure, but probably worth it in the long run.
jason
However, any adaptive tuning the computer has done will be erased each time you disconnect the bat. This could cause the car to run pretty poorly for 20 min or more each time you drive it.
Actually, with those mods you shouldn't have too much trouble with this.
I would put some serious time into finding the drain source. This will be a very challenging task I'm sure, but probably worth it in the long run.
jason
Removing the neg cable would prevent the parasitic drain on the battery and prevent it from discharging, but when the battery cable is disconnected for a lengthy period of time (15 min or longer), aside from the obvious nuisances of losing your radio presets, etc., it also removes the adaptive strategy from the EEC processor, plus any stored fault codes. It's not really harmful other than the fact that the processor will have to re-learn it's adaptive strategy. This usually only takes about 2-3 miles of normal driving, and during that period of time the car will not perform to its absolute best possible. You may not even notice the difference. I guess I would say, don't take on any neighborhood ricers until you've driven the car for a couple of miles first.
Typically it is something draining the battery. Small things like glove box or courtesy lights are often the culprits. If you have an aftermarket stereo or alarm system, it is also suspect.
The ideal method is to disconnect the positive terminal, and connect a Digital Multimeter (DVM) between the positive terminal on the battery and the positive cable. Set the DVM on a low current scale of 2-5 amps if it doesn't auto range. Watch the current draw, and then start pulling out fuses. When you see a sudden drop in the current, that circuit is the likely culprit. Note that the computer, radio & clock will draw less than 1/10 amp to keep the settings alive.
See http://assets.fluke.com/appnotes/automotive/beatbook.pdf. You will need the Adobe Acrobat viewer which is also a free download – http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
The ideal method is to disconnect the positive terminal, and connect a Digital Multimeter (DVM) between the positive terminal on the battery and the positive cable. Set the DVM on a low current scale of 2-5 amps if it doesn't auto range. Watch the current draw, and then start pulling out fuses. When you see a sudden drop in the current, that circuit is the likely culprit. Note that the computer, radio & clock will draw less than 1/10 amp to keep the settings alive.
See http://assets.fluke.com/appnotes/automotive/beatbook.pdf. You will need the Adobe Acrobat viewer which is also a free download – http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
