my car is eating batteries...HELP

SuperStang83 · Dec 18, 2007

You might have a shorted wire behind the dash, have you done any work behind the dash or instrument bezel lately?

jmd2914 · Dec 19, 2007

only work ive done under the dash was replacing the flasher unit for my blikners cuz it went out. thing that might have somethign to do with it?

tbovee · Dec 19, 2007

2nd with jricker above. I had a similar problem a while back. I did a parasitic draw test and found that my EEC relay was stuck closed. Drew it down dead in 3 days.

68keyblr · Dec 19, 2007

Before tearing into your dash, why not make sure your new "good" battery is strapped down nice and tight? If it's not the vibration will make it go bad in a short amount of time.

I had a Taurus that would go through batteries frequently and it drove me crazy looking for the cause. It wasn't strapped down tight and the plates inside the battery were being destroyed by the vibration and movement of the battery.

Once I strapped the battery down tight the problem went away for good.

I say try the easy and obvious stuff first

jmd2914 · Dec 19, 2007

alright, where can i get a tie down for my battery? they have the one size fits all ones at kragen but i was looking for a fox body specific one, any ideas??

68keyblr · Dec 19, 2007

jmd2914 said:
alright, where can i get a tie down for my battery? they have the one size fits all ones at kragen but i was looking for a fox body specific one, any ideas??

You can probably make one easy enough with a block of wood. It's just a wedge shaped piece of plastic with a hole in the middle for the bolt to hold it down.

There's one listed on Ebay for $5. Just search for "mustang battery hold down"

jmd2914 · Dec 20, 2007

i dunno about the block of wood about about a piece of plastic or metal? can someone walk me through makin one? i know it sounds dumb but my car has never had one

stykthyn · Dec 20, 2007

find a plastic or metal block that is just wide enough to take up the slack in your battery tray. wedge it in tight so your battery wont move. then drill a hole through the block and run a bolt through it

KENS89LX · Dec 21, 2007

My brother has the same problem with his 89 gt, so let us know what it is..he is on his 2nd new battery.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 21, 2007

Have you ever done a AMP test to see how much current the car draws when powered down?

You need a DMM capable of reading AMPS in DC. Simply set it, unhook one battery lead and hook the meter up in series. The drain should be less than 1 Amp.

KyleEBK · Mar 5, 2008

hey sorry to post on a old thread but Im having a similiar problem battery gettin drained in matter of days I had my old 1 tested it came up bad

so i put in a optima group 31 battery and it sucked that 1 dry too and i only drove it for maybe 30 minutes 2 days ago after puttin different battery in the same day(battery read 12.71 volts bfore installation)

i just checked it and got 2.55 volts but slowly climbing after i disocnnected battery cable i tried to do a milli amp test but wasnt getting any numbers at all, i had my dmm in series between battery and the ground cable, i slo did it between positive and pos cable and didnt get any reading anyone have any ideas whats goin on???

this problem only started recently

i do have underdrive pulleys on car maybe thats a problem? i only drove it 30 minutes on a fresh battery

car is 84 mustang with 92 motor and tranny

03-s281 · Mar 5, 2008

Mine had the exact same problem with a 3g alternator and optima red top.
Turned out to be the damn light on the sunvisor mirror. Cut those suckers off!

2fastnotch · Mar 6, 2008

ok guys to do a parasitic load test it requires 2 people first person disconects the negative terminal and holds a test light from the terminal on the battery to the cable end. the test light should light up extremely dim.the current flowing is to keep clock memory,ecu voltage and radio presets. if the light is pretty bright the 2nd guy starts pulling fuses til the light dims. once the light dims youve found the circiut thats drawing your battery dead.now find out whats staying on ie-glove box light truck light stuff like that. good luck

2000xp8 · Mar 6, 2008

2fastnotch said:
ok guys to do a parasitic load test it requires 2 people first person disconects the negative terminal and holds a test light from the terminal on the battery to the cable end. the test light should light up extremely dim.the current flowing is to keep clock memory,ecu voltage and radio presets. if the light is pretty bright the 2nd guy starts pulling fuses til the light dims. once the light dims youve found the circiut thats drawing your battery dead.now find out whats staying on ie-glove box light truck light stuff like that. good luck

That's good advice.

Before even going that far, i'd check the usual suspects.
Glove compartment light, visor lights, and my favorite, the hatch light, which CAN'T be seen if you have the cover on.

jmd2914 · Mar 6, 2008

i dunno if this helps, but when i got in my car i would usually just flick on my electric fan and have it running the entire time i was driving regardless of temp, just so i wouldnt forget at my car would over heat, but since then ive stopped doing that and waited till my car warms up to turn it on, and my battery seems to be charging just fine.

mercurycapri · Mar 6, 2008

man you aint the only one with this problem Im giving up my mercury capri because of it. I just bought a 1982 mustang its pretty nice. All black no dents or rust. Got a 351 W and T5 to go in it

my car is eating batteries...HELP

SuperStang83

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tbovee

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68keyblr

jmd2914

68keyblr

jmd2914

stykthyn

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

KENS89LX

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Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

KyleEBK

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03-s281

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2fastnotch

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2000xp8

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