Car battery dead!!!! Please help

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Car battery dead!!!! Please help

By cleenEX_93
- Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:10 pm #325337 I recently installed aftermarket amber side markers to my 93 civic coupe I had some on there before but they got stolen so I just replaced them with new ones. After having them installed my battery keeps dying ill jump the car and it starts right up and drives perfectly but then when I go to start the car the next day it's dead again!!! Any ideas on how to fix this problem???

By MT-Civic
- Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:07 am #325352 Bad battery or alternator. Go to your local parts store, they can test them for you and it's free. Atleast around here it is..
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By HaydenSI
- Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:11 am #325353 If you have a Volt meter you can always test how much power your alternator is putting out when its running. Is should be somewhere around 15 . Anything lower could indicate a bad alternator. If the alternator is good then that leaves the battery.
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By kylenjdm93
- Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:41 am #325382 check if your belt is loose from the crank to the alternator also :thumb:
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By cleenEX_93
- Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:44 am #325383 Thanks for all the tips guys ill check all of those out I figured it was the alternator but I haven't tested it yet but I do that ASAP
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By bigJOE671
- Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:26 am #325467 Since your say your battery is dying. It could be your battery, charging system, parastic draw, and/or poor connections.

My first test to do would require a voltmeter. This test is a parastic draw test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0
^^this will tell you if something in your car is draining your battery.

Next test if that passes will see if your alternator (charging system) is working. This also requires a voltmeter. Your car has to be running and measure the volts when the car is idling with no accessories on. Now check idling with accessories on (defroster, AC, radio, and headlights on high beam). Tell us those two voltages. Anything below 14 volts is not good. This will tell us if your alternator is putting out enough voltage...no need to take to an auto store if you can test it yourself.

Now the third test is to look at your grounding points on the engine and make sure they are not corroded. The grounding points go from transmission to chassis on passenger side, battery to ground, thermostat housing, and head to front of the chassis. This will stop the charging system from supplying the battery with a full charge.

Please do these tests and tell us your results. I have experienced this first hand and its not an easy problem to solve. So i'm am helping you with this advice.
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By cleenEX_93
- Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:23 pm #325473 Ok I'll check all of those out and get right back to you. I appreciate all the advice
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By cleenEX_93
- Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:53 am #325496 So after I jump started my car and got it to start I turned it off and checked the battery with the voltmeter and it read 12.76 after I turned the car on and it went to 14.44 and when I turned on all the loads it read out as 14.24 so to me it seems like everything is good the only thing I could think was the side markers were draining the battery while the car was off so I took them off also I did a test on the battery with the voltmeter before I jump started it and it was reading 10.50 so the battery was clearly drained...
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By bigJOE671
- Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:29 pm #325509
cleenEX_93 wrote:So after I jump started my car and got it to start I turned it off and checked the battery with the voltmeter and it read 12.76 after I turned the car on and it went to 14.44 and when I turned on all the loads it read out as 14.24 so to me it seems like everything is good the only thing I could think was the side markers were draining the battery while the car was off so I took them off also I did a test on the battery with the voltmeter before I jump started it and it was reading 10.50 so the battery was clearly drained...


12.76 volts is not good when the car is running with no accessories. It might be your alternator.

My car has like 13.7-14.2 volts with no accessories idling.

You need to do a parastic draw test and check your grounding connections. Because if you change your alternator and that does not fix the problem...you will still have the same outcome of having a dead battery.
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By HaydenSI
- Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:32 pm #325512
bigJOE671 wrote:
cleenEX_93 wrote:
12.76 volts is not good when the car is running with no accessories. It might be your alternator.

My car has like 13.7-14.2 volts with no accessories idling.

You need to do a parastic draw test and check your grounding connections. Because if you change your alternator and that does not fix the problem...you will still have the same outcome of having a dead battery.



He said 12.76 right after he turned it off.


And what did you wire the power to your lights into?
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By cleenEX_93
- Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:13 pm #325515 SHE :shock: said 12.76 after i turned it off not while it was running lol it was 14.44 while it was running im gonna go do the parasitic draw test right now lol im pretty sure thats it. the side markers were already installed when i got the car so im not sure how the guy before me wired it but he probably didnt do it right cuz there has been numerous other things that i have found to be done incorrectly that i have had to fix. the only weird thing is that before the original side markers were stolen off my car i never had this problem but then when they got stolen there was just the empty hole there until i could find the right side markers to replace them and now its doing this so im wondering if its either the side markers all together or if maybe the wiring got damaged while they werent being used somehow..... idk anyways im gonna go do that parasitic draw test and and ill give you guys the results in a bit

thanks for your help
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By cleenEX_93
- Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:14 pm #325518 ok so i did the parasitic draw test (with the light not installed because i unplugged em last night) and the results came out at 0.02. i then plugged the lights back in and did the test again and no changes the results came out as 0.02 again. this leaves me kinda at a dead end dont really know what it could be now unless its the lights them self or bad wiring. also just fyi on the nights that i had the lights installed overnight the car wouldnt start the next day at all and the battery was putting out 10.50 and this morning (after having the car sit without the lights) it started right away and the battery was reading out 12.50 while off 14.45 while on...... :?
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By bigJOE671
- Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:43 pm #325568
cleenEX_93 wrote:ok so i did the parasitic draw test (with the light not installed because i unplugged em last night) and the results came out at 0.02. i then plugged the lights back in and did the test again and no changes the results came out as 0.02 again. this leaves me kinda at a dead end dont really know what it could be now unless its the lights them self or bad wiring. also just fyi on the nights that i had the lights installed overnight the car wouldnt start the next day at all and the battery was putting out 10.50 and this morning (after having the car sit without the lights) it started right away and the battery was reading out 12.50 while off 14.45 while on...... :?


So with the lights on your car goes dead overnight. With the lights of your car starts with no trouble. My conclusion is its your lights.

thats really weird :o How are you doing the parastic draw test?

You can test yourself (parastic draw) if your doing it correctly by turning on the dome light and off to see if your reading changes on the multimeter. If no changes then you are doing the test wrong

I did the test wrong my first time by forgetting to put the positve lead in the right spot of the multimeter and having it not set on milliamps

If you can show a pic of how you got the multimeter set up for the test that would help
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By pkaewthong34
- Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:07 am #337032
bigJOE671 wrote:Since your say your battery is dying. It could be your battery, charging system, parastic draw, and/or poor connections.

My first test to do would require a voltmeter. This test is a parastic draw test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0
^^this will tell you if something in your car is draining your battery.

Next test if that passes will see if your alternator (charging system) is working. This also requires a voltmeter. Your car has to be running and measure the volts when the car is idling with no accessories on. Now check idling with accessories on (defroster, AC, radio, and headlights on high beam). Tell us those two voltages. Anything below 14 volts is not good. This will tell us if your alternator is putting out enough voltage...no need to take to an auto store if you can test it yourself.

Now the third test is to look at your grounding points on the engine and make sure they are not corroded. The grounding points go from transmission to chassis on passenger side, battery to ground, thermostat housing, and head to front of the chassis. This will stop the charging system from supplying the battery with a full charge.

Please do these tests and tell us your results. I have experienced this first hand and its not an easy problem to solve. So i'm am helping you with this advice.


i love Eric the car guy ... this guy is awesome !
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