Back on October 22 I went out and turned the key in the car's ignition and got zip. Just that awful "click." I managed to find a neighbor to jump it for me (with my cables; I learned long ago that it's very useful to have one's own cables) and went down to Sears, where I'd purchased the Die Hard battery in the car.
They tested. They recharged. They said "It's fine, we have no explanation, but it's got a full charge now so worry no more."
Well. Today, slightly over two weeks later, the same thing happened. This time it was a weekday and finding somebody to jump it was a lot harder, but I eventually did. Back I went to Sears. Same thing. Alternator's good, starter's good, battery's dead. They recharged it and sent me on my way, saying there might be something called a "parasitic drain" on the battery that they were unable to find.
This is not good. I can't trust it to turn over every day when I need it to. Has anyone got any suggestions for what might be happening here and how to correct it?
Posted by Linkmeister at November 8, 2010 07:32 PM | TrackBackGood that you already carry jumper cables, now buy a battery charger to use a few nights a week until you figure this out. And/or, if you have the cargo space, carry a spare (charged) battery and the necessary wrenches to swap them.
Sometimes those "parasitic drains" can be hard to eradicate...
You comment software does not like the link, but at wikihow they have a "find a parasitic battery drain" article.
Posted by: Doug at November 8, 2010 08:33 PMI had a similar situation once, but given where you live I doubt it's the same thing. On my old 1974 Chevy pickup, the battery started draining. Couldn't find the problem. It was the first really cold snap we'd had. I walked out one night, and the brake lights on the truck were on. When it would get cold at night, the brake pedal would stick slightly, just enough to engage the brake lights. Fixed that, the battery problem went away. But I doubt you're having cold weather, so....
Posted by: Harry at November 9, 2010 01:10 PMNo, I don't think that's it. Interesting little problem that presented, though.
The "multimeter/pull fuses one at a time" test looks really labor-intensive, which implies expensive. Yuk.
Posted by: Linkmeister at November 9, 2010 01:29 PMA multimeter is not expensive: Less than $20 for a cheapo Chinese-made one. You could do it yourself, or with the help of an even mildly mechanically-inclined friend. There is basically zero risk of making it worse, and you might just narrow down the problem.
Posted by: Doug at November 9, 2010 04:55 PM