Howdy!

My 98 1500 4x4 is back in the shop after only two weeks with another dead battery! The last time, same deal a dead battery, they checked the alternator and said it was putting out the correct amount of juice. So they replaced the battery thinking that it was defective. Now with a brand new battery, same thing. Dead!

What could be draining the battery enough to make it completely discharge? I promise I'm not leaving the headlights on!

Buck Nekkid

 

check other lights.. glovebox light for example.. make sure your hood light isnt stuck on.. if you have aftermarket stereo.. check that.. make sure its not leaving an amp on.. best way to tell.. pull one fuse at a time.. if its dead in the morning you know your on the wrong track.. if you getup and it starts.. find otu what that circuit is.. sounds to me like theres a short thats not throwing a fuse.. i HAVE seen relays get stuck and drain a battery

 

could you use a multi-meter across the fuse socket, and measure power draw in amps or milli-amps ?
how long does to take to drain the battery ?

 

if its draining over time (like a couple weeks like said) then it could be the alt. I know you said it checked out ok, but so did mine. finally i said f it and bought a new one anyways. guess what, the battery started holding its charge. I have had that happen 2 me on 2 of my vehicles. are they testing it in the truck or bench testing it. when the alt in my car went i had it tested in the car (checked out good) and the bench (also checked out good) but it was still bad. My truck however i only tested in the truck, and althought it said it was good, it wasn't.

 

Thanks everyone! Good advice all. I'm not sure I want to replace a couple hundred dollar alternator if it can't be proven it's bad. I'm hopeful that the garage I took it to doesn't just blow smoke up my a**.

Buck Nekkid

 

Save yourself some bucks and change it yourself! Alternator is real easy, need only basic tools.

 

And yes, I'm sorry but it sounds more like an alternator problem. I've had the same thing happen. When testing on the bench it would show correct charge but had some fluctuations, did the same as yours.

 

What kind of batteries are they?
My cousin went through 3 before he got a good one.
We thought it was the car draining the batteries till we
figured out how to tell.
Unhook both positive and negative cables and let it sit a couple days, if it dies, well it's the battery.

Also you can check to see if there's a draw on the battery -when everything is off and shut, remove the positive cable and put a meter between the cable and batt post and read the milli-ohms.
Anythingmore than .5 milli-ohms means you got something drawing on the battery.

 

Compadres, it WAS the alternator. The shop refunded me half the cost of the battery that they put in 2 weeks ago saying that they really should have caught it then.

I'm hoping that all is well now, thanks for all of your suggestions!

Buck Nekkid

 

for the record though you want to be measuring milliAMPS, not ohms....but that is the best way to do it.