Battery drain

[Random Asshole]

Hey dudes,

I aware of the common issues with shakers draining batteries/crap alternators and batteries form Ford. I've done my research and took voltage /draw readings with my fluke, had the battery and alternator tested, but I'm getting nowhere. I know there's a ton of threads on this (I've read many) and that these types of issues can be difficult to diagnose from behind a computer monitor at home, but I figure I'd give it a shot as I'm at a loss right now. storytime...

My car is an '06 and I've never had a problem with the car not starting if it sat for a few days until a few weeks ago when I installed the Steeda factory HID headlights. I installed the lights and harness without any problems, put it back together, drove it five feet out of the garage, and parked it. The next day, the battery had a minimal charge. Maybe a half crank and then "brrrrrp" from the solenoid. I figured I had drained the battery while I was testing it out before I buttoned the bumper cover back on and there was only enough juice to start the car once and the five foot drive wasn't enough to charge the battery back up.

Jumped it, drove five miles to my girls place, parked it, and it was dead again in the morning. "Ok...maybe that ten minute drive wasn't enough to properly charge the battery." Also looked around to see if anything was pinched or loose. Nada

Put the battery on a 15amp charger for 3hrs. Pulled it out and brought it to Sears auto where I bought it last Feb and had it bench tested. Battery passed with flying colors. It's a Die Hard Silver series. It's on the lower end of the required CCAs, but it's all they had at the moment that fit my car and I haven't had any problem with it until I installed the HIDs.

Car sat for three days not being started and on the fourth day, the battery was dead.

Charged it up again and brought the car in to Sears Auto and had a tech put the hand held battery/charging system tester on it. No problem found.

Grabbed my multimeter and checked for a draw:
.17A for 20 minutes <--Normal from what I've read.
6mA after that.
Volt meter shows 14.2 volts when the car is running.

I've pulled fuses for the HIDs and my stereo and let it sit. Three days and the battery was dead again.

I triple or quadruple checked my work on the HID install. The HIDs get power comes from the SJB 10mm bolt/eyelet, from there it's relays that power the HIDs through their own harness. The relays get the signal to power to the HIDs from the vehicle's original drivers headlamp harness. The adapter also has it's own ground that bolts up next to the prop rod. The entire adapter harness runs across the top of the radiator. There is nowhere for it to get pinched. During the install, the only thing I did different was disconnect the Negative terminal instead of the Positive terminal per the instruction manual. I read through that step fast and went with the force of habit of disconnecting the Negative post.

The only other electrical related mods to my car are a Pioneer AVH-4400BH head unit and Steeda Underdrive Pulleys. Both mods have been in the car for months without issue prior.

What am I missing here? Is it possible I damaged the SJB? I'd like to find fix this on my own instead of having the dealer find something stupid and feel like a shithead.

Thanks.

 

[Hvacmike]

Try pulling fuse 16 in the engine compartment overnite when your not driving the car.

I had the shaker 500 and have the same issue. Fuse 16 is what powers the amps. If i forget to pull the fuse the battery will be dead the next day i drive my car.

I used some 12 gage wire and ran one wire from the a fuse terminal in the fuse block to a toggle switch, than came off the toggle switch to the fuse itself, than off the fuse to the other terminal to back to the second fuse terminal in the fuse box.

 

[Kalatrax]

Did you have the tech at sears do multiple load tests consecutively? I am a parts manager for Autozone and there are plenty of batteries that come in, we charge them, they test out great with a full charge, but I normally do three load tests in a row to see if it drops. More often then not it will drop 15-30% charge each test. You had the alternator tested on the vehicle as well? Did the diodes pass?

 

[Random Asshole]

I forgot to mention that I pulled the fuse for the amp when I removed the fuses for the stereo and HIDs.

I left the meter reading amperage draw for an hour to see if anything randomly came up. I took periodic voltage readings (with another different meter) and it always read 12.5-12.6V. As I buttoned up the car for the night, I took one last voltage reading across the terminals and it read 12.6V. For shits and grins, I tried starting the car. "Wowbrrrrrrp". Dead battery.
Closed the windows and went to work. It's nice having a company vehicle.

Sent from my MB612 using Tapatalk 2

 

[1QIKPNY]

Ironically I have pretty much the same problem going on with my car. Been driving my jeep the past two weeks and went to drive my car the other day and it was deader then a door nail. Jumped it off with my jeep and it ran fine, was dead the next morning. Have put a battery charger on it several times and no matter the duration of the charge it will not turn over. I guess I need to take mine up and have it tested.

 

[Random Asshole]

Missed this.

Pretty sure it was only load tested once.

As far as what all the hand held tested, I can't say for sure. I would think so. I remember the Ford Battery/charging system tester was pretty thorough. I figured they were all pretty much the same by now.

I'm leaning towards battery as being the problem, but I'd like to do other tests so I don't possibly damage a new one. Haven't looked at an EVTM yet.

Sent from my MB612 using Tapatalk 2

 

[skwerl]

Replace the battery. Since the battery has been drained several times, it is now 'damaged goods' and will never hold a full charge again. You may or may not have other problems but you will never know while you continue trying to charge a damaged battery.

 

[Kalatrax]

It can still show 12-13 volts and not have a charge on it. Have it load tested a couple times like I said.

 

[Random Asshole]

Put the battery on a a trickle charge when I got home this morning. Car would still not crank over 6 hours later

I get to Sears Auto and it was deemed defective this time. I wanted to get a Die Hard Gold this time. These parts guys these days..sheesh. Just because there isn't one listed in the catalog for car doesn't mean there isn't one that will fit. I match my battery to the first one I eyeball on the rack and pop it in the parking lot no problem. It's just a bit tall, but clears the hood fine. I don't think I've ever heard my starter wind up so fast in my life! Haha.

Went to O'Reilley's and had them put their battery/charging system tester on it since all the Sears guy could tell me was "charging good" no matter what I asked about the alternator. Voltage regulator, Diodes, and battery checked out normal according to the Lucky Charms tester. Guy did mention that the tester got a workout due to the temp off the metal case after the battery test. The AutoMeter brand tester is a honkin' beast compared to Sears and Rotunda testers I've seen.

This whole scenario still raises questions. I find it hard to believe the battery just took a shit on its own the day after I played around under the hood. Stranger things have happened, but I'm not sold. I imagine I did something wrong, but it was not due to arcing anything. The negative terminal was inside a leather glove the whole time.