The Infamous Battery Drain Issue -- My steps so far -- need suggestions

Voltage alone is only half the data. You don't know charging AMPS. You have to FULLY charge your battery FIRST, then check charging volts, at the battery with a DVOM.

Without knowing the state of charge of your battery, the voltage readings don't mean a lot as far as diagnosing the issue. At this time, all you know is the alternator IS putting out power. It is possible that your charging system is just fine, and you are getting the borderline readings because the battery is near depleted.

Juice said:

Voltage alone is only half the data. You don't know charging AMPS. You have to FULLY charge your battery FIRST, then check charging volts, at the battery with a DVOM.

Without knowing the state of charge of your battery, the voltage readings don't mean a lot as far as diagnosing the issue. At this time, all you know is the alternator IS putting out power. It is possible that your charging system is just fine, and you are getting the borderline readings because the battery is near depleted.

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The volt readings I outlined were after I had fully charged the battery with a charger.

1950StangJump$ said:

Back it down, tough guy. Now YOU need to stay focused instead off getting your knickers bunched up. . . pulling the fan fuses is irrelevant to whether the car is holding PROPER charge. The fans alone would not have been enough to drain the battery if everything else was fine. And you have apparently not been around the block enough to know that you cant comment on another man's "intent." My intent was always to leverage the best, most reasonable courses of action to fix the issue.

I started this thread knowing: The previous owner had done the alternator, so I viewed it as an unlikely culprit. I had the battery tested, though it was relatively new also. I also new that 4-5 days without running meant my battery was dead. And there was a ton of info on batteries being sucked dry on these cars.

So I started looking for the parasite . while 30-50mA aint perfect, it wouldnt be killing my battery. The problem is obviously a bad battery or a shitty alternator.

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Re-read your own opening thread. You're the one who took this thread down the parasitic loss rabbit hole. You're the one who had no ability to determine what F67 fed from the the BEC. You're the one who ASSUMED that the alternator and charging system were good. It was your process of troubleshooting (or lack thereof) that took the process this direction. So don't cop an attitude with me when I told you I would be glad to help you as long as you followed through with your process and provided feedback. That never happened. You jumped ship, and decided to go a different direction before confirming whether the circuit was or was not causing parasitic loss before turning your attention to another direction. That is NOT FOLLOWING THROUGH. I don't give a flip what your "intent" was, the fact of the matter is you that you failed to follow through. You quit before the task was complete and jumped to another probable cause before being able to conclusively prove the issue was not parasitic in that circuit before moving on.By your own words you got "frustrated and quit". I simply tried to enlighten you and get you back on track but my efforts failed. That doesn't make your inability to follow through my fault. That makes my thinking that I could encourage you to see the process through before moving on poor discernment on my part.

As for the VMP fans, that was free advice independent of the problem at hand. You brought that topic into the equation for reasons I have no idea. I simply was making a suggestion separate as a die note and letting you know the current draw that has when the system is on with with the engine not running .

redfirepearlgt said:

Re-read your own opening thread. You're the one who took this thread down the parasitic loss rabbit hole. You're the one who had no ability to determine what F67 fed from the the BEC. You're the one who ASSUMED that the alternator and charging system were good. It was your process of troubleshooting (or lack thereof) that took the process this direction. So don't cop an attitude with me when I told you I would be glad to help you as long as you followed through with your process and provided feedback. That never happened. You jumped ship, and decided to go a different direction before confirming whether the circuit was or was not causing parasitic loss before turning your attention to another direction. That is NOT FOLLOWING THROUGH. I don't give a flip what your "intent" was, the fact of the matter is you that you failed to follow through. You quit before the task was complete and jumped to another probable cause before being able to conclusively prove the issue was not parasitic in that circuit before moving on.By your own words you got "frustrated and quit". I simply tried to enlighten you and get you back on track but my efforts failed. That doesn't make your inability to follow through my fault. That makes my thinking that I could encourage you to see the process through before moving on poor discernment on my part.

As for the VMP fans, that was free advice independent of the problem at hand. You brought that topic into the equation for reasons I have no idea. I simply was making a suggestion separate as a die note and letting you know the current draw that has when the system is on with with the engine not running .

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I have no obligation to follow through in the manner in which you dictate -- you're obviously one of the hard-headed coots who thinks everyone must think like he does and follow his orders. Feel free to offer no more advice. That said, after investigating the parasitic loss idea more, and realizing what I was seeing was probably normal and could not be responsible for such a quick drain (as others on this thread said), it made me reconsider whether the charging system was at fault . . . however unlikely I might have thought that possibility originally. Then, I played the latest timeline in my head (where it went dead after tuning twice) and confirmed I needed to consider it. This is a reasonable thought process.

Back on topic . . .

After some investigation, the relatively new alternator is probably the SR Performance 130 amp from American Muscle. It is 65 amps at idle. The battery going dead after 4-5 days has been a problem since long before I put in the VMP HE with fans this last weekend. But, given the VMP fans alone require 25 amps, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it made this matter worse if the battery is not getting fully charged or not holding a charge. I am going to have the battery and alternator tested (again).

1950StangJump$ said:

The car has not been washed in a couple weeks. While I have hit the occasional puddle, it has not been in a rain. So, I can't see how any water would have gotten in the SJB area causing this . . . so, I didn't even check that.

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You bought the car used. It's worth checking out regardless. The kick panel removes in just a matter of seconds.

ox white said:

You bought the car used. It's worth checking out regardless. The kick panel removes in just a matter of seconds.

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With all the bickering, I forgot to mention that I did, indeed, check for water after I wrote the post saying I didn't.

I pulled off the whole kick panel and looked at the SJB and surrounding areas -- they are spotless. Zero evidence of moisture.

I recently went through this with a "new" optima battery and a "new" alternator. I'm using quotes because I purchased both things new at different times and within a short time of my issues arising.
My car would be fine most of the time but any load on the battery without the car running would lead to the car not having enough juice to start.
My alternator showed proper voltage but I started noticing the car doing odd things and dropping voltage under a load, headlights flickering, etc.
I charged my battery fully and did the 09-10 Desno swap, the problem has not returned and now my car actually runs better.
That SR Performance alternator isn't any better than the stock 6G as they are rated for 135 amps anyhow. The Denso is rated for 150 amps and is available with a lifetime warranty from your favorite parts store. The plugs are the same and it just requires you to strip back the wire loom and free up some length in order to plug in the Denso. You will also need to open up the eyelet for the charging wire as the Denso uses a larger post.

Update. I am taking to the mechanic tomorrow for an "official" test of the alternator and battery. But, in the meantime . . .

• I put the voltmeter on the positive and negative battery terminals without the car running. It showed 12.6 -- which I'm told is perfect.
• Started the car with no electrical load. Came in at 14.2 -- told this is also perfect.
• Gave it all the load I could (radio, high beams, A/C full blasting, and intercooler pump and fans). Dropped to 14.0, which I think is good

But . . .

The longer the car idled (and got hotter), the worse the volts. Under the heavy load, it eventually dropped to 12.2-12.3. When I took off all load again, it went up only to 13.3. Revving it to 2500 RPMs got it to 13.6.

Thoughts? All measurements done with two separate voltmeters and the Aeroforce gauge. The were genrally within .2 volts of each other.

Rocket, is the upgraded power cable required with the Denzo 09-10?

The PA Performance 200a version is the same price, so I'm wandering if the Denzo has something the 200amp model doesnt . . .

No 6G alternator is worth messing with, they are poorly designed and no aftermarket company has rectified it.
The Denso is THE solution, there isn't much need for more amperage than the 150 the Denso supplies out of the box.
All you need to do is open the hole on the eyelet to and you're good to go.

According to the Department of Boost, the Denso will not work with the Kenne Bell

1950StangJump$ said:

According to the Department of Boost, the Denso will not work with the Kenne Bell

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I believe they shave part of it to fit, I could be wrong

I sent them an email. Might not matter if my alternator comes back good tomorrow.

1950StangJump$ said:

I sent them an email. Might not matter if my alternator comes back good tomorrow.

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By your description alone of the falling voltage when the car builds some heat your alternator is failing.

I kind of hope so. I don't like spending the $400, but I don't want to be chasing this problem for the next year either.

The answer is probably yes but you'd better verify those values with a digital multimeter, and measure the voltage across the battery with the engine off after it's rested for a few hours.
Ideally you need to measure the engine idling battery voltage five minutes or so after a cold start before it's warmed up enough for the fan to switch on.

So, after all that, the battery was bad. I didn’t believe me, so they showed me how it went from 600 yo 450 cold cranking amps after putting it on ‘run’ for just a couple minutes, and then down to 130 when they did it a second time.

They theorizes it tested good before because the guy didn’t do a “load test.”

I’m confident the battery was bad based on what I saw today. I’m just not confident it wasn’t killed by the alternator.

I’ll give it some time and see.

Yea, i got my altenator from department of boost and they are very stern about an altenator being able to kill a battery very fast despite the age. I guess you'll know if the issie comes back again.

Yep, if it happens again, I'll know for sure.

BTW, Rocket --- Dept of Boost says no Denso alternator will work with the Kenne Bell setup.