Help, my car's battery dies over night without fail. I've had it checked with mechanics. What should i do?

Question

I still owe alot of money on the car but i've been spending so much to have it "fixed" just to drain again. Alternator and starter were good (according to mechanic) and i unplugged my stereo just in case and it was still dead the next morning. I don't know what to do.

Answer 1

you might have a short circuit, or you are leaving a light on, something is draining your battery for sure and is not your alternator or starter. There might be a loose wire. check your car for that. try this, charge your battery with your car on. then disconnect the positive(red) cable from the battery. leave it overnight. next morning, reconnect the wires and crank your car up. if the battery is dead, then you have a bad battery. if the car cranks up, then the problem is a short circuit. check all lights in the inside of the car at night, with all the doors closed. if none are on, then again, you may have a loose live wire somewhere making ground. check for burnt cables too.

Answer 2

do a draw check on it, take a 12 volt test light and hook it up between the negative post and the negative cable then see if the light is on,if it is you have a dead draw on it somewhere,take the negative cable off to do this though,this will allow you to hook the test light up between the battery and the cable,then start unhooking things or pulling fuses until the light goes off,then you will have found the draw on the battery,that's the oldest test known to find a draw and it works really well,remember though to pull the fuse for the dome light out or the test light will stay on while your doing this if the door is open on the car,anything that uses voltage will set the light to come on,so keep this in mind when doing this,good luck.

Answer 3

You either have a bad battery or a draw on your battery. Take the negative battery cable loose and hook a AMMETER in between the cable and the battery post to see how much current is being discharged from your battery. A discharge of .5 or less is not to bad but should be as close to 0 as possible. If you have to much discharge you need to make sure every thing in the car is off. Make sure all lights are off including the one in the trunk. Pull a fuse to see if the draw drops,if not, put the fuse back in and go to the next fuse. Keep going from fuse to fuse until you find the one that stops the amp draw. And then start looking for a better mechanic then the one you took it to.

Answer 4

You have a cureent draw somewhere. Have someone hook up an ammeter to the battery and start unplugging fuses until the current drops to zero.

Answer 5

sounds like bad battery just won't hold a charge overnight

Answer 6

make sure u unplug ur cell phone charger if u have one or what ever else may be where the car lighter goes there is something in the car pulling amperage if u want to check the altornator ur self just start the car and take off one of the battery cables if it imediatly shuts off its the problem

Answer 7

How old is the battery? if old, buy new one, dead cell, maybe holding surface charge. will jump start, car will run but won't hold charge

If newer battery Have battery checked at orielys or autozone ect. 4 free

Answer 8

Take one terminal off the battery every night.  Not the ground terminal, the other terminal.  If the car is five or more years old and the battery is the original one, the battery could be bad.  I don't buy anything but Walmart batteries for my cars.  Have you got a cheap voltmeter?  Voltage across the two terminals with engine running should be more than 14 volts.  Voltage with the key turned off and with or without the terminal removed should be more than 12 volts.  

Answer 9

get a portable jumper, $40 at wm, $60 at most, you can jump it everyday

it sounds like you're battery is dead and not holding a charge

get a battery disconnect kit, $10 auto part store

it goes on postive side of batt

every night, disconnect it, so nothing drain from it

in the morning connect it (it's a flip of switch) and you should have juice to crank up the car

Answer 10

Try disconnecting the positive post overnight and see what happens.

Answer 11

dodgeman gave the best instructions

he failed to mention  the test light will come on for a second or 2 as you hook it up  i usually tap the groung cable back on to the post to gharge the capasitors in the system than look for the shorts

if the test light doesnt come on  you have a defective battery

Answer 12

!!!!!!!!!!!!!  DON'T USE A VOLT METER MOST LIKELY IF YOUR NOT SURE WHAT YOUR DOING OR HAVE A LARGE DRAW YOU WILL BLOW THE FUSE IN YOUR METER PROBABLY   If you have a hood light unplug it shut all doors then put a test light between the negative cable and the negative battery post.  If you don't see a bright light from the test light then you can move to a volt meter.  Watch the light when you open the door it becomes fully lit, if you do this with a volt meter you will blow the fuse in the meter.

Answer 13

You can take all fuses out and put an ammeter in between each.  You will measure the offending unit (the one that draws the most current or several amps).

Good luck... usually alarms might do that... also a bad wire.

Answer 14

buy a new battery. It might even be your alternator. Get them both checked out.

Answer 15

ive looked at your current answers an the one thats makes sense is the one that says you have a current draw...pesky little things they are,i had a 93 chevy truck that would over a period of a couple of days lose chargeit turned out to be ,a light in the glove compartment...that never had a bulb in it...as long as i had it,anyway...so i would agree with the answer of hooking an ammeter up an pulling fuses ,that should do it good luck