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2G Battery Drain/Short

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tsi40422

10+ Year Contributor
85
0
Sep 16, 2011
Bartow, Florida
**First off, Electronics are not my Forte**



So here is the deal. My car's RPMs slowly dropped one day and the car turned off. I have driven the car for about 30 minutes for about 2 weeks, on and off, since i got her back up and running.
The battery has always been great and It's a brand New Alternator.

I jumped the car and got it to turn on for a bit and removed the terminals from the battery. The car instantly died. So my first thought was a Bad Alternator(even tho it's new).

Removed Alternator, took it to Autozone. They tested it twice and everything came out positive and good on their machine.

So I installed it back on the car, made sure all the connections were tight and in good condition.

I took a Multimete to the battery terminals while it was out of the car and they read 10V and it didn't drop.


I then hook up the battery back up and test it without turning the car on.
The meter showed the battery slowly dropping from 10V down to 6V. There is a drain somewhere in the car.

I jumped the car and left both cars connected with the jumper cables, thats the only way it'll stay on. I took the meter to the Alternator output and it read 13V consistently (maybe because the other car was hooked up too)

I took the jumper cables off and the battery read 12.9V and slowly started to die once again, within 60 seconds the car would die. Jumped it again and then removed the cables. This time I gave it a little bit of a rev and it died even Faster.

I removed every fuse on the fuse box just to make sure it was no accessory that was draining it. But it keeps Draining it slowly.


Could it be a bad Battery? I tried getting it tested but i took it when it was dead, they said i had to charge it first in order for them to test it.

Im positive there is a short somewhere, but at the same time the Alternator should be compensating a bit for a possible dead battery! What could be draining it so much that even a good alternator can't keep it on for a bit longer.


Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
 
Ohh, Just a Cd Player that isn't hooked up & a turbo timer that the PO installed. Both are disconnected. Those are the only accessories on the car.
 
looks like the battery is not getting charged . check and make sure that the heavy gauge wire at the alternator has power .
 
Is your alternator a Duralast part number 14258? If so, it's probably bad. I work at az and for some reason any of our 2g platform alternators aren't the greatest. I'd almost bet it's just a junk unit. The Duratester will claim it's good 9 times outta 10 even though on car it's giving you these symptoms. I haven't had an issue with the 1g plat yet. Speaking from 7 years at the company and 10 years playing with dsms, 3 of us have gone threw 15 or more alternators. Find a known good unit if possible (have any friends with a 2g?) This will eliminate that option. Do you have any dash lights that are faintly lit when it's running? My 2g doesn't kick a battery light when mine dies, the red brake and a/t temp light half light up. As agll30 stated you need a load test. The az handheld auto meter tester is a load test. Same exact one AAA services uses. Hope that gave some insight into your issue.
 
Those your battery light stay on after you start the car?
Take a volt meter and read the volts on the battery with car off. Good battery will give you 12.6v under that won't be strong enough to start car.
If you start the car and battery drain ir not higher by one volt alt maybe shot.
Make sure your battery connections are good and tight. Check fuse for the alternator. Check the connections to alternator make sure is tight. Make sure you got good tension on alternator belt.
Just had this had this happened to me. After changing alt still had the problem turn out was my connectors to my battery where bad too
 
I jumped the car and left both cars connected with the jumper cables, thats the only way it'll stay on. I took the meter to the Alternator output and it read 13V consistently (maybe because the other car was hooked up too)

13V was the donor car charging the heavily discharged battery, and just a side note, alternators don't like to charge dead batteries, only maintain.

I took the jumper cables off and the battery read 12.9V and slowly started to die once again, within 60 seconds the car would die. Jumped it again and then removed the cables. This time I gave it a little bit of a rev and it died even Faster.

The alternator is not outputting/charging OR the fuse is blown. Take the MM negative lead and ground to the battery -. Then take the positive lead and put it to the alternator output bolt on back of alt. That'll tell ya for sure if it's dead. The alt has two power inputs -the black/yellow wire and the red wire. If you loose one or the other you'd have a backup so that's probably not an issue unless the plug is totally disconnected.

If they tested the alt as good then I'm guessing the fuse. Do the above test and if it comes up 13V+ then replace fuse in upper LH corner (of fuse box), it's blue, I think 100A, labeled 'MOTEUR'. Bolted in with a 10 and 8mm bolt. On these cars you must be careful around the alternator using a wrench, the 02 housing is very easy to touch by accident. The fuse is a PITA to find last I knew.
 
Is your alternator a Duralast part number 14258? If so, it's probably bad. I work at az and for some reason any of our 2g platform alternators aren't the greatest. I'd almost bet it's just a junk unit. The Duratester will claim it's good 9 times outta 10 even though on car it's giving you these symptoms. I haven't had an issue with the 1g plat yet. Speaking from 7 years at the company and 10 years playing with dsms, 3 of us have gone threw 15 or more alternators. Find a known good unit if possible (have any friends with a 2g?) This will eliminate that option. Do you have any dash lights that are faintly lit when it's running? My 2g doesn't kick a battery light when mine dies, the red brake and a/t temp light half light up. As agll30 stated you need a load test. The az handheld auto meter tester is a load test. Same exact one AAA services uses. Hope that gave some insight into your issue.

Yea i have the 14258, I've gotten them from autozone a few times in the past on previous dsms. This would be the first bad one i would have been experiencing.
My battery light flickers on and off at first then fully comes on along with the Brake light right before it dies.[DOUBLEPOST=1412252879][/DOUBLEPOST]
Those your battery light stay on after you start the car?
Take a volt meter and read the volts on the battery with car off. Good battery will give you 12.6v under that won't be strong enough to start car.
If you start the car and battery drain ir not higher by one volt alt maybe shot.
Make sure your battery connections are good and tight. Check fuse for the alternator. Check the connections to alternator make sure is tight. Make sure you got good tension on alternator belt.
Just had this had this happened to me. After changing alt still had the problem turn out was my connectors to my battery where bad too

Yea, the Battery and Brake light will come on.
The battery reads 10v with the car off and slowly down to around 6v or 7v then stays steady at the lower voltage reading. I know it's not strong enough to start the car but shouldn't i be getting a reading thats steady?

Alt fuse was intact from what i could see with my eyes. Alternator belt is not too tight and not loose by any means. I will double check the connectors, sucks i can only work on my car on the weekends tho![DOUBLEPOST=1412254746][/DOUBLEPOST]
13V was the donor car charging the heavily discharged battery, and just a side note, alternators don't like to charge dead batteries, only maintain.



The alternator is not outputting/charging OR the fuse is blown. Take the MM negative lead and ground to the battery -. Then take the positive lead and put it to the alternator output bolt on back of alt. That'll tell ya for sure if it's dead. The alt has two power inputs -the black/yellow wire and the red wire. If you loose one or the other you'd have a backup so that's probably not an issue unless the plug is totally disconnected.

If they tested the alt as good then I'm guessing the fuse. Do the above test and if it comes up 13V+ then replace fuse in upper LH corner (of fuse box), it's blue, I think 100A, labeled 'MOTEUR'. Bolted in with a 10 and 8mm bolt. On these cars you must be careful around the alternator using a wrench, the 02 housing is very easy to touch by accident. The fuse is a PITA to find last I knew.


The fuse looked good, I put the meter on the bolt with the thick red wire in the back of the alternator and grounded the other end. There was never a reading of 13v+ it went from a high 12v reading slowly down to about 9v before it died. So it seems like the Alt is not outputting anything if the Voltage is slowly going down right?
 
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Voltage to low in battery and alt shot.double check belt make sure no chance of it slipping. Auto store had gave me wring size belt first time. Gave me one that numbers ended with 95 when it suppose to be 84. U was in your shoes. I can only work on my car on weekends and I don't have garage only a parking spot. And bring my jack and tools out is pain but helps on the labor fees. My car was out road for three weeks. My water pump went then battery and alt. I stressful but just breathe and take your time and go through everthing couple times and you will be fine
 
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