More serious electrical problem

[gsxeclipse97]

Yesterday i installed a new battery, I went to work and car started fine when i left. Later than night i tried to go somewhere else and the battery was completely dead. I have no idea what could have caused it to do this; Any advice because im just going to take it to an electrical shop to fix all these problems. Im just at wits end screwing with wires! I didn't mess with any of the other wires so I just know why it started doing this.

 

[DSM_PWR]

Is it new to you or Brand New?

Theres no way it can be completely dead, just take it to get charged and try it again, check to make sure nothing is on when you turn the key off, like the glovebox light (seems to be the most common), etc..

 

[ClevelandDSM]

It can be the smallest thing, like said above ^^^^ the glovebox light, the radio staying lit due to a bad wiring job, light under the hood might have the little plunger busted and is staying on.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

Brand new from the store. The lights in the car wouldn't even come on when i opened the door dead.

The battery is from walmart.. looking into buying an optima but not untill all electical issuses are sorted out.

 

[ClevelandDSM]

On a brand new batery thats a pretty serious drain. Anything out of the ordinary like a charging light or something on? Anything hooked up through the cigarette lighter?

 

[squeak104]

Are you certain its dead by verifying with a multimeter or voltmeter? It could simply be a bad connection. If it is dead then you have a parasitic drain somewhere.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

But everything in the car shuts off when i turn off the car. the only things that i have messed with in the last week is the third break light. and it was working fine. I cant think of what else could be causing it. I do have one thing connected to the battery directly but it has an rpm switch connected to it so it only get powered once i hit 4100 rpms. Well its only grounded at that point but that has never caused me any of these kind of issues.

No voltmeter I just figured when you opend the door and nothing comes on its pretty dead.. There is nothing pluged in the lighter. but the power to that shuts off when you turn off the car. I used to have a radar dector and that was never an issue

 

[squeak104]

You need to verify for sure. Maybe a test light at the very least. Try to borrow one from someone. My girlfriends car wouldn't start, no lights come on etc but the battery had 12 volts. One of the battery clamps was cracked and not making a connection. Same thing happened on my GS. Gotta verify if the battery has power or not first.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

That makes since, but when i hooked everything up yesteday it was fine started with no problems. The negative terminal is new. I was going to replace the positive one also but seemed that it was in good shape. The ground wire from the batter to the frame is also new cause the old one looked like it was time for a change. I replaced the alternator the other day also but i have had no issues with that since everything there is tight. So.... I didn't notice a problem with anything untill i got the third brake light working. All i did there was move the ground wire until the light came on. I seemed to have a loose connection. The last battery had a dead cell in it. so i figure this one will also share the same fate since it sat over night and nothing is coming on at all now.

 

[squeak104]

If you want you can take the battery back to Wal-Mart and have them test it. Then they can tell you whether it is a dead battery or not. I'd still say buy a multimeter, they're so handy.

On a side note, my girlfriends car started up just fine and had for the past few weeks, and about a couple hours she went to leave work for a delivery and she had nothing. So it is possible something came loose and what not.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

I'll check it again but this is getting crazy. I plan on buying one of these meters very soon so i'll have no more issues.

 

[Captainredeyez]

Sometimes NEW batteries may have a bad cell in them. You should try and take it to autozone or pep-boys and they can run a test on it. The tester should be able to tell you if it has a bad cell. If it does have a bad cell, just get a print out and take it back to WALLY WORLD.

 

[Defiant]

Yesterday i installed a new battery,

Step One: Why? Was your old battery dead because the alternator's not working?

Get the electrical system diagnosed.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

Altenator works great. It keeps the car on, I just went outside one day to start the car and it didn't turn on, my girlfriend tried to jump me but she couldn't do it, her uncle was able to with his truck and the car ran fine untill I turned it off over night. Next morning i went walmart to get a new one put it in car started fine, 8 hours later or so went out to go somewhere it wouldn't start.

Also i change the alternator to the gallant one since it puts out more power, the last one i had, made the lights and interior stuff flash. This one doesn't have that problem so i don't know what would have caused it just to start draining for no reason.

I'll take it up to walmart and see what they tell me.

 

[Defiant]

Have you measured the voltage output?

 

[gsxeclipse97]

alternator puts out 14.02 volts according to advanced autoparts..