2 weeks ago I went to get in my truck to start it and noticed a clicking sound coming from underneath the dash. A s I turned the key nothing happened. Dead Battery. pulled it, charged it, tested it - Its ok, Put it back in the truck, tested the alt. and charging system, everything is ok. Yesterday, the same thing happened. Now, I didn't leave the lights on, the doors were closed, the stereo was off, everything was off. How can I check to see if there is something else drawing a charge from the battery?
Oh yea,its a 2004 F-250 Super Duty 2 wheel drive with v-8 gas motor. Any input would be appreciated. Thank You.

 

I had that prob w the ol' ladys explorer., It was a corroded cigg lighter half in the socket - enough to make a little connection but not enoough to produce some heat to pop it out. One of her friends went to light a smoke - pushed it in and when it didn't pop out - just left it.
Anyhoo... the way I found it was the long drawn out process of pulling all the fuses and putting them in one at a time and then going and hooking the batt cable back up to see which one made a bit of a spark. The bad thing for this method is that w computers and all, the whole system needs a lil bit of juice to preserve memory etc and you get some false "sparks" from just energizing a circuit that needs to be energized.
My 99 SD 5.4 is my plow truck and so... sits for some time during the summer. Does the same thing - three weeks and the batt is dead. My diesel sits lots during the winter (rust-free and gonna stay that way for a while) and I remember to put one of those little charger/maintainers on it as it has 300 bucks worth of batteries under the hood. Why can't I remember to do that to my SD?
Wait.. did I eat breakfast yet... what day is it?

One more thing you might try. Disconnect the pos cable on the battery and then get a small light and solder two wires (or use a continuity light) to make the connection from the cable to the battery. Pull all the fuses and now do the one-at-a-time replacement and see which fuse makes the light light. Some fuses, when replaced, may give you a burst of light and then dim to nothing - probably memory. If it is too big of a current draw it will just fry the little bulb ( if it is an expensive/rare bulb in your continuity light use the cheap bulb-wire-solder method) and I wouldn't think this method would harm a computer. I have got a couple cheap l.e.d. continuity lights included in stuff like car alarms and radios.

Good luck!

 

Check your alternator. Pull it and have it tested.

Your battery also.

 

You can check by putting a bulb between the disconnected terminal and the battery post. If it lights up, you have a leak. If not, I would check the cables/terminals. Right now I am fighting with one of my terminals that is corroded just enough to make the starter just click but the corrosion isn't even visible. I take some sandpaper to it about once every 2 months and its fine after that.

 

Redford is right on too. Check the first things first...

Disconnect the battery and see if goes dead on its own.

Maybe auto-zone or someone can test too.

Altho my local parts guy will ALWAYS test the battery and tell you his product is OK!

 

I had this same issue with my truck a few months ago. The batteries were being charged by the alternator just fine and the batteries tested ok. After fighting with dead batteries for a month or so I went to the parts store and bought 2 new batteries and installed them and have had no issue since. Be sure and check for corroded terminals or cables as well. Corrosion will stop the juice from flowing to battery from alternator. If corrosion is present one way to "kill" it is to scrub the parts clean with a wore brush and dump some coca cola brand soda on them. The acid in the drink will slow the regrowth of the corrosion. Just a tip hope you figure out the problem... nothing worse than an unreliable charging system. Good Luck!!!

 

Thank you for your input. I will let you know the results.

 

I am having the same issue, '05 F350 6.0 Powerstroke.

$400 worth of brand new (I mean BRAND NEW, 3 months old) FACTORY Motorcraft batterys installed by my dealer. Alternator good. Truck sits for 3 to 4 weeks at a time. Went to start it yesterday and both batterys completely dead (multimeter shows 1 volt) Any body have any ideas?? Its a real pain in the ***.

 

Sound slike you have something leeching the power from your battery. You need to figure out what stays "hot" after you turn the truck off. Maybe something small like the radio or the light under your hood?? Do you have an aftermarket radio? If so, sometimes shops will run power leads directly to the battery which allows people to leave their radios on after the car is shut off. Just a thought.

 

find out what fuse uses power with key off, then unhook both positive cables on both battery's and use a volt meter on 10a . as you put in one fuse check meter intill you find out what is using the most power. I had a problem just like that with my 03 f350 and it was the keyless entry using 95 amps by it self

 

Hmmm. The OP says he pulled the dead battery, charged it, and tested it, and it was okay. But was this a load test, or just a car start test?

 

95amps? Thats like 1000 watts? Did you mean .95 amps?

 

I am having the same issue with my 02 F350 . Batteries and alternator were tested today and both are less than a year old and good. However I noticed that only the passenger side battery was dead tonight and the drivers retained the charge from this AM?

 

I think I might have a weak alternator too. I've had starting issues but I let it high idle for a few minutes before turning it off. I need to check it tomorrow.

 

BareBones - Yes, I load tested the battery after charging it and the meter said it was good. We'll see how everything works this next week. Thank you.