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I have two batteries that are barely over a year old and an alternator that's six months old. Now over the last week the batteries won't hold a charge. Over a two night period they go dead. What kind of drain could be doing this that fast?
Short trips and a small drain can do that.
Bench test the alt and the batteries. I know it a pain but it helps
to remove that from the question.
Do you hav any aftermarket amps, alarm system or a GPS?
Does the interior lights turn off after a short time when you close the door?
Any work done to the truck or something new added?
You don't want to use the alt to charge the batteries. Low voltage is very hard on the FICM.
The best way to charge is a regular battery charger then a maintainer to keep them up in the
time being till you find the cause.
I have two batteries that are barely over a year old and an alternator that's six months old. Now over the last week the batteries won't hold a charge. Over a two night period they go dead. What kind of drain could be doing this that fast?
Since it happened all of sudden, I believe one of the batteries has a shorted cell. Remove + cable from each battery. Charge both batteries and then check them with a battery checker. It will be very obvious if you have a bad battery. If you have not added any recent accessories, then I would suspect the alternator.
Check for a parasitic drain. Could be more than a few things.
Pull the negatives off hook a test light or multi tester and see if it dims after a bit. If not something is staying on. I am trying to sort through a problem like this myself. If you are going to be going back and forth trip the door latch with screw driver to make it appear that the door is closed or it will restart all the computer stuff again.
Check for a parasitic drain. Could be more than a few things.
Pull the negatives off hook a test light or multi tester and see if it dims after a bit. If not something is staying on. I am trying to sort through a problem like this myself. If you are going to be going back and forth trip the door latch with screw driver to make it appear that the door is closed or it will restart all the computer stuff again.
Can you explain this more. I'm not all that good of a mechanic but this seems like a good test for me to run. Like what negatives (the batteries)? Also where do I hook up the meter? Sorry but I'm just now gaining experience in these areas. I charged the batts and they read 13.1 in hooked and the alternator show 13.6 with engine running.
Can you explain this more. I'm not all that good of a mechanic but this seems like a good test for me to run. Like what negatives (the batteries)? Also where do I hook up the meter? Sorry but I'm just now gaining experience in these areas. I charged the batts and they read 13.1 in hooked and the alternator show 13.6 with engine running.
OK.
Pull the negative sides off the batteries. Use a screwdriver to trip the latch on the drivers door so you can go back and forth and the truck will not keep the dome lights on or keep triggering the computer. Connect a multi tester(set to mili amps or test light between the negative post and the negative cable. If there is no battery drain it will dim out the light or the mili amp draw will drop. If not you have something draining the battery.
If a drain is the case, you can start pulling fuses and disconnected devices to find the culprit.
Did the test with the meter on the negative cable and post. It only showed a draw of .03. I guess that shows I don't have much of one. That was with everything off.
12-30-2015, 11:08 PM
Happy New Year 2016 is almost here 
