dead battery issues

[palmtree907]

Ok. I just wanna be sure I'm not missing something...

last week- battery was dead when trying to start (for no apprarent reason). Charged for 2 hours and car started and ran fine for a week straight. Voltmeter across battery when running showed 14.25 vdc. Let's assume this means alternator is good.

Last night- drove car to store. started up and then decided to let fiance' drive home. She stalled it. Battery was dead when trying to restart, got the "click click click" of the starter relay. Guy driving by with Toyota couldn't get it to jump start. Push started down hill in parking lot and drove it home. Shut off and immediateley tried to restart, dead battery.

Started right up today with battery charger in "start" mode. Again showed 14.25 vdc. I took battery to Parts store where purchased 1 year ago. Load meter shows only 62 cold cranking amps on a battery rated for 875 CCA. 12 volts dc present. Parts girl said no shorted cell. Said problem with something in car draining battery. I am thinking otherwise.

Suggestions anyone?

[grover]

Started right up today with battery charger in "start" mode. Again showed 14.25 vdc. I took battery to Parts store where purchased 1 year ago. Load meter shows only 62 cold cranking amps on a battery rated for 875 CCA. 12 volts dc present. Parts girl said no shorted cell. Said problem with something in car draining battery. I am thinking otherwise.

Suggestions anyone?

They fail in different ways, a shorted cell isn't the only failure mode- if you're only getting 62 amps out of it after charging, it's dead, get a new one.

Other possible thing to check:

1) If this is a flooded wet cell (oppose to AGM), what's the electrolyte level of the battery? Did you overcharge it and drive off too much water? If so, you might be able to bring it back by adding more distilled water to bring the specific gravity back to spec.

[Glyn]

Check the battery connections - sounds like an earth cable fault

[palmtree907]

Check the battery connections - sounds like an earth cable fault

earth (ground cable as we call it in the US) cable was secure on both ends. No corrosion at all.

THe battery is a sealed unit, so not able to do much with it in that regard.

Thanks for the help gang.

[rocket.dawg]

perhaps a starter switch problem. Usually indicated by a "sticky" ignition key problem (hard to remove key from ignition slot). So when you turn off the engine, the car still "thinks" its on. Had this happen to mine and the battery drained. If this is the case, you will also notice that your lights don't come on, but the high-beams do and the air-cond blower stay's off. Let me know and the solution is a $45 + 10-15 minutes easy DIY. -lejolierogue

[palmtree907]

Key has never been hard to insert or remove. None of the other symptoms you described were present either. I installed a new battery and the car starts better than it has in the 8 months I've owned it, so I'm thinking old one was a dud (even though it was only a year old).

Thanks for the help everyone. I love my boxster!!

:renntech:

[JFP in PA]

Ok. I just wanna be sure I'm not missing something...

last week- battery was dead when trying to start (for no apprarent reason). Charged for 2 hours and car started and ran fine for a week straight. Voltmeter across battery when running showed 14.25 vdc. Let's assume this means alternator is good.

Last night- drove car to store. started up and then decided to let fiance' drive home. She stalled it. Battery was dead when trying to restart, got the "click click click" of the starter relay. Guy driving by with Toyota couldn't get it to jump start. Push started down hill in parking lot and drove it home. Shut off and immediateley tried to restart, dead battery.

Started right up today with battery charger in "start" mode. Again showed 14.25 vdc. I took battery to Parts store where purchased 1 year ago. Load meter shows only 62 cold cranking amps on a battery rated for 875 CCA. 12 volts dc present. Parts girl said no shorted cell. Said problem with something in car draining battery. I am thinking otherwise.

Suggestions anyone?

1. Charge the battery fully and then have it load tested. If it fails the load test, you need a new battery.

2. If the battery passes, or after you install a new one, put a multimeter between the positive battery cable (removed from the battery) and the battery + terminal; read the current (amperage) draw. Should be low (in the mili amp range), if it is not, start pulling the fuses one at a time and watch for a current draw change; when that occurs, you have identified the circuit(s) that are causing the issue..............