battery losing charge

luckyirish7 · Post by **luckyirish7** » 31 Dec 2010, 09:22

I have had my battery tested and charging system and all comes out good. But if I dont run my car for a period of 2-4 days it looses all the juice to the battery. My friend told me it sounds like a short some where. Can anyone lead me in the right direction on where to stat on this issue? Thanks

Post by **RyanGLT** » 31 Dec 2010, 09:30

I hesitate to tell people to search, but this has been rehashed on here a million times.

What car is it?

Glove box lights have a tendency to stay on and will kill the battery enough to make this happen in just a night or two. It's easiest to check this in the dark when you can peek through the crack in the GB door.

Positive battery cables corrode leaving connections just bad enough to no let the maximum amount of power through.

Grounds should be cleaned, connections all checked.

That's a start.

Post by **DGM** » 31 Dec 2010, 09:36

For me it was the light in the rear trunk...it stayed on

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 31 Dec 2010, 10:58

As noted, lots of information here in the archives. That said, if battery and alternator are testing good, the next thing to check for is a drain on the battery. To do this, you'll need a multi-meter that can read current, and connect it in series between the positive post of the battery and the positive cable. This will give you a current reading (make sure that all accessories are off, car doors are closed, etc). If you have more than about 30mA draw, start pulling and replacing fuses one by one until you see a current drop. That isolates the problem to a particular circuit. Post results here if you have any questions.

rp850 · Post by **rp850** » 08 Jan 2011, 18:05

I had the same problem. Removing the glove box light bulb solved my issue. I think sometimes the glove box door can sometimes not push the plunger in for the light switch - really intermittent - even driving around seems to be able to slightly change the orientation of the door against the switch so that the light can go on and off while driving, etc.

Tsquared · Post by **Tsquared** » 08 Jan 2011, 20:36

zhenya wrote:As noted, lots of information here in the archives. That said, if battery and alternator are testing good, the next thing to check for is a drain on the battery. To do this, you'll need a multi-meter that can read current, and connect it in series between the positive post of the battery and the positive cable. This will give you a current reading (make sure that all accessories are off, car doors are closed, etc). If you have more than about 30mA draw, start pulling and replacing fuses one by one until you see a current drop. That isolates the problem to a particular circuit. Post results here if you have any questions.

This is a solid troubleshooting technique. Like others have posted there are issues in the glove box and trunk but that may not be your problem area. The correct procedure for finding out which circuit is outlined by Zhenya. Let us know what you find out.

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 08 Jan 2011, 21:44

Out of curiosity, how old is the battery. If its more than 5 yrs old they stop holding a charge as well.

tblo760 · Post by **tblo760** » 09 Jan 2011, 14:50

luckyirish7 wrote:I have had my battery tested and charging system and all comes out good. But if I dont run my car for a period of 2-4 days it looses all the juice to the battery. My friend told me it sounds like a short some where. Can anyone lead me in the right direction on where to stat on this issue? Thanks

zhenya is correct,however if you don't have a multimeter just connect a 12v bulb in series with one of the battery terminals,a side light bulb will do,if this lights up then you've got a short in the constant circuit.The clock should not drain the battery unless there is a fault with it (uncommon,but possible).Just start by opening doors and turning off the interior lights and as zhenya suggests start pulling fuses to anything that is supplied by the constant circuit untill you find it.Don't forget to make sure you have your radio code if needed.Good luck Terry.

bobsnow100 · Post by **bobsnow100** » 10 Jan 2011, 07:06

I have the same problem. I took off the positive battery cable off and hooked a test light between the Positive cable and battery and the test light was on. I removed one fuse at a time until the test light went off. It was the fuse for the interior lights. None were on so there is a short somewhere which I will figure out when the weather is warmer. Temporary solution for now is
I just remove the fuse when my car sits for a few days and the battery doesn't drain.

One drawback is If I leave the fuse out to drive around, the door chime never stops chiming.
95 850 wagon

Post by **jblackburn** » 10 Jan 2011, 07:18

One drawback is If I leave the fuse out to drive around, the door chime never stops chiming.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=29232

The short for the lights may well be one of the door switches that all eventually go bad over time. They can be quite a pain to trace down until you discover one door leaving a light on or something.