charging issue with battery

cichy1012 · Post by **cichy1012** » 09 Jan 2024, 11:57

2005 volvo s40 2.5 awd

car died at work had system power message.
friend drove me to store- replaced battery cause battery was 5 years old.
Got home- car gave same message, everything was also shutting down.
Ordered alternator after taking it out and having bench test. - charged new battery
car ran fine from nov 20th till dec 31st.-- car threw same message and shut down.
in the meantime i charged my old battery and installed it; car started up fine.-- alternator was putting out proper voltage as a well as battery and ran about 8 days yesterday - car died again. power message
charged up new battery all night; installed and took car to get tested. battery shows fine as well as alternator.
i used my meter, and with car idle, alternator is putting out 14.8-14.85 volts and batter is putting out 14.7-14.75
could alternator (new) be intermittent bad?

any help would be great. thanks

Richard99 · Post by **Richard99** » 09 Jan 2024, 19:25

Make sure you don't have a parasitic draw first. Do a proper parasitic draw test.

cichy1012 · Post by **cichy1012** » 09 Jan 2024, 20:14

thanks, ill look into that, but why would the car be driving around then start shuttting down functions while im driving. wouldnt the alternator be charging the battery while driving?

Post by **MoVolvos** » 09 Jan 2024, 23:48

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Check grounds. Battery and alternator check out but dead battery and you are driving it. Either alternator is not charging, charging but hard amp draw somewhere. Worst case grounds not allowing alternator to charge fully. You can test the battery voltage and alternator output after start up every morning for a week and see where things are at?
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cichy1012 · Post by **cichy1012** » 10 Jan 2024, 07:13

Ok checked Amp draw
Removed negative cable
Put postive amp lead on negative cable
Put negative lead on negative battery post

Result 0.8 amps. Is this enough to cause this ?

Also after I did this test I left the negative off for about 2 hours cause I needed to use the car. I tested the amp draw again and i was no longer showing a drain.
I’m confused

Post by **MoVolvos** » 10 Jan 2024, 14:30

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I've corresponded before with both Eric and Charles via email. Really nice and helpful people. As Charles indicated there are more than a couple ways of testing Parasitic Draw. Hope something in these 2 videos will help with your diagnosis.
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Richard99 · Post by **Richard99** » 18 Jan 2024, 15:27

no

cichy1012 wrote: ↑10 Jan 2024, 07:13 Ok checked Amp draw
Removed negative cable
Put postive amp lead on negative cable
Put negative lead on negative battery post

Result 0.8 amps. Is this enough to cause this ?

Also after I did this test I left the negative off for about 2 hours cause I needed to use the car. I tested the amp draw again and i was no longer showing a drain.
I’m confused

It’s possible you didn’t let enough time go by to allow internals to shut off completely.