electrical issues - battery not charging

[tochigi-fuji]

Hey guys,

Well, I decided to wash my engine this past weekend and now I'm wishing I hadn't (of course, this could all just be coincidence).

To clean the engine, I pulled my battery and covered up my fuse boxes and wiring in the top left of the engine bay, my distributor, my alternator, and my battery cables. I sprayed it all with degreaser and then lightly hosed it down (I didn't spray my covered areas hard at all if any).

All of it had at least four hours to dry, then I put my battery back in and the battery didn't have enough juice to start it up. I've only had the car for a few weeks, but we could tell the battery was pretty old but the acid on and how it had really deteriorated the tiedown. We jumped it and it fired right up though, so I went on my way.

On that drive, I noticed some a little strange, whenever I pushed the brake the lights would dim for half a second.

The next morning I had to get jumped and I went to autozone, they tested my battery, said it was bad, so I picked up a new battery. They put that in and the car fired right up and I drove it home.

I came out to go to work today and my battery is dead. My brand new battery is almost completely dead in less than 24hrs and less than 20minutes of driving.

Is this a problem with my alternator or is there a drain somewhere? Any ideas?

Thanks,
Zach

[tochigi-fuji]

Thanks for the response. I'll check out my grounds, fuses and what not.

Originally posted by fizzbob7
then you'll wanna get a voltmeter and make sure it's charging too.........if all that checks out, then make sure the battery just isn't bad

How would I go about doing this though? I was planning to swing by autozone where I bought the battery after work and get them to test the battery (its brand new so i doubt its the cause though) and also test the alternator. Do you think their test of the alternator would be sufficient or should I pick up a voltmeter and check it myself?

[tochigi-fuji]

Alright, I'll be sure to ask them about that.

Any thoughts on the light dimming problem I mentioned in my origional post? Could that be a ground issue?

[cokinut]

make sure your postive and negative cables to the battery are secured tightly around the post (good contact). If the the positive battery cable is not "clamped" around the post well enough, the alternator may not be charging your battery back as you drive. hence you start your car, drive straight off the battery, and then your battery is dead. this is the easiest one to do.

i also agreee with fizz.

also, if you have a short in your system or a live wire, that could possibly do it. check your connection if you have installed an amp, fogs, etc.

[cokinut]

and i just noticed you are in richmond. tite! i go there every now and then (vcu area) to visit my bro.

[tochigi-fuji]

Hmm... good point about the clamps. They are both definitely in poor condition.

Something else concerns me though, this was a new battery and was installed around 1:00 yesterday. At 7:45am this morning it was dead. I only drove it from the autoparts store back to my apartment (about 7 miles or so). Does this make sense? Could something else be draining the battery (I know I'm not leaving any on).

[tochigi-fuji]

Originally posted by fizzbob7
i'll never spray my motor like that

Trust me, neither will I again

[tochigi-fuji]

I just went out and did some snooping under my hood.

All the grounds are in good shape. The previous owner had already added some heavy duty grounding wires in addition to and to reinforce the stock grounding. So I'm pretty confident that my grounding is decent.

The positive terminal clamp was loose. With some minor force I was able to pull it off the battery. I cleaned it up the clamp and terminal with what little tools I had (some shop towels pretty much) and secured it down. It is definitely tight now. However the cable/clamp itself could probably stand to be replaced.

I checked the fuse box, everything seems to be in order there.

I checked the wires on the alternator, they are well insulated and looked fine to me. I don't have a voltmeter with me but visually it all looks ok.

Could it be possible that the loose clamp was the only problem? I have a hard time believing that personally.

[accordme93]

Hmm,

I've been meaning to clean my engine, but this thread has me worried.

How do you clean your engine Fizzbob?


Sorry to hijack this thread.

Hope you get that drain problem cleared up tochigi-fuji.

[tochigi-fuji]

Good news, the car started up.

I had tightened down the positive clamp during my lunch break and checked out the grounds but that was it pretty much. Before trying to flag someone down to give me a jump I decided to give it a go for shits and giggles and she fired right up.

So the loose connection coupled with an already corroded clamp were the causes behind my apparent battery issue. The car wasn't even trying to get any juice from the battery!

[GoatX12]

tochigi-fuji good job, glad to hear it's fixed.