ok, so for the past 4 days, my battery has been draining itself when the car isnt on for no reason.

I did take the battery (its an 8 year battery I bought two months ago) to sears since it was under warranty and it passed both their tests, no defective cells or anything.

I've already pulled out my sub/amp wire, so there are no aftermarket wires coming off the battery to get grounded somewhere and drain everything.

The only other after market wiring that's done is the piggy via DD's sticky on here and the RRM instructions. I also wired my zt-2 into the same power source off the ecu as the piggy, so nothing should be different there.

Now for some reason, if my car sits still for longer than bout 3 hours, the battery becomes drained, and wont even turn the engine over. i know its drained because when i turn the key in the ignition before starting the car, the clock and stereo lights are insanely dim.

thus I've been forced to push my car and drop the clutch to start it the past couple of days.

I'm in the middle of resetting the ecu for the second time, no CEL's have been thrown, and I would really appreciate any input as to why this is happening.

 

I would suggest taking it to a automotive electrical shop. They can trace wires to find out what's the deal. sorry couldn't help more.

 

yeah, i really just dont want to have to take it to a shop.

 

Check the output of your alternator. Might be putting out barely enough to run the car, but not enough to properly charge the battery.

Try leaving the battery on a trickle charger overnight. In the morning, take it off and let it sit for a few hours, does the battery still drain?

 

when i took the battery back from sears yesterday at 2, they gave it to me fully charged, when i brought it in, it had so little charge it wouldnt register on the voltmeter. so i put the battery in drove to work, and the car sat from 4-10 last night. drove straight home and tried firing it up this afternoon for the first time at 3 again and it wouldnt start. I waited 2 hours while I was working tonight, and went out to test it again after it sat, and it BARELY was able to turn over and get running. plus the idle after letting off the throttle was almost stalling the engine out so that's why i reset the ecu again tonight.

so yeah, got battery fully charged yesterday, within 24 hours the charge completely drained.

 

It really sounds like the alternator.
Or a massive short in aftermarket wiring.

 

Disconnect positive battery cable.
Put an ammeter in between the positive terminal and the positive battery cable.
Check the reading.
Pull fuses until the reading drops.
There will be a very small drain for some things (ECU, radio, clock), but you shouldn't see more than a few milliamps with everything off.

Good luck, electrical gremlins can be difficult to track down.

 

Most battery shops around here will test your battery and alternator for free. If thay both check out okay, then follow Myszekewicz's instructions. They'll point you in the right direction.

 

update, took it in to get it tested, and it confirmed what I thought. battery is losing power just sitting there, there is a massive short somewhere in the wiring.

So I just finished checking all the after market wiring. Piggy+wideband controller, both good, getting power off pin 58--backup power supply off the ecu. nothing wrong with those wires at all

stereo seems same, when I pulled it out, I noticed the ground for it had become disconnected, but doesnt it only get power when ignition is on so it wouldnt drain the car?

I do have an alarm system on the car, but its been on there since I bought it (like 16+ months ago) and I've never touched it so I doubt it would be that.

I appreciate the input guys, anymore ideas for what's causing this? The car can still start after 2-3 hours, but after sitting still for more than 6, I have to push it and drop the clutch.

I know I could get one of those quick release things for the battery terminal, but who wants to sit in their car for 20 mins to idle and drive really slow for 15 mins just to get somewhere?

 

I havent started pulling fuses yet, but with positive terminal off and measuring the amperage on a 0 -250 milliamp scale, reading is off the scale. I'm using an analog multimeter, couldnt find strictly anmeter @ walmart and I figured that a 0-250 mA scale was all I needed.

also, do I pull fuses out of the interior of the car (like by the hood release switch) or just the fuse box in the engine bay?

 

To be safe... check both

 

so i pulled all the fuses (no 1-21 in the interior, 6-25 in the engine, along with the fusible links) none of them tool the amperage below 250 milliamps.


any other ideas? I really dont want to go to the dealership or a shop with it.

 

Heh, no, 250mA isn't enough. To give you an idea of the amount of power a car uses, your alternator puts out about 120 amps, which is about 8.3e6 milliamps....lots.

 

bump

 

but when the car is turned off, the amperage wouldnt be anywhere near what it is with everything running, right?

(im doing all this with the motor off in accordance with myszkewicz's instructions)