2003 Lancer ES - my battery died last week so i had it jumped, only the next morning it was dead again so i got a new battery. i then found out that the alternator was bad, so i replaced that and put a new belt on it too. very next morning, the battery was dead again. seems like something is draining the battery while the engine is off. any ideas???

 

bad ground, wiring issue. do u notice any lights staying on? or have u recently installed a stereo in it?

 

no recent stereo install, but the brake light and battery light on the dash flicker on/off every so often. how do i determine what part of the wiring is bad?

 

it will be a pain, i just stripped down a whole lancer and there are alot of ground wires.theres a big one mounted to a top tranny bolt,one on the head ,one on the timing cover may be a few more in the engine compartment.just check the main wire harness under the airbox for uncovered wires. double check all connections at alternator,if nothin else make a ground from battery to the chassis.

 

if i ground from battery to chasis will that stop the power drain on the battery when the car is off?

 

might or might not,,,,it could be your ignition switch,is the cel on?

 

the ignition switch or the fuse? which cel should i be looking for?

 

the cel is check engine light, might not hurt to check ur fuses too. u can always google the symptoms and maybe someone has same issue. in these forums look for 03lances or senate 6828 or maybe senate 6282 they are very smart with these cars they should know,send em a message.

 

senate 6268

 

I doubt it would. If you have an electrical component draining the juice out, I doubt an extra ground wire will prevent the said component from draining anymore.

If your problem is indeed a component draining power, you have to find the faulty component.
But first, you have to find out if that's your problem, or if it's simply your new battery that can't hold a charge.

To troubleshoot an alternator is fairly simple.
Crank the car, disconnect the battery and wait. If the car keeps running with the battery disconnected, the alternator is likely good.

To troubleshoot a battery? I dunno. I would fully charge it, set it on a bench and periodically check its voltage over the course of maybe a day or two. If the voltage doesn't drop then you'd know the battery is indeed good.

Once both the alternator and battery have been ruled out, then you could actually start troubleshooting electrical components. Look for brown spots, listen for odd electrical sounds, use a multi-meter on wires you know should be dead when the car is off and so on.

That's just how I would go about it.

edit:
Here's something stupid you have to check. Make sure the wires on the battery terminals are tight. If they are loose then they are making poor contact and can't properly charge your battery while in operation, and obviously can't cold start your car.

With the car off. Disconnect both battery terminals and check the battery voltage with a multi-meter.
With the car still off, reconnect the battery leads and take another reading with your multi-meter.

Is the reading different? It should be the same, or very close. If the readings are way different, you definetly have something draining power while the car is off.

 

all true and good info also put the multimeter on the fuses while car is off.

 

thanks guys. i'm gonna check these out later on. in the mean time i've been disconnecting the negative cable on the battery every time i leave the car parked for extended periods. :/

 

quick question,,,when u hook up the battery again does ur tranny shift weird for a lil while?

 

yup, it does. have you experienced this?

 

I have been experiencing the same kind of problem with the dash lights and headlights flickering. My battery starts my car like normal except if dont start the car up for a few days then it has a little harder time starting. One thing that i have noticed is the lights flicker when the radiator fan kicks on and off but it seems to be an irregular fan timing control causing the fans to turn on and off multiple times in a matter of seconds and i can hear a high pitched electrical humming noise coming from somewhere as the fan draws power and dims the lights theres also a little power loss while driving. So the problem i have i believe has to do with the fan timing relay or fuses. The past 2 batteries i have installed both leaked battery acid from the positive terminal and have replaced temperature sensor, battery, alternator belt, fuses that were blown and melted slightly but still had a weak connection, checked and removed paint form ground wire connections, disconnected battery, disconnected wires from fan mounted control switch or relay that seemed to fix the problem for a few minutes but the fan wouldn't turn on like a normal radiator fan but i'm used to my fan kicking on as soon as i turn the key in the ignition even before the car has started or warmed up (don't know if this is normal for this car). Thats all i have to say for now hope it helps and i hope i too can figure out why my radiator fan draws so much power that every electrical appliances in the vehicle suffers power loss. Please help if you can. Thanks!