Batteries Go Dead in 3 days

[ArmstrongB]

Been to the dealer 2 times over this and both times they say nothing is wrong. The batteries seem to be good as when I test them with my Midtronics tester they show good. The truck is still under warranty and I guess it needs to be dropped off again... just curious to how many people have had this same problem or not... .

 

[Motorhead]

Is your tester a breakdown tester? Does it load them? Leave them un-hooked and separated from each other. Test them individually after three days and see if one is bad. If they will BOTH hold the same load then they are ok. You will then have them look at the charging system or other things causing the drain. It is possable to put a digital amp meter between the negative post and cable on ONE battery with the other unhooked out of the trucks circuit. Check to see the amount of draw that is going through the meter.

 

[Okie-Go]

Had this problem on mine when new. My service manager said the tech found a faulty computer. The ac was trying to kick on putting a strain on the batteries. I had the keys in my pocket when this appened. Sounded strange but it fixed the problem.

 

[steved]

I would expect the "battery saver" to prevent an accessory from killing the batteries... I would look hard at the batteries, then branch out from there.

 

[ArmstrongB]

I guess its time to try another dealer... . the one its now been back to 3 times and they have basically said that its normal and I need to pull the IOD fuse when I leave it sit more than a day..... I DONT THINK SO... no way im gonna believe that on a 35 thousand dollar truck.

 

[steved]

I have left my truck sit for 5 weeks without issue before...



If it requires pulling a fuse, then you have a serious draw somewhere...

 

[fmj]

just something off the wall, do you have a tracking type of security system (i. e. lojack)? i know of two different people that had new trucks with lojacks installed at dealer. they kept having batteries go dead like yours. dealers went nuts and even changed out a bunch of electronics only to discover after weeks of screwing around that the lojack batteries were bad. the shorted out and drained batteries. if you don't have one of these systems, burn truck up and collect insurance to buy a new one :-laf. sorry i know it frustrating. good luck.

 

[Motorhead]

I guess its time to try another dealer... . the one its now been back to 3 times and they have basically said that its normal and I need to pull the IOD fuse when I leave it sit more than a day..... I DONT THINK SO... no way im gonna believe that on a 35 thousand dollar truck.

Pull the fuse to let it sit more than a day??? What a bunch of B. S.

I hate the dealers! I feel better now

 

[BGlidewell]

You must have a short-to-ground... find a clamp-on amp meter and start un plugging things. Might take 30 minutes at the longest to find it with a charged battery... start with the alternator.

 

[Coalsmoke]

We had this issue with SO's Jeep, the battery always tested fine but would go dead very fast, so we finally said enough is enough and bought a new battery out of pocket, one of those fancy Optima Redtops and now can leave it for weeks and then jump in and go, no problems. I don't know why the bad battery wasn't showing up on the various tests, it would load test and voltage test fine, but something was goofy their. We weren't too happy about not getting the battery warrantied but at least we've got the problem fixed now.

 

[RAmy]

my brother had this happen on his '99 f250 and we finally figured out on a very quiet night that the cd player was running, sounded like it was trying to eject. left it a couple days and the batteries were badly drained. from then on he just gave the dash a little rap of the hand when it stuck from time to time and didnt have a draining issue since. sounds stupid i know but it worked.

 

[kenny61]

I remember seeing a thread somewhere on here that if you left the keys in the ignition while it was parked for a few days the same thing happened

 

[wcjp]

Pull either positive or negative cables. Hook up a mulitimeter and measure for amperage. Should be . 5amp or less while sitting with doors closed. If above . 5amp start pulling fuses until the problem clears. This isolates the circuit.



In the past I've had lead acid batteries test ok, but, were still bad. Also, now that you've drained the batteries one time they'll never return to normal. Time for replacement.