pittdave

Ok.. Here goes.. I bought my '05 Boss in Sept of 2013. About 2 months after I got it, the battery was dead. I tested for a drain( the hard way..i could nver find the door switch to turn off the dome light so I had to contort myself to pull fuses with the passenger door closed). I found it was a fuse with the instument panel and the passenger air bag light. That has been replaced, but I started noticing some hard starts the past few mornings so I checked the battery again and it was at 12.2 when cold..drop to about 11.7 on start and would charge at 14.2 while running. Its been on the tender overnight and currently sits at 13.1
There are a lot of heavy stereo components from the PO so I havent been able to figure out if I am having some serious draw on the battery or whats up

But to check the fuses.. how can i do this with the door open?? where is the sensor/switch to turn off the dome light so i dont have that amp draw when i am checking the battery

homer

You can turn the dome light off by turning your dash light dimmer all of the way down then there'll be a click, similar to turning it all of the way up and clicking to force them on. This will force the dome light off when the doors are opened, or should . I use that often and lots of people don't know about it.

One of the things I usually do is close all of the doors, disconnect the battery, ensure nothing is on, then disconnect the battery on the negative side. I then put an ammeter between the negative cable and the battery negative to try and measure low draw. I'm not sure if this is how you're measuring already? You can also get inline fuse testers where you take the fuse out then plug the tester in and it'll tell you the draw. http://www.princessauto.com/en/detai...er/A-p8284531e

I like to ask people if they have a remote starter and/or alarm, and is it two-way? Also, do you run into this issue everyday or is it after a few days then you try to start the truck?


I don't think 12.2 is all that bad though, my car is sitting at 12.4 right now after sitting all night. I would check your starter load, get someone to crank over the engine and watch the voltage drop at the battery. You might be dealing with a starter issue or your battery might be having problems delivering cranking power (old battery).

Scuba_Dave

How old is the battery ?
I just replaced my original battery this past summer

homer

lol I meant to add this too . Cold Cranking Amps will definitely lower as the age of the battery gets older. Might be time for a new one if it's old.

pittdave

The battery was bought in Nov of 2013..its an everstart maxx65s from wal-mart. Ive never been one to use a maintainer or a car battery, even sporadically, so I don't think its bad but you never know

homer

Yeah, if you can get ahold of an ammeter (even basic ones), make sure everything's off, hook in series with the negative battery and measure the draw. Like I mentioned in another forum, 250ma draw x 24 hours = 6 amps, 6 amps * 7 days = 42 amps, not much to crank with. My compustar remote start system draws a fair bit if left for a while. I have a solar panel in my fusion for this reason as I want the 2-way alarm system.