Help! Battery dies in a week

[FranksNSX]

My 2003 Imola Orange has been great (25k miles) until recently. I do not get to drive it as frequently as I like; at times, the car has sat idle for as long as 3 weeks. The issue is that the car has gone through three new batteries in as many months. Most recently, I replaced the battery one week ago. The car started up without hesitation after being idle, and then on attempting to start it again 10 minutes after the first (successful) start, the car had no juice at all. I have done all the battery installations myself and have taken care to make sure it has been securely replaced and that nothing is contacting the leads. The alternator was checked and found to be ok.

I would appreciate any insights/suggestions. Thanks.

 

[docjohn]

as long as there is no corrosion around the contacts and all is buttoned up then the next question, is there aftermarket security/stereo/entertainment electronics installed?

 

[chussey]

I replaced the battery one week ago. The car started up without hesitation after being idle, and then on attempting to start it again 10 minutes after the first (successful) start, the car had no juice at all.

Sounds like your battery is dying in 10 minutes. Is this correct?

 

[Caroline-NSX]

Get your alternator check.

 

[FranksNSX]

It's almost more like there is a complete and immediate loss of power. I am thinking some sort of a short circuit.

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Sounds like your battery is dying in 10 minutes. Is this correct?

Yes.

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as long as there is no corrosion around the contacts and all is buttoned up then the next question, is there aftermarket security/stereo/entertainment electronics installed?

yes, the car had a security system installed about one year ago.

 

[J KRIB]

If the connections at your battery are good I would move on to performing a draw test with a multimeter. I am sure you can find videos online on how to do it but if you can't this is what you do.

Disconnect the ground lead from your battery touch the (+) probe of your multimeter to the ground lead you just disconnected from the battery.

Next connect the (-) probe of you meter to the negative post on the battery

Move the (+) probe lead that is on your multimeter to (mA) port on your meter and the the black probe wire in the ground/black port it is in when checking voltages.

Pull the key out of the Ignition,make sure all the doors are locked, lights are off and use a screw driver to close the hood switch. Basically you wanna simulate what you would do as if you where gonna park your car overnight

Wait 10 mins let every thing go to sleep and measure your draw, general rule is 1 mA for every 10 CCA of the original battery spec. I think OEM spec was 550 CCA = 55 mA. Give or take a few mA but if it is hovering around 90 mA or higher that is way to high.

If you reading is too high start by pulling the alarm fuse and see if it drops, basically pull fuses one at a time till you find something that brings you mA reading down to around the 55mA range.

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If you are having to jump start the car every time you turn the key off you might have a dead cell. Shut the car off and check what the battery voltage is at, if it reads 10.4 volts you have a dead cell and need a new battery

 

[shawn110975]

put new battery in and drive it more LOL problem solved but I would say alarm is doing it rip it out or atleast visially look at how they wired it to your ignition switch behind the key hole, they hack job it everytime.

 

[nsxtasy]

as long as there is no corrosion around the contacts and all is buttoned up

If the connections at your battery are good

Given how quick your battery is dying - in ten minutes, apparently - the problem is something happening immediately, not something that slowly drains the battery. My guess is that these assumptions may not be not valid, and that your problem is in the battery connections. Check the battery cables very closely and make sure they have absolutely solid contact with the battery terminals. (The fact that these problems started after you replaced the battery also points to the possibility of a problem with the connection at the battery terminals.)

 

[J KRIB]

If the battery and the batteries FranksNSX has replaced are constantly dying and getting jump started the batteries state of health never fully recovers. This being said I have seen intermittent A/C compressor clutch relays stick and kill batteries in a matter of minutes after sucking juice from the battery over a few weeks it slowly wears the battery down so it can no longer hold a charge for a long peroid of time. At first you will not notice the draw because the battery is new and its state or charge is good but over a short peroid of time your car might on occasion need to be jump started.

nsxtasy, docjohn and I both mentioned to have the battery connections checked first we are trying to give other possible causes if the connections check out fine.

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

This is a good thread because I think I have battery drain but keep it on a charger all the time so it's not that big of a deal. I wanted to pick up a lightweight battery though so it's held me back in doing so because I don't want a $300+ paperweight...

 

[Hapa88]

My thought is that you have an alternator issue and that the battery is what is actually powering your car when you drive it.

But there's a SUPER easy way to help you diagnoise it since the NSX has a Voltmeter built in the dash.

With a fully charged battery, turn the car ignition on to the "accessories on" position (engine off, but radio & A/C are powered on). Check the dash board and the voltmeter should read around 12V (as shown here in the far right gauge).

Now start the car and let it idle. The voltmeter should now read something closer to 14V as shown here (as shown here in the far right gauge):

If the Voltmeter does not jump to ~14V the you have an alternator issue. You definitely have an alternator related issue if the voltmeter reads 12V or lower when the car is idling. Could be the alternator is going out, could just be a bad alternator connection.

 

[BATMANs]

OP,

Do you have an aftermarket ECU like an AEM EMS 2?

That is one thing that I did notice since replacing the ECU is that the battery drains faster.

Nothing else has been touched.

 

[FranksNSX]

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful insights. I have corrected the problem, which was elemental and far too embarrassing to reveal on this august forum.

 

[Valhalla]

Oh no you don't! You can't ask for our help and then not share with what the issue was. That is not what Prime members do. Spill the beans or risk never having us assist you in the future. You KNOW you will need us again!

 

[docjohn]

nothing is too ridiculous to post....look at shawn ,batmans ect......lol

 

[warrenw]

Interior lamp left on?

 

[docjohn]

vibrator left on...........until you tell us the truth we will torment....:tongue:

 

[BATMANs]

nothing is too ridiculous to post....look at shawn, BATMANs, etc......lol

Moi?

 

[docjohn]

................come to think of it you have not posted many updates about your dung soap...or phallic fungus.....so maybe i'm mistaken....

 

[nsxtasy]

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful insights. I have corrected the problem, which was elemental and far too embarrassing to reveal on this august forum.

I can guarantee you that everyone here has, at some time or other, done something stupid with our cars. Sometimes it's from lack of knowledge - remember, we ALL started out as automotive idiots and learned along the way - and sometimes it's a "brain fart" where we just overlooked something... well, "elemental" is a good word.

If you forgot to connect a battery cable or you left an electrical accessory on, there's no need to be embarrassed. We've all done things we later realized were a bad thing to do. That's why we have this smiley on this board - because there have been times when this is the way we've felt about something we did:

Glad you got the problem solved!

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................come to think of it you have not posted many updates about your dung soap...or phallic fungus.....so maybe i'm mistaken....

There are occasional times when I'm not so thrilled we have professional medical opinions represented here. :tongue: