I'd also verify that the charging voltage doesn't get too high - you can "cook" a battery. Checking for too much ripple (AC) is a start. So, as Cougar said, there could be a problem with the alternator. For now, I'll assume the batteries themselves aren't that bad.
The fact that you're killing batteries in six months on average says that either they're not up to the job, or something is stressing the heck out of them.
Neither I nor Cougar said the battery was the initial problem, but it could become the victim. As I said, either the battery isn't up to the task (for whatever reason), or the current draw is more than 40mA. Drawing 40mA over a two week period shouldn't drain a properly sized and charged battery to the point of not being able to start the engine. I have a multimeter that logs that I plan to setup over night sometime.The math doesn't lie. I'm thinking there may be something else going on that is intermittent and I didn't see it in the 2 minutes I was testing. So anyhow, it's not the battery in anyway.
1998 SUBARU FORESTER FORUM FREE
Thank god for the 3 year free replacement.
1998 SUBARU FORESTER FORUM SERIES
Sorry to tell you guys this, but I've killed 4 (yes 4) Brand new Gold Series Batteries from Advance in the past two years. I'm going to follow sage board advice with an eye toward a wonky alternator. In retrospect, the previous owners had the Alternator recall service done with a Subaru rebuilt alt. Usually the radio connection is low amperage and only runs the CLOCK so it's likely not to be that much of a drain. Since I don't have a circuit map, I can't tell you what IS and IS NOT connected with the key "off". Maybe pull the fuses FIRST, check it and then reinstall fuses until the it "lights up". IF you are dropping enough current thru somewhere to draw down the battery to where it won't start, it's a SIGNIFICANT drain. I know that on one of my "other"' vehicles, I've left the dome light on overnight and it didn't matter. (all you are doing is to put a bulb across the battery system - if there is current, the bulb will light)Īlternately, an amp gage in series and see what the current draw is (engine always OFF for all of these - IF you run the engine with the battery disconnected, you WILL blow the output diodes NOT "MAY" - "WILL" because the battery supplies the stabilization voltage to the voltage regulator to prevent an alternator "runaway")įor that kind of draw down you would need to be seeing maybe a 10 max amp draw (which would overload a lot of small VOMs) Now if it comes "on", you COULD pull all the fuses and see if it still shows "complete circuit". If it shows "no circuit" (meaning the light stays "out" - that would rule out the alternator). IF it lights up, you have a "closed" circuit path with the engine off.
The "other" way to verify that it's the alternator is to disconnect the battery, pull the radio fuse (assuming the radio is the only power draw with the IGN "off"), and put a circuit tester in series from the battery terminal to the post. BOTH directions should read "open circuit" I don't know, but since you seem to be still having trouble and if the trouble isn't really due to something else wrong, I think this is what is going on.ĭisconnect the alternator main and field connections and do a resistance test from the output post of the alternator to ground, reverse the leads and do it again. To be fair, they may have really done the testing on the correct wire and then just compensated the results by subtracting the normal current draw. Hopefully they won't charge you for this additional test since they should have caught this the first time. If the drain is killing the battery overnight then you will see something significantly higher.
You should normally see at least a 25 milliamp draw on that wire and no more than 80 milliamps when systems go into the 'sleep' mode. I would have the shop that did the testing check the lead running between the battery and the power distribution panel do another current check on it. The testing results makes me think they didn't test that area. These two leads should show no current flow with the engine off but, the battery lead running to the power distribution panel which is usually around a 10 gauge wire tied to the positive post, should show some current drain normally and this is the lead that is most likely tied to the trouble spot and carries the current to all of the accessories on the car. I have to wonder about the drain test results because it doesn't seem correct to me unless, the test was done on the main alternator lead or the starter lead. I would have expected the voltage to be around 11 volts or less but that is the results I guess. In fact, the voltage spec shown while starting seems too good to be true. Looking at the results of the testing it seems to me that the battery is good.
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