Austarion

Hi All
Seem to have a rather large battery drain in my starion. I put a brand new battery in it yesterday when i got its first wof in a year, and it ran beautifully all day, but when i went out to start it today it was down to 10.1 volts and wouldnt turn over.
Ive had this issue before but figures it was a dead cell in the old battery.
I attached the charger and left it on about 1 min then tried it and it started fine, and was reading 13.8 volts there, so from what i can tell the alternator is good.
Have a funny inkling it might be something to do with the alarm but not too sure as think its drawing alot of current when its on.
I put a test light between the negative terminal awhile ago and the negative lead and the light pulsed to the alarm LED flash.
Any help appreciated
Cheers
Also if anyone knows of a auto sparky in auckland let me know as im at wits end now

I had the same problem in my JD once turned out the alternator had died and when the car was turned off was drainin the battery.

try a multimeter on the battery when its running.
or dicsonnect the alternator and see if it still drains then.

Try This:

Turn off car and ignition etc and disconnect one battery lead.
Place an ammeter or multi-meter set to current measuring in between the battery and the disconnected lead.

See what your current draw is, it should be very low, if you have an immobilizer and it goes off when connecting meter then set it to armed for test.

Ok
With the engine running the voltage across the battery is 13.9-14V.
From the alternator with the engine running it is 14.3V with no load, and 14.1V with headlights on.
The current draw with everything off and the alarm turned on is only 0.03amps.
:? :? :?

Yet the car wouldnt start again this morning without a jump with the battery charger, and that is only 12 hrs since i last had the engine running!!

This is annoying now

I'd say the battery might be poked....
I had the same thing in my starion, new battery that was poked, took it back got another one, that one was fudged, then got another supper heavy duty one and no problem since.

Current draw when parked is perfectly acceptable, get ur self a century or reputable branded battery, don't waste time with cheapies they just don't last.

Battery is a $180 exide 525CCA Hoping i shouldnt need more than that!!!

Take the battery back to where you bought it, i did with both my duff batteries and they can do some sort of test right then and there to tell if it's poked.

Just on a random make sure that the earth wire is screwed in properly, maybe sand the part of the body where it's connected, same thing with both connecters to the battery, my parents car everything worked fine but it wouldn't turn over, turned out the positive connector to the battery was dirty so cleaned it, did it up nice and tight and never had an issue again!

yeah will have a go at those terminals and earths again 2mo and if no luck try battery no 4

Yeah 525cca is plenty exide batts are quite good

If you are going to have a car that you don't drive nearly every second day with an alarm i would only buy a gel cel optima is the best oxide and century are crap for this purpose i have run mine flat dozens of times with no problems your battery may have a crook cel. Optima are the best and will save you money in the long run but they are over $400 hope this helps :)

Late 86 and Early 87 here in the states had faulty ETACS boxes. There was a recall to fix the problem. Unhook the ground on your battery when you let it sit overnight. If it starts the next day, your ETACS is more than likely the culprit, if not it's the battery.

Here is an informative post on SQC:
http://www.starquestclub.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=48904

Kane

MainstreaM wrote:Late 86 and Early 87 here in the states had faulty ETACS boxes. There was a recall to fix the problem. Unhook the ground on your battery when you let it sit overnight. If it starts the next day, your ETACS is more than likely the culprit, if not it's the battery.

Here is an informative post on SQC:
http://www.starquestclub.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=48904

Kane

Unfortunately mine is NZ new and never had ETACS, theres nothing under the seat :( would have been easy solve otherwise i think