Battery Issue
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 973
Likes: 0
From: Chico California
Battery Issue
My 92 sat for a week (been sick). 
Tried to start - battery completely dead. No previous battery problems. Put it on my charger and the charger doesn't register. Great I think, now the charger is dead. Put the charger back on the boat battery and charger works. WTF!! I put my 2 amp Battery Tender on the Vette and same thing. No lights. Not charging. Put the Battery Tender on my bike and it lights up.
So it seems the battery won't take a charge. Is that possible?
Or, could the battery be okay and I have some other issue?
Prior to this the car started and ran fine.
Any help or suggestions would be appreicated.
Tried to start - battery completely dead. No previous battery problems. Put it on my charger and the charger doesn't register. Great I think, now the charger is dead. Put the charger back on the boat battery and charger works. WTF!! I put my 2 amp Battery Tender on the Vette and same thing. No lights. Not charging. Put the Battery Tender on my bike and it lights up.
So it seems the battery won't take a charge. Is that possible?
Or, could the battery be okay and I have some other issue?
Prior to this the car started and ran fine.
Any help or suggestions would be appreicated.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 9,933
Likes: 103
From: Peoria Arizona.. Resident Gold Cylon
My 92 sat for a week (been sick).
Tried to start - battery completely dead. No previous battery problems. Put it on my charger and the charger doesn't register. Great I think, now the charger is dead. Put the charger back on the boat battery and charger works. WTF!! I put my 2 amp Battery Tender on the Vette and same thing. No lights. Not charging. Put the Battery Tender on my bike and it lights up.
So it seems the battery won't take a charge. Is that possible?
Or, could the battery be okay and I have some other issue?
Prior to this the car started and ran fine.
Any help or suggestions would be appreicated.
Tried to start - battery completely dead. No previous battery problems. Put it on my charger and the charger doesn't register. Great I think, now the charger is dead. Put the charger back on the boat battery and charger works. WTF!! I put my 2 amp Battery Tender on the Vette and same thing. No lights. Not charging. Put the Battery Tender on my bike and it lights up.
So it seems the battery won't take a charge. Is that possible?
Or, could the battery be okay and I have some other issue?
Prior to this the car started and ran fine.
Any help or suggestions would be appreicated.
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Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 9,933
Likes: 103
From: Peoria Arizona.. Resident Gold Cylon
Also a bad voltage regulator can over charge the battery and the alternator can continually overcharge it until the plates boil. GC
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2005
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From: Everyone needs something to believe in, I believe I'll have another beer. Wisconsin
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
Those who advised that the battery had an internal short, this would cause a battery charger to trip its circuit breaker!!!!! Your dead battery had fully sulphated plates. Lead sulphate is an insulator and makes your battery look like an open circuit. A battery not near its end of life time, should not discharge totally in 7 days with normal car leakage current. When you connect the new battery, connect the positive terminal first and then connect a test meter that can measure amps from the negative battery cable to the battery negative terminal and set the ammeter on its highest range and wait for the courtesy light to time out and then switch the ammeter to lower scales to measure the leakage current. It should not be higher than 50 milliamps. My 87 draws 27 milliamps. I suspect that you have high leakage current which discharged your battery and in 7 days it ruined the battery.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 973
Likes: 0
From: Chico California
Those who advised that the battery had an internal short, this would cause a battery charger to trip its circuit breaker!!!!! Your dead battery had fully sulphated plates. Lead sulphate is an insulator and makes your battery look like an open circuit. A battery not near its end of life time, should not discharge totally in 7 days with normal car leakage current. When you connect the new battery, connect the positive terminal first and then connect a test meter that can measure amps from the negative battery cable to the battery negative terminal and set the ammeter on its highest range and wait for the courtesy light to time out and then switch the ammeter to lower scales to measure the leakage current. It should not be higher than 50 milliamps. My 87 draws 27 milliamps. I suspect that you have high leakage current which discharged your battery and in 7 days it ruined the battery.
Thanks.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
When you install the new battery, only connect the positive cable to the positive battery terminal. Then set you multimeter to measure amps, usually you have to unplug the positive test lead into a socket on the meter marked, "amps". Then connect the negative test lead to the negative battery terminal and connect the positive test lead to the negative cable. An ammeter is always connected in series with the circuit you are measuring the current in. When you make connection, the courtesy lights will come on and you will have to wait for them to time out, or if you don't want to wait, then unplug the courtesy light fuse. Read the current on the meter, GM says leakage current must not be over 50 milliamps, that is .05 amps.
If you have excessive leakage current, then you will need to find out what is drawing current so that you don't ruin another battery. Don't connect the new battery until you determine that leakage current isn't excessive.
If you have excessive leakage current, then you will need to find out what is drawing current so that you don't ruin another battery. Don't connect the new battery until you determine that leakage current isn't excessive.
Last edited by jfb; Nov 4, 2007 at 01:47 PM.
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 33
Likes: 1
Those who advised that the battery had an internal short, this would cause a battery charger to trip its circuit breaker!!!!! Your dead battery had fully sulphated plates. Lead sulphate is an insulator and makes your battery look like an open circuit. A battery not near its end of life time, should not discharge totally in 7 days with normal car leakage current. When you connect the new battery, connect the positive terminal first and then connect a test meter that can measure amps from the negative battery cable to the battery negative terminal and set the ammeter on its highest range and wait for the courtesy light to time out and then switch the ammeter to lower scales to measure the leakage current. It should not be higher than 50 milliamps. My 87 draws 27 milliamps. I suspect that you have high leakage current which discharged your battery and in 7 days it ruined the battery.
it will only hold a charge for about
1 day
The current measurements:
trabsient 599 ma lowering
to 130 mA (WHY?).
Ignition on 6 Amps.
I suspect the radio??
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
With your ammeter in place, start pulling fuses and watch the ammeter. This may find the offending circuit. There are other circuits that use a fusible link or a circuit breaker (I think all of the circuit breakers are fed from a wire that has a fusible link) and these need to be removed one at a time if no fuse removal shows where the leakage is.
