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2000 Lincoln LS battery drains

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Posted by: paman@cosmowireless.net

Battery went dead. I put in new battery. After 5 days battery is dead and must jump start.Dealer has had car for 2 weeks. This is their 3rd failure to find the problem. I don't think they know what to do.

They first thought it was the radio and unplugged it. Still ran down in 5 days. Anybody know what the problem could be and how to fix?? Thanks, for your help, Mike

Posted by: bufordtpisser

Quote:

Originally Posted by paman@cosmowireless.net

Battery went dead. I put in new battery. After 5 days battery is dead and must jump start.Dealer has had car for 2 weeks. This is their 3rd failure to find the problem. I don't think they know what to do.

They first thought it was the radio and unplugged it. Still ran down in 5 days. Anybody know what the problem could be and how to fix?? Thanks, for your help, Mike

The problem is you have something draining your battery, but then you knew that already.

How to find the problem is really not that hard. You put a meter on the battery and watch the drain. Then one by one you start pulling fuses and then relays until the drain stops. When it stops, you find out what the fuse or relay powers and voila, you usually find the problem.

That was electrical systems 101 in mechanics school. It has never failed me when I have used this method. Finding shorts and floating grounds, now that is a lot harder.

Posted by: P Rock

Just as posted above, hook up an ammeter to your battery and shut the car off and start pulling fuses.

Do you have anything aftermarket hooked to the car? Always check those first. On my Supra, the boost controller was connected to something that was constantly grounded and it drew power even when the car was off. I rewired it and problem was solved.

Posted by: highlander73

Alternator not charging it correctly?

Posted by: 2001LS8Sport

Quote:

Originally Posted by highlander73

Alternator not charging it correctly?

Another excellent suggestion.

Another easy draw test is to use a test light. Disconnect your NEGATIVE battery cable and hook the light between the cable and negative battery post. If you have enough of a draw to drain the battery, it will light the bulb in the test light. Start pulling fuses, etc until the light goes out. However, there is quite a bit of parasitic draw built into these systems and it's possible it could dimly light the bulb and be normal. That's where using a voltmeter in the same fashion can help. Use a digital meter only.