01 Camry battery drain

[pinkfloyd4ever]

The gals car is ruining my life. Long story short. Dead batteries, she has placed 3 new batteries since October. 2 new alternators in a week. The mechanic she takes it too basically thought possible duds, either on the battery side or alternator side. 2nd new alternator placed friday. Battery dead sunday. No lights/power come on with key in.

Not very mechanically inclined, but did some research. With car running and voltmeter her battery readings were 13.2 volts. With the car off the battery read 11.79 volts and I could watch the numbers steadily drop down to 11.44 volts.

I disconnected the negative cable, hooked up a jumper light. The light went on, I started pulling fuses and the light went out with the radio 20A and dome 7.5A fuses pulled.

So, I put everything back together, but it would not start without a jump. Did that, ran it around for 30 minutes. Monday morning the battery is dead again.

Her car went back to the shop yesterday and the starter was replaced. She also has an after market remote start that they disconnected, which I had suggested prior to alternator #1 but was shot down

So, by my basic elementary mechanics, I figure something is draining the battery, and its the remote start. Won't know until tomorrow, but if the battery should again be drained any other suggestions? And/or a reputable shop in S mpls or St. Paul I could tell her to take it too?

[lakeshoremunster]

Did you check the ground cable from the battery to make sure that were they grounded the cable it is still nice and rust free?

[Jeremy airjer W]

I think they first thing that should be done is check for draw. This can be done with a voltmeter with the ability to measure amperage. Remove the positive cable from the battery, hook the voltmeter in series between the positive post of the battery and the positive cable end. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Your amperage reading should be less than .050 amps. I suspect you will see a draw of about 1.5 - 2 amps. Start pulling fuses until the draw goes away and then focus on that cicuit.

You mentioned the radio turning off the test light. Is it aftermarket? very common for aftermarket radios to cause a large enough draw to kill a battery overnight.

This should be a simple and routine test with this type of complaint.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

No the battery radio is factory, the only aftermarket thing on that car is the remote starter. I should add that new battery cables were installed with alternator #1

When you say to use the voltmeter in series for the positive side, is it to hook the the red positive lead of the voltmeter to the cable and the black lead of the volt meter to the positive battery post?

[Jeremy airjer W]

When you say to use the voltmeter in series for the positive side, is it to hook the the red positive lead of the voltmeter to the cable and the black lead of the volt meter to the positive battery post?

That is correct. The voltmeter has to have an amperage setting in order for this to work. I should mention that all the doors should be shut and the key should be out of the ignition.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I'll give that a try, i imagine tomorrow morning I will definitely know what the status is

[pinkfloyd4ever]

update: battery was dead again. Had a friend of a friend who is a shade tree mechanic out tonight. We got the same results as I posted. Tonight 14.4v coming across the battery with the car running.

Jump wire lit up between battery post and cable, goes out with dome and radio fuses pulled. The light illumination was the same with either of one of those fuses pulled. We thought maybe by pulling the dome light out it would break a circuit, but no, test light stayed on. So we left it at pulling the radio and dome fuses, let it sit an almost 2 hours. Car started right up. His guess is that there is some corrosion in the fuse box area that is causing the drain. So the car is going to Gray electric in the next couple days for them to diagnose.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Switch for the trunk light shorted and kept continuous draw. An auto electric place on snelling and Marshall diagnosed it, thanks to my elementary diagnosis lol thanks