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Help please I’m tired of buying new batteries and jumping my car

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Sandmanliz 
#1 · (Edited)
Car keeps draining battery as it’s shut off
I just bought an 2000 Acura integra. My first one ever. And I can’t get tags on it yet so it sits. I periodically try to start it and let fuel and oil circulate. But it keeps draining the battery. I just put a new one in it last week. And it’s drained and i just started it yesterday. Any ideas on what could be wrong. Thank you for your advice and inputs in advance
 
#2 ·
Your problem most likely is a stuck relay leaving some high drain item active. Rear window defogger or AC clutch come to mind. Diagnosing and fixing this requires some understanding of electricity and having some simple electrical test equipment.

It is generally not expensive to have a shop do this.

The most common problem is a stuck AC compressor clutch. This will draw power when the key is off.

You can use a clamp on ammeter to see how much the parasitic drain is. This will simplify the hunt for the culprit.
 
#3 ·
I have a 2007 RDX and the Bluetooth went bad and was draining the battery. I tried debugging myself but eventually had to pay a shop over $200 to find it. My solution was to just remove the fuse to the Bluetooth because I wasn't using it and a replacement was no longer available and even if it was it was $600 when it was available. Good luck.
 
#4 ·
There are some decent UTube videos on finding a parasitic drain on your battery, I'm pretty decent with electricity or, at least I thought I was until I couldn't find the problem. I tracked down to fuse in the fuse box under the hood that was causing the battery to drain and pulling that fuse caused a lot of stuff inside the car to not work. One problem with newer cars is when you pull or plug a fuse it often causes the computer to try to do other stuff and that makes it harder to find the root cause of a parasitic battery drain. I disconnected the door switch that causes the interior light to go on so I could leave the door open and I rigged up my Amp meter in series with an external 10 amp fuse to jumper to each side of the fuse slot causing the drain. After removing the problem 10Am fuse, I took a blown 10Am fuse and broke it apart so I just had the two thin pieces of metal I could plug into where we fuse was that had the 10 am draw under the hood. Because those to sides were no longer connected together i could hood up my Amp meter and another 10 Amp fuse in parallel as follows. I plugged the 2 separated end of the destroyed fuse into the fuse slot that was causing the battery drain. Then I clipped one lead of my Amp meter to one side in the fuse hold and clipped the other lead of my Amp meter to one side of a an external 10amp fuse. Then I jumpered the other side of that 10Amp fuse to the other side of the fuse I destroyed that was in the opposide side of the fuse slot causing the problem where one side of my volt meter was connected. Now I could have the connection fused but also measure the amperage going through that fuse.
I used wires long enough that my Amp meter could reach the inside of the car so I could watch it while I was working to pull and replace fuses in the other fuse box under the dash while I was laying in the driver side floor of the car because the fuses I needed to check inside the car were accessable under the driver side dash. Then inside the car in the fuse box under the dash I started pulling fuses and watching the Amp meter to see what dropped the amp draw draining the battery. I did find one that I thought cause the problem but, then I think the computer kicked in something else and threw me off track.
I eventually gave up because the fuse box under the dash forces you to lay in a very uncomfortable position to work on it. It is bad that Acura doesn't design their cars with a fuse box in an easier accessable location. I guess because most people don't ask or check when they are buying a new car to understand how easy or hard it will be to work on.
Putting a fuse box in such a hard to access position is not good design and I though Honda / Accura was better than that. My Chevy Silverado inside cab fuses are much easier to access under a panel in the side of the driver side of the dash. Some utube videos describe using Millivolt (voltage drop) measurements to track down parasitic drain by measuring the voltage drop across each fuse instead of pulling the fuses. You can get a conversion chart on-line the coverts the Milivolt voltage drop into an amperage draw based on the size of the fuse and the voltage drop measured. Once you probe the fuse you wait a few seconds to see if the voltage drop goes to zero. If it doesn't then it means you have some current flowing through that fuse. I also tried that method but, laying in the floor with the lower part of the door jam causing a pain in my back and my arms in the air probing the mini fuses with poor light conditions under the dash made it hard getting the volt meter probs into the right position on each mini fuse. Again, good luck.
 
#5 ·
My MDX kept going dead. New batteries, disconnected Bluetooth etc. etc. Finally found a person who reset their CD player. Problem solved. This is how you do it: turn the car on and off. While it is off push the volume radio power button down simultaneously with a CD eject button. Hold together for at least 10 seconds. Miracle cure
 
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