Tried to start today and had no battery voltage at all. No lights, sound, nothing. Drove it for an hour or more last weekend starting and stopping multiple times until I parked it in the garage. Tried it this morning, nothing.
No lights left on. The only things I did in the week was I pulled the center of the steering wheel since the horn wasn't working, saw no wires so put the cap back on. Also the channel change button on the eight track was pushed in. There were no lights on, interior lights out, doors shut, hood shut, trunk shut.
Maybe the battery just can't hold a charge anymore.

Anyone have any ideas for things to check?

 

Chances are it may be a bad battery. With it running your charging voltage will be around 14.2-5.

 

Just take the battery to your local parts store and have them check it out for you.


Roger.

 

i agree with getting the battery checked. also clean all of your connections, and the grounds.

 

Checked the car for parasitic loss and found none. Battery was charged today after sitting all night. Next step is to take it to the local Oreillys and have them check it.

 

Well looks like it was the battery. Had it checked at the local parts store and it was no good. Purchased a new one, so far so good.

 

It happens, do the voltage check with the engine running. Like I said it should in the 14.something range.

 

The local Walmart here has a fancy tester that runs the gauntlet, parasitic, battery, alt, etc. And they'll do it for free (here) in hopes of netting a battery sale. Gives you a pretty little printout to look over at your leisure as well.

 

I brought my sons 2006 Mustang to Walmart when his battery went dead and it said that his alternator had bad diodes in it. It was wrong, as the alternator and regulator were charging correctly, so I cleaned the posts and hooked everything back up and still no issues after 6 months.

 

lucked out with just a battery. when I first got my olds I probably turned in a good battery thinking it was bad, was less than 3 years old (could've been bad, last guy probably ran it dead few times with faulty charging system). turns out the dirty wiring and bad regulator were the culprits, cleaned up wires and replaced regulator and runs like a champeen. the slight parasitic draw from the bad passenger side door jam light switch doesn't help but the car is fine now even after weeks of sitting still hooked up.