so i have had this issue with my car not holding a charge. The car does sit sometimes, but it will not hold a charge, i have a new alt, and a new battery. I have had some issues with my voltage regulator ( the one on the firewall) but i thought i sorted that out.

if i can get the battery to charge and drive the car will drive for a bit and charge but it will not start if it sits lets say over night.....

I had a small power drain ( a aftermarket tach) but i have since removed it and it still seems there is a draw...i have done the test light test ( test light between negative pole and negative battery cable) and i the light doesn't come on so it shows no draw....i am not sure what to do but leave a battery tender on it all the time while sitting...is that OK for the car? thanks for any help..i know this is pretty vague, but i don't know what else it could be...

 

An obvious question: what about the battery? If it's old, it may not hold a charge. I had a problem with my '67 Delta 88 not holding a charge if it sat for more than 3 or 4 days. I had just put in an aftermarket radio that included a clock, so there was always a constant draw on the battery. Other components (voltage regulator, alternator) checked out. But the battery was an old one I had taken out of a car back about 8 years ago.

It seemed to charge up just fine, and it DID hold a charge before I put in that aftermarket radio. But that radio seems to have been the straw the broke the camel's back. I put in a new battery, and wonder of wonders, no more problems, even if the car sits for a week between starts, which is as long as I've ever let it sit.

 

Car alarm?

 

One simple $10 solution that may help you keep your sanity until you sort out the issue is a battery quick-disconnect, where you simply unscrew the **** to kill the circuit while it sits so it won't drain the battery. Good theft and fire-prevention step too.

Now back to those who can offer actual troubleshooting suggestions to fix the issue...

Terry

 

Good idea on the battery disconnect until he gets it figured out.

Jaunty - he said the battery is new.

My suggestion, check the alternator belt. When I was in Viet Nam, I had a 65 Grand Prix that drove my wife crazy the whole year I was gone. It was a loose alternator belt. Make sure you have good clean connections. A dirty ground could do it. I think the ground cable from the battery connects to the engine. Check that and the grounds from the engine to the car body or frame.

 

Oops! Darn, what a waste of a good speech.

 

Not totally...

I had a brand new (2 day old) $130 Harley battery that would not hold a charge for more than a couple days. Guys at tthe counter insisted my bike had a problem. I checked it all out and it was fine. Charging voltage was a tad low at idle, but at cruise, was fine. Old battery lasted 5.5 years+!
Got a replacement battery, now it will go 3 weeks without a charge just fine. Idle voltage is now right on the money - i am thinking it had some shorted plates that had increased the charging current excessively.

If nothing can be easily found on the car, have the parts store do a check on the battery - its fast and free - no need to disconnect it.

Now days, 'new' does not mean 'good' in my vocabulary...

 

Rob,

I had the same thing happen recently in my Cheby 2500 4X4 pick me up truck..

Drove home with a brand new battery, turned it off. Nada

Jumped it off with a jump box drove it back to the battery store and put in another one [while everyone ate lunch] No problems since.

 

X2 on having the battery checked.
I had a 78 cutlass that drove me nutz. Start it drive it to the store get back in and click click wont start jump it drive home bang my head on the wall finally give up. next day starts. Had the battery checked and it failed.

 

The voltage regulator can have a slow drain on it. Fix: New Voltage Regulator.

 

I had the same issue with my 72 Cutlass, it turns out that my radio's ground wire was loose. My Father's battery was not holding a charge. I regrounded the radio, and Wala..... Problem solved.

 

If you check most of the car/truck mags for the Harbor Freight coupons you can score a multi-meter tester for cheap or even free. You really need a digital read out to see what's going on. A 12 volt battery is basically dead at almost anything under 12 volts and should be as high as 13.2 volts. You can check the battery every day to see if it's holding a charge (new batteries can be faulty as well). Also you can use the multi-meter to check your charging systems while the car is running (14 volts plus). Anything higher than 15v your either your connection is bad, your battery is dead or your regulator is stuck/faulty. You can check your system for shorts by disconnecting the battery and measuring the resistance (Ohms) between the pos and neg cables. I don't recall the amount of resistance (created by alternator/regulator)that it should be but if it's a dead short it will be high. Hope this helps.

 

Arrrrrg thread from 2010.

 

What's the Arg for? Was I mistaken?

 

Nope, you are correct, the thread is a resurrected 3+year old one.

 

Looks like there were two out when I came to bat already. I'll have to keep an eye on my dates in the future.

 

lol