i am away at college so i hadnt driven my car in a few weeks...yesterday i went to start it and didnt have enough battery power....i got a jump and was okay. now i am wondering if in another few weeks this will happen again??? i didnt leave any accessories on or anything like that....i have recently had an alternator check....also the battery is new, but it is like the lowest reccomended cranking amps or whatever. WHY DID MY BATTERY DRAIN????? thanks

 

It is really best if you could get someone to possibly crank your car every now and then while you are away. Eventhough no accesories or anything was left on,your battery will still become "weak" after some time. You might want to also check into getting yourself a 12 volt "trickle" charger. It just shoots enough power to your battery to maintain enough cranking power while it is not being driven for a long period of time. I have a "trickle" charger hooked up to my bike right now,have had it about 4 years now and it still has the original battery in it as when I got it. Usually charges 2 to three months out of the year(cold months ) ,not a problem what so ever. Hope this helps you out.

 

I had the same problem when I first bought my car, I figured it was just the battery and went out and bought another one and the problem was fixed until early December. I didn't use the car for a whole weekend and next time i went to start the car it was dead, wasn't the alternator or the battery. turns out the drain was coming from one of the fuses. I didn't the fuse myself, my mechanic did but thats just a suggestion, try that and see if it's a problem

 

Remove your ground wire from your battery. Put a voltmeter between the battery and the ground wire. If the voltage is lower than 12 volts +- about .5 volts then you have a drain. Have someone remove fuses one at a time until the voltage jumps back up. That is the fuse with the draining accessory on it. Most likely on the Acc fuse (radio, interior lights, etc.)

The trickle charger is a great idea....used them for years on motorcycles, RV's and jetskis.

If you are not going to be driving the car often, consider putting in a battery disconnect switch. Allows you to quickly disconnect the ground wire. Jegs and Summit and Autozone have them.

 

You constantly have pwr going to something--every car does--such as for the ecm or the clock in the radio--holds the time and the presets--so no matter how small the drain is always there.
When my car sits for a long time I just disconnect the battery--or pull the acc fuse out--it'll keep a charge for a long time. I let my car sit for a month w/o starting--once I put the fuse in-it started right up!!

 

99 % sure its your rear hatch pulldown motor, if the switches in there aren't working right it will continue to run and drain the battery in about 2 days. unplug the relay located behind the rear trim panel in the hatch area and see if it still happens.

 

If the pwr hatch motor is running you'd hear it--unless it would kick on intermittenly.

 

my hatch motor wasn't running, it was jammed and still pulling power but made no sound at all !!!