battery wont hold a charge

[jamesh23]

OK I have a 1988 honda accord LXi hatchback, I just put in a new battery about 2 months ago, now if I boost my car, drive for about an hour, and park it, it will start, if I got out and start it within a few hours of its last drive, in the morning the car wont even try to turn over, battery is dead I guess. Boost it, it starts. Now I started to unplug the negative battery wire at night and it works fine like that but its a pain in the ass, can someone help?

[Rendon LX-i]

your alt. is not putting enough charge so its either bad or a wire is off it. easy way is put a Volt meter and see if your getting 14.00volts with everything off and engine running ,and with a load with all the lights on and heater you should be at 13.10volts if not your alt. is dead get it replaced or replace it yourself.

Rendon

[Rendon LX-i]

oh an WELCOME TO THE FORUM. you can use the search but it will answer 90 percent of your questions if not the faqs well. :welcome:

[russiankid]

your alt. is not putting enough charge so its either bad or a wire is off it. easy way is put a Volt meter and see if your getting 14.00volts with everything off and engine running ,and with a load with all the lights on and heater you should be at 13.10volts if not your alt. is dead get it replaced or replace it yourself.

Rendon

If he unplugs his battery over night and it holds a charge it has nothing to do with the alternator. He has something draining the battery over night.

[Hauntd ca3]

could have adodgy diode inthe rectifier which will cause the alt to draw rotor current when its off.
disconnect the + clamp from the batt and put an ammeter between the clamp and the batt post and see if you have a current draw.
anymore than say 200 milliamps is to much
and if its 2.5 to 4 amps its quite likely the rectifier gone south

[Oldblueaccord]

Yeah sounds like a battery draw. Pretty big one if it over night.

Headlights motors staying on is another big one. Try to force your headlights up over night and see if that helps.


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[jamesh23]

where could I get one of these meters to see my amps? and what do you mean force the headlights up?

[Oldblueaccord]

Well force your headlights up I mean use the switch in the middle of the dash to "manually" keep them up. If you are anywhere cold its really a good idea this time of year.

An amp meter would be in the realm of a 100$ to check DC current. I have one that is a muti meter and checks AC current as well. Some would call it an "amp clamp" They are very handy item in the long run for all kinds of electrical testing.

You can check draw with a DC "test" light(light bulb) there very cheap prolly under 10 dollars. Unhook the positive and connect the tester inbetween it will light if you have voltage going accross with everything off. You can google search "auto electrical draw" there some very well written articles and pictures. I linked one here a long time ago.


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[Oldblueaccord]

http://www.2carpros.com/how_to/battery.htm


this is a nice site with some pictures and some other how to stuff you might like.


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[Dr_Snooz]

That's a great link Old Blue. Thanks for sharing.

[steveko]

I think I read that once you hook the meter up like Oldblueaccord suggested. Start pulling fuses too see where the draw is coming from. You should be able too easily isolate it. When you pull the fuses the light should go out.

[ghettogeddy]

could also be a bad connection

[Civic Accord Honda]

my civic wont start in the morning (or anytime when its about under 35F out) without useing a booster battery has a new alt too i reckon its just the 5 year old battery freezing..