electrical short... help...

ok, every so often my car will be completely dead. i mean no dome light, no dash lights, and it wont even turn over, just as if i didnt have a battery in the damn thing. i checked my battery and its at 13volts. so thats not the problem. it will jump start, but while its running when i push on the brakes it basically dies. then everytime i jump it like that i shut it off and try to start it, and its completely dead again. then, a couple days later i'll go to start it and it'll start right up like no prob.whats the prob here?
matt

:confused: ewww! that is not good, how bad are all your wires under you dash and engine bay? Chop chop job?
I don't even know how to help you on that one.
It sounded like alternator problems but you mentioned that it wont turn on one day and you'll wait a few more days, then it'll start:confused: that tells me that the alternator did charge the battery.
I hate electrical issues:(

How about the main fuse under the hood at the fuse block?? Check all that... if you see 13 volts at the battery then why don't you have a look at the fube blocks.... same reading?? keep following the power wires, there must be a faulty connection somewhere.

Same thing is happening with me. I'm keeping a spare battery in trunk just in case. I noticed that my horn was not working at the time it drained out battery now it works, I wonder if it related? Weird:werd: Now horn works and battery hasn't gone dead in weeks.

i have checked everything. it did it again the other day so i went out, took off the negative bat cable for a sec, then put it back on, and it started. i think i just ma have a bad ground.:)

thats exactly what happened to my old car.... it was just a bad ground that caused all those problems. Clean up and/or replace your ground connections and you should be fine. bad grounds can cause some really weird problems with electrical.

Go to - http.//www.forparts.com/hon3.htm

They say if you leave your rear window defogger on it will drain battery when shut down

All rear defrost switches are designed to turn off when the ignition is turned off.

Do u guys think the Main relay has anything to do with what he is experiencing? U can always sneak one in from the junk or pay like a buck for it. see if that would solve the probs.

I recall reading a bulletin about the defrost switch draining the battery somewhere..something to be aware of..I had a mystery battery drop dead a few weeks ago..but I do have a porta-jumper in my trunk..just some tense moments for the next few weeks..so far so good...