I have a '77 lesabre. Belts,batt.,alt. good. Batt. dies and headlites dim and wont restart @ every 2wks.Help?

Question

I have the battery checked everytime this happens and the batt. is good, but needs recharged. Im often left stranded at work, store, etc. and have to have a friend take me somewhere to recharge batt. What, besides alternator and belts could be draining the battery? Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

You said you had the battery checked, did you have the charging system checked? That is to say electricity in a car runs in a loop. It is pulled from the battery, used to operate various subsystems on your vehicle and returned to your cars battery. In theory you use more electricity than the battery can store so an alternator is installed on every vehicle to replenish the energy that is used up and not returned to the battery. There are various other electro mechanical devices that regulate this process like ballast resistor, voltage regulator etc. Make sure your cables are tightly connected to the battery, make sure the battery is secured to the vehicle not loose or flopping around because that destroys the battery internally. Make sure your cables are clean and not corroded. If the battery was removed and reinstalled and someone connected the negative terminal first then the positive that would short out the diodes in the alternator thus rendering it inoperative. Have your charging system checked. Beyond that you have something grounding out the electrical system, look for warm or hot wires (temp) when the car should be cold. Like the wire (positive) touching the side of the car, starter, or engine block. Is the key cylinder in the steering wheel loose? Is there water in any of the lights, can you turn on the radio without the key in the ignition?

Answer 2

This thing doesn't have all the equipment that the new cars do to drain the battery.

If you do get it running and the negative terminal is removed from the battery, I assume it keeps running, meaning good alternator. How old is the battery? Maybe it needs replacing anyway. It might have an intemittent problem with one cell. If it's over 3 years old, get a new one.

To test for draw on the battery with the key off. Get a spare parking light bulb. Take the ground terminal lug off the battery and put the side of the bulb on the negative battery terminal. Now touch the bulb tip with the ground lug. If the bulb lights up, there is current being drawn by one of the circuits in the car. You can start removing fuses to isolate the problem.

If it doesn't light, then there is no draw to drain the battery with the car off, and I am perplexed.

Answer 3

You need to buy or borrow a Volt Ohm Meter (VOM) or Digital Multi- Meter (DMM). Buy one at Sears for $15. Then you can measure how many amps are being drained from your battery when the car's parked. Disconnect one of the battery cables and connect the VOM between the cable connector and the battery terminal you disconnected the cable from. Set the VOM to the 10 Amp scale. With all the car doors closed and courtesy lights out in the car, the meter should read less than 1/4 Amp (250 milliamps). If not, one of the circuits in your car's electrical system is drawing too much standby current (Amps) and draining your battery down. To find out which fused circuit is drawing the excessive Amps, pull out and put back one fuse at a time until you find the circuit that's causing the excessive current draw. You may have a lamp on in the trunk or glove compartment that's not going out. Also, after driving your car for at least 30 minutes and parking it for one hour, you should read 12.6 Volts or more across your battery terminals if your battery is fully charged. You need to drive your car every 2 or 3 days to keep the battery charged up, even with normal current draw from the battery. With the engine running at idle or above, you should measure about 14+ Volts charging voltage across the battery terminals from the alternator so that your battery is being charged as you drive the car.

Answer 4

Being GM -- IT'S PROBABLY SIDE MOUNTED SCREW IN TERMINALS! If so,you likely can't get the stupid things in as tightly as needed[they're h e!!]. I had same problem on Caprice with their stupid cable ends. Otherwise,
probably just old cables corroded internally where you can't see it and battery isn't getting the benefit of your "excellently(?) checked" charging system . It appears from your question that the shop is only getting the battery which you carry to them in a friends car -- that should tell you something. The mechanic's answer tells you about things which can drain it. Have you checked the water level? Acidity of the solution? Your own habits of operating multiple high draw electric items at idle -- fans, lights, seat, lighter, horn, elec
defroster, etc. are not to be used all together. Do you jump start people with your engine running? [might blow a diode]. If a battery cable has a section which seems "hard" and doesn't bend as easily as the rest: replace it!

Answer 5

You probably have a short in your wiring somewhere. First check your battery terminal connectors. If either of them are corroded, replace them and apply some silicone gel to keep them from corroding again. If that doesn't solve your problem then either you have to check all the wiring to find out what to replace or you're going to have to just replace all of it. Old wiring decays and the plastic shielding turns brittle and flakes off. This gives the opportunity for endless shorts. Buckle down and start replacing all of it or you're going to burn through a lot of batteries and alternators.

Answer 6

either the alternator has a bad diode, or either you have a eletrical draw on the battery..the source could be anything from cig lighter to trunk light not going off, or glove box light not going off, door ajar, and i could go on.. best thing to do to see if its the battery , disconnect the battery when the car is going to set like over night..when you hook the battery back up in the morning and the battery is drained, then bad battery, if it cranks the car, then charging system needs to be checked and have then do a draw test...

Answer 7

I have a "Darkbulb" in my head, although that is surrounded by technique of rice pudding, so it would not artwork okay. i imagine i want someone to suck each of the Rice pudding out, with a straw, (that is Ambrosia Rice) and screw a clean bulb in. Any takers?