ok, so 3 days ago my battery dies, no big deal, i try to jump it, nothing works, so i buy a new battery, after some work it crangs and runs fine, then that battery, that brand new battery dies too. now this doesnt happen when its driving, only when its parked. so maybe my alternator is good and i just have a massive power leak somewhere? i dont know, but im baffled. any ideas?
thx
ben

 

note: i cant jump it either, iv tried and it just wont charge, like my baterys incapable of charging

 

Yeah most likely a short somewhere, is your voltage when it was running alright? might be the voltage regulator draining... bring it to an auto place and they should be able to check it... or you can i am sure there is a howto somewhere. Kinda wierd for that to be doing that though w/o blowing a fuse first (if its some kind of big short)
*shrugs* good luck

 

without the battery check the resistance between positive and negative

 

how?

 

could cooland eat through a wire?

 

Do you own a volt-meter? That might help a little in identifying the problem.

Besides that, what else have you done to the car recently... I know I connected a security wire or something that I shouldn't have and it drained my battery dead in a day or so.

 

i have an e-fan hooked up, but its been running for a month, its improporly installed, but runs when the car does, and is off wen the car is

 

how do you recharge a battery? and why cant i jump my car, it wont even accept the charge

 

do you think that the alternator belt could be loose?

 

When your car is idling, when you read the output of the alternator at the large wire on the alternator, what is your reading?

No meter? Farm the job out to someone who needs to make a boat/car/winter home payment. Or go buy one.

There's no reason in the world a person can't find out if he has a bad battery or alternator on his own in ten minutes.

 

your battery is completely discharged, get a new one

 

your alternator is bad. They also charge batteries for free at most auto places like Kragen etc. Get your alternator tested im pretty sure its not charging the battery unless your battery cables arent grounded well. I had the opposite problem and blew a battery cuz my alt was over charging. Also if ur idiot lights work then the "charge" light would be on which means its your alternator/fualt wiring.

 

if you have a short it'll kill the battery, I've reversed batteries before (reads negative voltage), a bad enough battery won't take a charge period. Cheap jumper cables might not be able to carry enough current to charge it. You sound like you have a short (short circuit, a direct path from positive to negative), if you check for continuity between positive and negative you can tell if the two wires cross somewhere in the harness. you are working with electricity... you need a way to measure it... buy a multi-meter.

 

had the same problem, car died, couldnt start it, couldnt jump it, battery wouldnt hold a charge, i tried a hundred and one things to fix it, including buyin a new battery, tested alternator etc, then had it come to life for a sec an die again. What it turned out to be was a short in the negative cable off the battery terminal, an easy fix as far as simply grounding it o the frame. so take ur jumpers and connect yur neg term to the frame, that will at least tell you if its the positive or the ground thats a problem

 

1) Get a digital Multi-Meter, you own an RX-7... one thats closing on on 20 years old.... you NEED a multi meter.

2) Take the negative terminal off the battery and with the ignition off, hook the multi meter up from the negative post of the battery to the terminal you just took off.. this will give you the bleed current... it should be in the millivot range.. like .020 volts.. if you are reading .1 volt or higher.. you have a bad groung.

3) TAKE THAT FRIGGIN E-FAN OFF YOUR CAR. You already admit that its IMPROPERLY WIRED..... You have an s4 car.. meaning you have the CRAPPIEST alternator known to man!!!!!!!! It simply cannont keep up with the E-fan at idle.... Voltage on an s4 alternator will drop to nothing below 1000 RPM, ESPECIALLY on an old alt... The E-Fan should only come on when it reaches a certain temperature... If you run it all the time.. this will do two things.. burn out your alternator and burn out the e-fan motor and ultimately, burn up your motor.

If the E-Fan is trying to come on when you turn the ignition on, thats why you can't jump the car.. the battery is trying to suck juice, the e-fan is trying to suck juice the starter is trying to suck juice and so is the fuel pump and injection system.... not going to happen..

Here is what you need to do......

1) put the stock fan back on.....
2) Buy a third gen alternator with an FC pulley setup (silverrotor, or malloy mazda and higgi for a pulley)
3) you have an s4.. you can't just slap the FD alternator in there.. you hook up the ring terminal the same, BUT, you hook up the other two, one to the gauge wire in the harness and one directly too the battery, or the alt will drain the battery. (search, there are extensive writeups on FD alts in S4 cars... funny, but we just founf out the proper way to do it like last year)

 

actually guy, i took the battery back to advanced and it tested as a defective battery, so i got another one and alls well so far... ill keep you posted
thx

 

YearsOfDecay wrote:
.. You have an s4 car.. meaning you have the CRAPPIEST alternator known to man!!!!!!!!

Dude, I been driviing S4's for at least fifteen years. I have had less problems with that alternator than I ever would have thouhgt. As long as everything electrical is pretty much stock it should not pose any problem. Add extra electrical and that's a different story with ANY alternator spec'd for any particluar application.

 

YearsOfDecay wrote:
.. You have an s4 car.. meaning you have the CRAPPIEST alternator known to man!!!!!!!!

Dude, I been driviing S4's for at least fifteen years. I have had less problems with that alternator than I ever would have thouhgt. As long as everything electrical is pretty much stock it should not pose any problem. Add extra electrical and that's a different story with ANY alternator spec'd for any particluar application. [/QUOTE]
.. You have an s4 car.. meaning you have the CRAPPIEST alternator known to man!!!!!!!!

 

i have the exact problem Years decribed though. using a S4 alt. with an efan at idle. and its a big efan. if i turn my headlights on. its gets kinda crappy. then if i hit the brakes all the lights get dim and whatnot. might be looking into getting an FD alt soon.

 

It'll keep running too.... for a little while... I'm not making fun of you dude... I know this from experience... I did it myself when i first put an E-Fan on....

What happens is that while the car is ideling,,, the fan is sucking more juice that the alt can keep up with... and it drains the battery... but the car still runs.. once the RPM's come upm the alt can keep up and charge the battey... BUT.. Its a vicious cycle that will eventually kill the battery.... IE.. dead cell... (five years ago.. Autozone thought they sold me three defective batteries in a row cause they kept coming back in with a dead cell after a couple of days.... Till I swtiched to an FD alt.. then,, no problems.. well, after i got the wiring for the FD alt correct!!!)

I know everybody seems to think that E-Fans are the shiznit.... but,,,, the car was created with a mechanical fan... thus, it doesn't have the charging system to keep up with an electric fan... Thus, you have to alter the charging system if you want to run an e-fan (reliably, at least)

I'm going to give an E-Fan a try again soon.. The Black Magic 180 or the Vintage Air 2700 because they both have shrouds that cover the entire radiator, unlike the 150 that only covers 2/3... (the Lincoln V-8 Mark VIII fan is the baddest on the market... but that sucker draws 48 Amps on Full blast at 4K+ CFM.... I don't know if I wanna risk that much current draw!!!)