Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Charging / baattery running down problem

I thought I had a bad batterry a few weeks ago, so I went out to get a new one. They put the old one on the tester and said it was fine and charged it back up for me. 1 week later after acting fine, it dies again on a sunday morning after sitting all saturday. Figuring it was a 2 year old battery from walmart that had gone dead twice I just bought a new one, checked that I was getting about 13.8 volts at idle from the alternator and forgot about it. Once again it ran perfect for two weeks, but after sitting all day today without going anywhere it went dead again. I jumped it with the wifes car, and checked again that once it got running it was showing 13.6 volts at idle.

I assume this rules out the alternator (unless it craps out when hot) - which I guess means something is leaking current? Any suggestions on how to check what it might be? Can I check for current draw at the fuse box with the car off to try and figure out whats going on???

I'd say it's definitely the hood light if your car is 98 or older. There's a little accordian-like switch on the engine bay that turns the hood light off. Open the hood and look to your left in the front. That's the switch for the light. Just take the bulb out.

Another way to check it is to pull fuse 34 (under the left driver's foot). Hook up a DMM set to 10 Amps and check the current with the hood and doors closed.

After 2 years (and 2 brand new batteries (free of course)) of fighting with it, I found this was the problem.

Good luck

Thanks - it's a 97, but I don't think I have the underhood light? Actually I'm sure I don't because I had to get a flashlight last night to see under the hood. I will still run the check you mentioned - maybe the trunk light stays on or something else annoying like that

After just 40 minutes idling in the driveway it charged up enough to start with no problem this morning. I did notice that when the high speed cooling fan was on I was only getting about 12.9 volts at the battery. Maybe in high heat with both cooling fans and the AC blower on the alternator can't keep up - but the battery light has never come.

While I have also had bad experiences w/ Wally World batteries, I would lean toward a marginal alternator in your case (have had bad experiences w/ these also).

Get the Auto Zone types to run a load check on your system. While not super accurate, it can give you an indication on your alternators output amperage capability.....my $.02...

Thanks, that's an excellent suggestion - I forgot they do free charging system checks at most parts stores.

Maybe 80,000 miles, 20% underdrive and the original battery cables are starting to take there toll on the charging system capacity.

I just had the same problem. It was the trunk light. If you have fold down seats its easy enough to check. The switch is on the drivers side.

Just FYI for all who made suggestions - it looks like the trunk light was the culprit. The little module thing with the plunger in it had come loose from it's mount - so the trunk light would stay on all the time.

Thankyou guys!!! I've been having problems with my battery not holding a charge. Noticed the positive side connection looked really dirty, so we cleaned that and reconnected it, gave the car a jump, and it ran fine -- but tried to start it again 3 hours later and it was dead. We did this several times this weekend, and the car would never start after 3 hours. We thought maybe it was the cables, but the local autoparts stores don't even carry them, and the negative cable at the dealer is $17 and the positive was $120! There's all kinds of wires and crap attached to the positive cable -- the dealer parts guy told us to take it to the shop and have a mechanic check it out to see if we needed the whole wiring harness that comes with the positive cable, or only part of it. I found this message board just surfing around, and because of THIS THREAD I told my husband about the possibility of the trunk light...he opened the trunk, and closed it almost all the way and it looked like the light was staying on, then he touched the bulb and branded his thumb. We removed the trunk light, jumped the car again, and I went out this morning to start it, and it started right up! Thank you guys so much for the idea -- saved us $120 for the part, plus who knows how much for the mechanic to (probably) misdiagnose it...

Gratefully,
Katiecat
'96 Contour GL

on our 96 contour the light looks like it stays on when you close it, but it finally goes out when closed.. i can see the light at night reflecting up into the panel where the
3 RD brake light is located... never had a problem with it, but did think many times about taking it out just in case.... and the wires from the positive and neg. side of the battery, on our i had to take the battery out and the battery tray to replace a water pump in it to get clearance and found that the RED wires/positive had no insulation on it under the battery area... just one touch of it to the sheet metal and the fuseable link (cartrige) will blow... and leave you stranded... i know the 10 yr. 100,000 miles warrranty on this underhood wiring, but the thought of some mechanic pulling all the wires out and putting all this back in and getting paid for 6 hyrs. for this 12 hr. job, i just cant take myself into the dealership to get it fixed...