Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Car sitting for 1 day, next day dead battery.

How much do you drive? If you had a low/weak battery and simply jumped it to get going then it's possible that you never fully charged the battery. It may have enough volts to test good fo a while but then dwindle out over eight hours of sitting.

The truth is if you haven't added any new electrical compnents lately or re-wired anything then you must have something shorting out. You can verify this by pulling the ground cable off the battery one night. When you re-attach it in the morning and the car starts then you know that you have a constant drain somewhere. Now you have to find it.

It will be something that has constant power. Your sig says that you have a big system. I'd start there. Feel on some of the wiring and compents and see if feel any heat. Heat=power. Check the condition of all the power cables for fraying, pinchpoints, and where they run through gromets or near bare metal.

If you have no luck there then simply start pulling fuses for certain systems over night until you can at least narrow it down.

when I mean that something is shorting out I mean a power wire that is going to ground before your amps not that your amps are still on after you turn off the car. Your problem is that something is still pulling electricity from your car even after it is off. I know that is re-stating the obvious but that electricity is going somewhere. If you really want to know that it's not your battery then pull the negative cable off the battery overnight. When you hook it back up in the morning and if the car starts then you can be sure that it is not your alt or bat.

Mentally go through your car listing all the electrical systems you have installed. That would be any stereo, lighting, radar detect., or ect. that did not come originally on the car. Then look at all your wiring to those systems and check for chaffed or loose wiring.

Face it Electrical gremlins like this take time to find. I wish I could tell you exactly where the problem is but that's just not possible. Your going to have to go system by system looking for the problem. But like I said start with aftermarket electrical because those tend to be where the problems lie.

Thanks for clearing things up. I'll try the unhook the battery test one of these days when I can let the car sit. I'll start to check the wiring now. Thank you.

Okay, I just had a flashback to the last time my car did not start. To clear things up, when I cranked the key all that happened was the solenoid clicked, no turning. I believe that my radio still worked and my radar detector still lit up for sure. I didn't test the lights but this seems like if these things still work the battery might still be good. My question is what could be wrong if something like this happens? I'm talking the same stuff as above, lights working and other electrical stuff but no start. What my father and I were pondering was could it be that the starter is taking too much power to start the car? We are starting to ponder if some wiring in the starter may be the colpret. TIA.

Starters can fail to turn on, happened on my Dad's Sable and my neighbors Taurus. A tap on the starter case helped temporarily. Wiring could be poor too.

Well, there you go you have at least narrowed it down to the problem. I thought that you said you had the Alternator tested. If you did and it was good then you have only a few possible issues. First, did you install/re-install the starter. Is it possible that you did something wrong? Wired wrong or mis-aligned on the flexplate. If it was mis-alinged then it would probably just grind. So if the starter is not even turning then you can narrow it down to the starter not getting power. Check the cables that run directly to the starter. Make sure all of the cables are attached properly.

Have not touched the starter in the time I've had the car (5 years or so). I'll be sure to check the starter cables. Maybe the power drain is coming from there. There is no grinding so it must be lighned up. Tonight I am also going to re-attach/fix the frayed wiring going to my amps. Hopefully that helps out too, it can't hurt.

I had similar problem. I pulled out one or two fuses at a time and let car sit. If problem persisted tried a different set of fuses until battery did not drain. That identified the circuit. It turned out to be the switch in the glove box light.