Cars We Drive!

HRoi said:

🤔

Well the lighting up like a Christmas tree seems logical to me because the electrical system is still getting low voltage from the uncharged battery. I also believe that a lead acid battery can be discharged to the point that it’s dead forever

Did you ever get stranded out back of an Outback Steakhouse? 😄

But yeah, I think we’re making the same point. Id always suspect some additional issue beyond normal parasitic drain in those cases

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I wonder if it's the alternator .

VaderDave said:

I sold both for several thousand dollars more than I paid for them. If I conveniently forget repairs, maintenance, gas, and insurance costs, I actually made money!

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I was just curious about resale value post-pandemic . I do wonder how ice vs EV resale will develop

I had a problem on my motorcycle where if I didn't charge ride it for more than about 2 weeks it would be dead, and then after that happened it wouldn't hold a charge for more than a couple days. After replacing with another lead acid battery that did the same the following year, I switched to lithium ion and zero problems.

I accidentally upsized the battery on my GTI…

I think the automatics use an H6 because of the stop-start but the manual only has a H5.

Oh well, I just have more power now and my dashcam will run longer before the voltage cutoff.

double00 said:

I wonder if it's the alternator .



I was just curious about resale value post-pandemic . I do wonder how ice vs EV resale will develop

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It's a good question--I think I probably could have squeezed a few more bucks out of each one during the pandemic, as prices for these kinds of cars spiked during that time. But I was more interested in selling them quickly, so I priced them accordingly. Both were gone within just a couple of days after listing on FB marketplace and a couple of enthusiast FB pages.

get a volt meter, clamp it to your system and start pulling fuses one by one. You should be able to find the parasitic drain that way.

A shop can do that in say half an hour, and should have the tools to make the car think it’s on standby with a door open to ensure access to the fuse box.

Years ago I did this to figure out it was the Bluetooth car kit of my merc at the time that did that. Simple solution as I simply unplugged it when I left the car for more than a few days.

nootje said:

get a volt meter, clamp it to your system and start pulling fuses one by one. You should be able to find the parasitic drain that way.

A shop can do that in say half an hour, and should have the tools to make the car think it’s on standby with a door open to ensure access to the fuse box.

Years ago I did this to figure out it was the Bluetooth car kit of my merc at the time that did that. Simple solution as I simply unplugged it when I left the car for more than a few days.

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Have a voltmeter and used it to confirm that one of my batteries is all the way dead and the other is most of the way dead (~3v). But parasitic drain isn't a blocker for me getting this thing running and to my house so I can trickle charge it. From there, the dealer said to bring it in so they can swap out the batteries and resolve whatever is going on.

I did have an oil change recently where they took care of a recall and checked the infotainment system for some errors I complained about. Wouldn't surprise me if something they did there is causing the drain.

My Wrangler's battery also died on me a couple months ago - but that was after waiting for the fam in the car with the radio on for 15 minutes (still not normal, tbh). Roadside guy managed to jump start it with his massive battery pack (my emergency booster did close to nothing), and the next day I took it to the shop to get a new battery in (it was 6 years old so time for a fresh one).

1) battery was so f expensive - I couldn't believe it
2) shop guy said the infotainment system and electronics are going to look like they're going nuts for a while (he said about 100 miles, a few cycles) but will all be back to normal - both were 100% true
3) I was hoping to get my NYS inspection done but it was not possible without those cycles (100+ miles) under the belt. His computer kept failing the car after the battery change
4) I hate all that tech in modern cars

gdl203 said:

My Wrangler's battery also died on me a couple months ago - but that was after waiting for the fam in the car with the radio on for 15 minutes (still not normal, tbh). Roadside guy managed to jump start it with his massive battery pack (my emergency booster did close to nothing), and the next day I took it to the shop to get a new battery in (it was 6 years old so time for a fresh one).

1) battery was so f expensive - I couldn't believe it
2) shop guy said the infotainment system and electronics are going to look like they're going nuts for a while (he said about 100 miles, a few cycles) but will all be back to normal - both were 100% true
3) I was hoping to get my NYS inspection done but it was not possible without those cycles (100+ miles) under the belt. His computer kept failing the car after the battery change
4) I hate all that tech in modern cars

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6 years is not bad for a battery tbh . I go with interstate batteries when it's time , pretty reliable .

my 2015 wrangler has old skool roll up windows , no factory a/c , etc , the plainest Jane . I've never had battery issues but it's had a couple electrical bugs

gdl203 said:

My Wrangler's battery also died on me a couple months ago - but that was after waiting for the fam in the car with the radio on for 15 minutes (still not normal, tbh). Roadside guy managed to jump start it with his massive battery pack (my emergency booster did close to nothing), and the next day I took it to the shop to get a new battery in (it was 6 years old so time for a fresh one).

1) battery was so f expensive - I couldn't believe it
2) shop guy said the infotainment system and electronics are going to look like they're going nuts for a while (he said about 100 miles, a few cycles) but will all be back to normal - both were 100% true
3) I was hoping to get my NYS inspection done but it was not possible without those cycles (100+ miles) under the belt. His computer kept failing the car after the battery change
4) I hate all that tech in modern cars

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Sounds about right. I ended up buying 2 portable jump boxes and 1 powerful trickle charger. I tried trickle charging for a bit (plugged into another car) for a few hours and that may have given some baseline juice but not nearly enough. I think if I had gotten the car plugged into a trickle charger for 24+ hours, maybe it would have made a difference.

I bought 1 big jump box and a small one. Using both, I was able to get the car up and running but as soon as the jump box short boost mode wore off, the car would be lacking juice and start to die.

Eventually I got another tow truck and when we used his large jump box and my large jump box, we were able to keep the truck running long enough to get it onto the flat bed.

It's at the dealer now but it was touch and go. The closest dealer said they were backed up for 4 weeks and that I couldn't even leave it there because they had no room. The second dealer said the same but because I had taken my car into them recently for my oil change and recall work, the guy did me a solid and said they will fix it Monday.

I guess you could say I FAFO'd by buying a car from a brand with reliability issues.