Battery Problems

[Her 92]

The battery in my 92 is over 7 years old and will not hold a charge for over a week anymore. So it seems I need to purchase a new one. I seem to remember a thread about a Sears battery that has a cut off of some kind, but I did not pay close enough attention to the thread, several weeks ago and now I can't find it. Would someone please refresh my memory. Also would this battery fit in hubby's 62 as he's going through a battery every 4 to 6 months.:

[Ken]

Here ya go, Dorothy:

Sears Automotive

[Her 92]

Thanks, Ken.. :

[cklepka]

changing a dead battery is so hard on a c4, so when mine kept going flat I did some investigation before leaping to the conlusion the battery was in fact dead or dying.

I have not been using my c4 lately, and found that every week it needed a batter recharge. There are only two reasons for this - either the battery cannot hold a charge, or something is draining it.

Turn off the car and put an amp-meter in line on the positive connection. Mine was drawing 300ma.

Go round the fuse panel and see if pulling a fuse changes the current reading. If so, investigate wiring, connectors and switches.

On one c4, I found a current of 1amp, this turned out to be the interior hood light. The switch was rusted and always on. Fixed that, and no more problems with the battery.

On another c4 with 300ma with the doors closed, lights off and start key not plugged in, none of the fuses had any effect. That leaves the security system... try turning it off, or flipping the valet switch.

Otherwise... if not security system, how bad is a 300ma leak? enough to discharge a new battery within 7 days! I think, experiment shows this is correct with a brand new fully charged battery.

final check - charge the battery and then disconnect it, leave for a week & reconnect. The engine will start, this proves the battery is ok and you need to find what is drawing the 300ma.

That is as far as I have got. Anyone have an idea?

[JT ZR-Won]

cklepka,
Welocome to the CAC!

Really good idea with the amp-meter. I wish I would have tried that before I bought a new battery a few days ago. I know those annoying hood lights can totally drain the battery in a short period of time.....

Jay

[vms4evr]

I have a DieHard in my92. Same one that fits in an 84. It works fine. It's a WeatherHandler. Part # D28 M36575.

[rdgfx3]

It's fairly easy to put an underhood switch on the C4 to eliminate the lidhts remaining on.And when the mercury switch goes bad in the lights, you can simply bypass the mercury switch and use the toggle switch you installed to turn the underhood lights on and off.

[Ken]

Originally posted by rdgfx3
It's fairly easy to put an underhood switch on the C4...

Yep!

_Ken

[cklepka]

Same happened to me, changed battery myself (what a job!) and the same continued to happen. Shop gave me another... same thing.

Something is drawing a charge. Get an ammeter and put it on the pos side, you will see 300ma to 700ma with everything turned off.NEVER turn engine with an ammeter in use.

So, what can be doing that? try pulling one fuse out at a time.

Look at the hood, are the lights on?

Chris

[George H. Williams III]

I had battery problems as mentioned. We all know how much fun it is to replace a new battery. Mine got stuck in a parking lot and I had to remove the darn thing and place a new one and it still would not run for long; back for another battery. By this time I was an expert in taking the fender off. Thought of fuses; connections etc. and could not find the problem. Figured it had to be something way over my head. By chance I looked closely at the the positive terminal. It is the one way back in and rarely sees the light of day. It had corrision all over the screw part. Cleaned with a small nail I had found on the ground. Put the original battery back in and it started right up and charged the battery. KISS ( Keep It Simple Stupid) I believe the little darling grinned at me as I drove her home.