Car won't hold a charge - sound like the battery?

[extanker]

use a good DVOM check before charge,after charge,before starting,running at idle......get back with readings

[mikefocke]

load test them for you. If your battery took that much "water" I'm betting the plates were exposed and that can lead to them warping and a battery that won't charge up.

Plus a battery that has been drained of charge multiple times is more liable to be unable to accept a charge than one kept fully charged.

3 days to drain the battery is a very short time. Done anything to the car recently? Any aftermarket electronics?

There are lots of batteries that fit our cars listed here.

[J'sboxie]

also check that all of your lights in the front and back boots are turning off...I think I have read that sometimes a bad switch can keep on a light even after the compartment had been closed...Good Luck!!

[JoeFromPA]

Originally Posted by J'sboxie

also check that all of your lights in the front and back boots are turning off...I think I have read that sometimes a bad switch can keep on a light even after the compartment had been closed...Good Luck!!

Any tips on checking to see if a trunk (boot) light remains on with the door shut? How does one check that, since opening the cover turns the light on?

[Burg Boxster]

Originally Posted by JoeFromPA

Any tips on checking to see if a trunk (boot) light remains on with the door shut? How does one check that, since opening the cover turns the light on?

put your cell phone or digital camera in movie record mode and place in the trunk then close...

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Burg Boxster

put your cell phone or digital camera in movie record mode and place in the trunk then close...

Or one of your kids................

[JoeFromPA]

hehehe....like the cell phone idea better. Less likely to get suspicious questioning

I made it home last night on the last charge that battery will hold. After a 30 minute drive I parked at school, took a 2.5 hour class, and came out....and it JUST started...

But, I had a Everstart Maxx group 48 700 CCA battery in the trunk

[JoeFromPA]

Thanks all. My main question was: is there something that can consistently drain batteries that is not obvious - maybe a bad part allowing continuous draw after shutdown or something that tends to happen in these cars. Sounds like nothing that frequently occurs.

When I took the covers off the battery, I could see liquid clearly near the top. Nevertheless, I poured a good amount of water in all 6 holes. More than I would've expected without it coming up into the pour tubes.

I'm going to pick up a Wal-Mart everlast battery.

[JoeFromPA]

P.s. No recent major changes to the car. I took ownership of it from my father. In the past 2 years, the horn has been going off in the evenings due to poor bushings seperating the airbag from the horn sensor.

I've temporarily fixed that using folded up business cards (amazing how well that worked!), but the battery did FULLY drain several times. It gave me absolutely no problems for over 2000 miles of driving it, which included about 60 fully cold starts in both boiling summer weather and 40 degree days. Until 2 weeks ago, when it suddenly just completely would not turn the car over.