Can somone figure out why the battery in my J is dieing?

[Sarcastik]

I have had the car for 4 years and this is probably true for other folks where you can leave the dome light on in a J come down the next morning and the car will still start right up. So its never ever had a problem starting. About 3 months ago I had a break-in (which I've mentioned on here) where they stole my dvdplayer/screen and ac unit. They also ripped appart my wiring harness. The total bill for parts and labor ended up around 2 grand higher or lower. Well I get it back and it runs and works fine except for some reason the bass (from subs) sounds all distored and gets interference when the engine is running. So I bring it back he installs some filter that fixes the problem. I bring the car back home thinking everything is fine and wake up the next morning and the battery is dead. Completely drained to nothing. So I jump with my girlfriends car and do my thing for the day. Park it when I get home. Wake up the next morning and the battery is dead again....WTF. So I drive the car to kragen for a ffree battery/alternator test and they said that the battery (although old) is holding a charge and the alternator is charging it. Some time passes and some days it would die and other days I wake up and it would be fully charged. When I get time I take it back to the same shop. He runs tests and says there was some lose connector in a fuse rubbing together (dont quote me on that) cause the battery to drain which he replaces. Take the car home thinking its finally fixed and the next day its dead....what do I do?

[95-J30tt]

i'm can only guess, but when the car was broken into, did they jerk the wiring out??, if they did, then it might be that the wire batch that is going to the Radio/climate control/lighter could have gotten in contact with ground...... in other words, when they pulled out the radio, the wires might have been pinched against metal causing the wires to be stripped, and touching the body of the car or each other... i would start there.... and make sure that the new wires that you connected are soldered and that are not touching.....

[Sarcastik]

Yea, the wires were completly stripped. It had to be completely rewired with a new harness. Are you saying the wires touching can cause the battery to drain?

[95-J30tt]

well if they are stripped and touching each other or touching the car's body, then yes defenately...... i really hope that it is easy to fix for ya, it must suck to fix a problem that some as* ho** caused to your car.... good luck man

[audtatious]

I assume you did not have this problem before they installed "the filter"? I would take it back to the shop and have them troubleshoot for a drain. Also, have the battery checked.

[driverdriver]

Do you have any other aftermarket accessories on the J such as aftermarket fog lights (left in "on" position when car turned off)?

Is your ABS pump on when the car is off (you'll hear it priming in the engine compartment when the vehicle is off?

These can alos cause parisitic drain.

[elan]

First of all I would measure the current going through the battery when the car is off. If the current too high then something is draining the bat. The accessories current normal values I think can be posted in the FCM. To find out which part is taking too much current - go through all fuses and measure it. Take the fuse out - put the amp-meter in place of the fuse and check the current. Then you can see which part is taking too much. Then go from there and check corresponding parts and harness.

If the currents are OK then the battery has probably passed away and has to be replaced. Batteries older than 4 years are better to be replaced and with the current price tags on them are not worth wasted time on their tests and risk that they expose for alternators and other possible problems.
Modified by elan at 6:04 AM 3/5/2007

[Sarcastik]

Is it possible for the battery to drain sometime and sometime need to be replaced? Sometimes the car is dead and sometimes is starts right up. Its a 50 50 crapshoot. If I knew that all I needed was a new battery I would have done that long ago, but how can I be sure?

[yodawill2000]

go to an autozone or Napa and have them test the battery

[Sarcastik]

Around my way kragen does free battery testing. My battery is pretty old so that the first place I took it and they said the battery and alternator were fine. Although from what I understand there test is not as throrough as it could because they dont take it out.