Mystery dead battery

[tsigoloeg]

Over Thanksgiving my in-laws were in town and we drove my wife's 4Runner. So my car sat from Wed night to Mon morning. When it started up Mon I thought it cranked a little slower than usual, but it started up fine. When I left work however, the car wouldn't crank at all. Just solenoid buzz.

I got a jump (would not start from one of those emergency battery packs) and took it to service, left it there overnight. Next morning apparently it started on its own, battery was a little low so they charged it up, load tested, measured charging system, electrical draw...couldn't find anything wrong. And I didn't leave anything on, either!

At least they fixed my annoying steering wheel rattle and I had them do the passenger seat airbag sensor recall so it wasn't a total waste of time, but has anyone had anything similar happen? I don't really feel like coming back from the airport at midnight after a week away and having to sit at my car waiting for another jump...

[Blackmobile]

A few weeks ago I had an incident kind of similar. I had to move my car cause i was blocking the driveway, it started fine, moved it a few meters away and turned it off and left.

About 5 hours later, i went to start the car and it wouldn't start. There was still some juice left in the battery but it was nearly dead, it took me about 5 tries to get it started, which included me pumping the gas to finally get it to go. Havn't had an issue since, it was just that one time.. I think that if I had left my car for any longer the battery might have completely drained, still not sure what caused it though.

[milkacaduke]

i had something a little off though

just curious does the car has some kind of sencer that detects objects inside which prevents power to shut down?

in other words, can the car be completely shut down with me sitting in it....seems like a dumb question but theres one time that i had to crash in my car for the night cuz i was drunk out my a#%. i made sure everything was turned off but at the morning for some reason i drained my batteries. had to jump it ofcourse but i still couldn't figure out what i left on :/

[tsigoloeg]

Well, it happened again over Christmas...parked car on Thurs afternoon, started it up (weak cranking) Sun night, drove 1.5 mile to grocery store, came back out...dead car.

Hauled it in and left it over New Year's weekend at the dealer. They said they eventually replicated the problem and claimed I had an "intermittent" dead cell in the battery, which they replaced (pro-rated) under warranty since it was over 12 mo old ($57). That and some punk d!ck helped himself to the change in my center console; not a big deal, but disconcerting to think that I can't trust anything to be left in my car while it's there (e.g., my $100 Hobie sunglasses that I forgot in the holder...).

Will a battery with a "dead cell" self-discharge over a few day period? Does that make sense? Considering that earlier in the month they claimed to have tested and fully charged the battery.

[LinkNuc]

What would pumping the gas pedal do? Teh only thing you can do by pumping the gas pedal with the engine off is reset the ecu (see ecu reset procedure)

[adidas2go]

Lol, you were drunk, and made sure you turned everything off right? Probably not. Impairment reduces your ability to use good judgment

[Ferguson]

Didn't, by chance, have one foot resting against the brake pedal, did you? The battery saver function won't help you there. It assumes there's a conscious person pressing the pedal.

[jmann]

My battery died after only a couple of months, and I don't mean wouldn't start, the door locks wouldn't work, no lights on the dash would come on, nothing. I had it towed to the dealership after having the battery out to run some tests on it at the auto parts store, and of course when he went to put it on the tow truck, it started right up due the the charge the test equipment put on the battery, even though it failed the test. The dealership tested the battery and said it was ok then, but asked me to leave it overnight to see if it would make it discharge and fail the test the next day. It failed the test the next morning, they determined it had a bad cell.

[OrangeXTC]

Left my lights on Auto which should turn headlights off after 45seconds. Came out 1hr later and saw my lights still ON. Had trouble starting but eventually started. No problem since.

[Blackmobile]

my battery wasn't completely dead, it would crank but wouldn't start. so as it was cranking i pumped the gas pedal to get some gas flowing, it helps i'm pretty sure.. i'm not sure what exactly happens when you do that, something about pumping/priming some gas into the carborator or something? but i do that with all my older cars and it helps get em started.

[mikegtr06]

thats weird because even if you leave your lights on they turn off after 10 minutes

Left my lights on Auto which should turn headlights off after 45seconds. Came out 1hr later and saw my lights still ON. Had trouble starting but eventually started. No problem since.

[Ferguson]

According to the manual, it's 5 minutes. UNLESS the ignition is in the ON position, and the autolight sensor on top of the dash is covered or in a dark location, in which case they will NOT shut off.

[mikegtr06]

According to the manual, it's 5 minutes. UNLESS the ignition is in the ON position, and the autolight sensor on top of the dash is covered or in a dark location, in which case they will NOT shut off.

well k 5 min..... i knew that it was a little bit.....

[marcelo929]

About a week ago my battery started draining mysteriously also.. I turned off my car at a gas station, loaded up and when i get back in to turn it on all it did was start clicking. I started moving some battery cables and it wanted to start but struggled and never turned on till after 15 tries and me giving it some gas.

I have an aftermarket audio system i dont know if that could be whats affecting it since the battery cable was changed also. (dont know what its called, the one with the fuse connected straight to the battery itself) lately it hasnt drained completely but it struggles to turn and if i dont turn on the engine my hids flicker and my lights inside flicker if i turn my radio higher than 15. What could it be sorry for the rant...

[Blackmobile]

well the dead battery deal happened to me again. though i have a theory this time.. in a previous post, i mentioned that i went to move my car a few meters, then the next time i went to start the car it wouldn't turn over. well the other day, i went to start my car in the morning and it wouldn't start, though this time it had this horrible metal grinding sound and wouldn't turn over, after 4 tries and pumping the gas pedal i got it to start. i got out after and it had a horrible smell from the exhaust as if i hadn't had an oil change in 5 years.

now the theory part of why i'm getting a dead battery. last time it was because i just moved my car, so it was only "on" for less than a minute. the day before it died on me recently, i had started the car and turned it off within a minute because we were going to use our other car instead. so i wonder if the battery issue happens when the car is turned on, then off within a very short period of time...

can anyone else remember if this has ever happened to them?

[Rob.Vegan]

i had something a little off though

just curious does the car has some kind of sencer that detects objects inside which prevents power to shut down?

I doubt it, over the summer me and my friends would take long cruises at night and crash in my car. Most of the time there would be 3 or 4 people sleeping in there, sometimes 5 and don't ask me how comfortable that was i was perfectly fine lol.

I got a dead battery once but totally my fault. I had music playing waiting for my friend to come out of her hosue. Accidently left the lights on, wound up waiting for about 25-30 minutes and when I tried starting it just made a repetitive clicking. Jumped the car and it's been fine since