Any battery problems after vehicle sits unstarted for long periods?

ronerhodes

Went on vacation for 2 weeks and the battery was drained upon return. Dealer said this is normal for this car. So, you can't leave a car unstarted for long(?) periods unless you have a method to jump start. Any solutions?

kinley

ronerhodes

Thanks for the sage advice but a charger won't do much good in the parking lot of an airport!

jgmilberg

If the battery is old or going bad it will lose it's charge in a 2 week time frame, unless you left on the dome light or something. I would take the car in for a charging/battery load test to make sure the battery is still good. A bad battery will cook your alternator leaving you with a big repair bill and stranded, so it's worth the $25 to have it done. Autozone can do the same test for free if you have one nearby.

The charger crack was a little bit off, but you might want to look into one of those battery pack jump starters to keep in the trunk, just in case for the next time you have to go away with your car in the lot. There are also solar chargers that sit on the dash too, that should maintain a charge. You can find both at different places, but to get an idea on cost and what they look like try http://www.jcwhitney.com

ronerhodes

Thanks for the info about jump starters. The particular problem I had does not involve an old battery. The car is less than 1 year old and would not start recently when we returned from a 2 week vacation. the dealer checked everything out and recharaged the battery. The dealer said the computer and all the new electronics on the car drained the battery and that this was normal. According to this dealer, this a common occurrence. I am just trying to axcertain this or find a cheap solution.

Mr_Shiftright

I think two weeks is a bit short for a new battery on a new car to be drained by the little computer gizmos. I think that 6-8 weeks would be more normal.

Batteries can be load tested for defects. This isn't rocket science, and the dealer should be able to tell you the condition of your battery.

tboner1965

If so, perhaps your car alarm is periodically set off by the noise of jets passing near the parking lot.

If it goes off enough times during the two week period, you will have a dead battery.

TB

kgbkahnk

I had a similar problem with my TB LTZ, only mine went dead in about 4 days. Dealer gave me the same excuse that you got, but he did put in a new battery for me. Took only a day and a half to drain the new battery flat.

They ended up having it in their shop for 8 days and finally isolated the drain to a faulty rear hatch power locking mechanism. Took 2 days to get the part, and then they forgot to reprogram the keyless entry so that my key fobs would release the rear hatch. (I found this out *after* loading the rear cargo area clear full and then couldn't get the lift gate open).

I don't know if my problem was just a quirk, or if there is a batch of bad rear power lock out there causing your problem, but it might be worth mentioning to your dealer......good luck.

bburton1

Wow what a pig-have an 72 vw van, let it set for several months at a time and no problem with the battery. You have a voltage leak somewhere in the system-these are a bear to find. DC products are notorious battery eaters-what is the make and model of this vehicle.

opera_house_wk

I have one of those battery protector devices that goes in series with positive battery lead. Bought it for an old PU and it has saved me many times when I left the lights on after a rain. Moved it to my new truck even though it has the warning beeper. I have a camp that is powered by the 12V of the vehicle and it makes sure I can leave the next day. Sometimes it false trips but a small price to pay. It is even smart enough not to shut off when you have emergency flashers on. If nothing else, I would get one of those battery clamp switches to disconnect the battery (as long as I didn't have one of those alarm or lock systems that you had to re program).

swschrad

I see today where Radio Shack has their $30 trickle charger on sale for $20. park on top or where the strong sun will hit your dash while out of town, and let one of these maybe keep up with the non-alarm drain sources. worth a try.

kinley

tblazer503

just get some fibre optic lines, run them outside, and aim them at the solar panels... hehe. =o) nah... why dont you just carry around one of those portable chargers for $50 or disconnect the battery if you are going to be out for a while. Doesn't GM give a 36mo roadside assist anyways? I know, its a pain all the same, but at least there is roadside assist.

swschrad

in the originator's posts, I didn't see that... and my experience is that they build the airport parking ramps up from ground as that is the cheapest way.

it also raises the most alarm when the security pukes started re-evaluating things in the past year.

so you just park up on sniper's row, put the solar battery on the dash, plug it into the power socket fka lighter socket, and turn off the sirens etc. on the alarm box.

or, yeah, get one of those gelcell battery backs that is supposed to get you back in action fast and try that once. in my personal humble opinion, that's too small a battery and too thin a wire to crank your car.

opera_house_wk

and get one of those marine battery switches that are OFF 1 2 BOTH. The second time I got stuck at an airport, that is what I would do. Sure would be worth it if you travel a lot. In my old Explorer, there was an area that you could mount a second battery and I always kep my boat battery there charged an ready. Unfortunantly the new Explorer doesn't have this space available. A spare battery is much better than those tiny carry around battery packs.

alcan

Assuming there isn't any excessive parasitic current draw, just remove the PCM fuse when it's going to be parked for a while. Might take a few miles for driveability & transmission shifts to return to normal afterwards.

rubicon52

I was reading a book about aircraft engines. Small private aircraft can sit idle for sometimes long periods of time. This book claimed that the inside of an aircraft engine would start to corrode after sitting idle for one week. We have a third car that we use only for trips and joy riding. I try to drive it at least 3 times a week.

swschrad

the old corrosion from moisture in the air trick, eh? now I know why there's a constant in a lot of pilot stories of "spinning props around the hangar to earn flying time," as it's usually said.

the auto equivalent would be to fire it up weekly, run a minute or two, and top off the battery with the charger.

for long-term storage, it would be disconnect the battery after pulling the plugs and spraying a little mist of fogging oil into the cylinders. also tie a bag across the air intake to help keep the mice out.

rubicon52

"...fire it up weekly, run a minute or two..."
is also not recommended. Running for only a minute or two will dump combustion by products (like water)into the oil without the oil getting hot enough to cook them off.

cutehumor

I'm going to disney world next friday for a week. my car will be sitting for that entire week. the last time I let my car sit for awhile was independence day when it sat for 3 days. the car wouldn't start with no power. my neighbor helped me scrape out the terminal connectors..it was corroded. The car fired right up. my question is..what is the best way to preserve the battery for a week of nonuse? disconnect the negative terminal? the battery is four years old.

Mr_Shiftright

Should be no problem, just one week of non-use. I wouldn't even worry about it. If your battery is corroding, it might be old, or it may have a slight leak at the terminals.

jgmilberg

I always use those felt rings, usually red and green colored that slide over the post under the terminal. I also use the battery protectant spray. The combination of the two seems to work really well for me.

swschrad

if the battery was totally sealed with no hope whatsoever of any gas leakage, it would blow. even the no-maintenance jobs... temp extremes, dissimilar materials, you are going to get occasional gaps and leaks. I fell in love with the felt rings years ago, it was an annual chore before that of wire-brushing the terminals and posts, soaking the ends of the cables out in baking soda and water until they stopped fizzing, then dry, grease, and reassemble.

golden_dog

I've had the same problem three times with my '02 Bravada. It sat only 2 or 3 days before the battery died. I've started carrying jumper cables to be safe.

New car batteries should be able to keep their charges for long periods of time. My '93 Saturn sits for periods of up to a month and never has a problem starting. It's battery is about 3 years old.

I'm not sure of the cause of the battery drain. My gut feeling is that the problem is related to a door or hatch not being fully closed.

swschrad

you might have to disconnect sensors one at a time, or short their connectors over, or whatever the wiring diagram calls for, to find the one that is screwed up. take the bulbs out of the "courtesy" sockets first in the glove box, under the hood, in the trunk, and see what that does... those are also notorious locations for goofy switches leaving loads on the battery.