this van has a complete drain, have been through 3 batteries in 3 years and the most recent one in april. i have checked to see if its pulling anything while not running and its completly normal draw. I had our trusty mechanic look the entire thing over nor he or his team all certified mechanics found anything wrong, AND even the dealership said there's nothing wrong. we let this thing sit for 2 days without running and it wont even attempt to crank the next day. the van only has 125,000 miles which is nothing for these vans, other than this issue is is in mint of mint conditions. we are needing to sell it ASAP so any help would be very greatful. KJ.

 

No idea what the vehicle is, so no idea what to suggest other than the fact that you have just put the third cheap uselessly underpowered battery on it - or its suffering as many do from parasitic drain. Click on search - type in "parasitic drain" and read the threads then come back with questions my friend.

 

We have always used Napa batteries and they seem to all be of quality as far as i could see.

and the vehicle is a 2001 chrysler town and country limited, i suppose you might know it as a grand voyager limited?

I read a post about a trick i could do to the battery sensor so i might try that, but i also heard that the issue could be permanent, is that true? surely not.

 

I'm afraid the issue is "permanent" and is caused by a variety of factors which affect other makes such as BMW and Mercedes. As your mechanics suggest, there is no "fault".

You should read the various postings about this problem as suggested by Qinteq, but here's a brief outline (here we go again...)

A lead-acid starter battery should not allowed to get discharged by much. It's construction with spongy negative lead plate etc. means that the normal amorphous lead sulphate produced during discharge will turn to hard crystalline lead sulphate, making its ampere-hour capacity fall gradually over time -- IF NOT IMMEDIATELY RECHARGED BY THE ALTERNATOR. Hard crystalline lead sulphate is an insulator. This is what is going on with your batteries. Lead-acids treated like this will not last longer than 2 years or so. If the vehicle is used all day every day the problem will likely not happen, it's a problem with low use.
The "parasitic" current draw (meaning the current draw with ignition off) is due to the various devices like microprocessor boards, alarm systems, microwave receivers for the key-fob transmitter and so on. My estimation on GVs is around 100m/A., although officially it's supposed to be 50m/A. In the 1970s there were no parasitic loads on the battery, so this problem did not happen. Many batteries lasted 10 years or more then.

You will want to know what you can do to fix your problem. Read this carefully, this is a distillate of hard-won knowlege.

If you can get mains electricity to the vehicle when not in use, make or acquire a small charging device that will make a REGULATED 13.8volt dc., with a current capability of 2amp or so. These things are actually manufactured, I have bought them for a couple of quid in a fleamarket.
Plug it into the LEFT-HAND cigar lighter socket, ALL THE TIME. This will keep the battery on "float-charge" and will result in a good start every time once the battery has recovered. Even a sulphated battery will recover over time, say around three months with this treatment. This is a GOOD way to treat a starter battery. Now my batteries spin the engine during cranking smartly as it should be. Every time. Hot or cold.

If you cant get mains electricity to the vehicle when not in use, go the Qinteq way with a solar panel(s). Checkout his postings on this one.

Leedsman.

 

In addition.
You could use a charger like optimate or Ctek if leave your car for several or more days without use and if you have access to main electricity without getting the battery out of your car.

But also, both chargers are SMART chargers and are often able to almost fully revive a dead battery if you get the battery out of the car and use the smart charger. The chargers have sensors to detect the state of the battery and some program to revive dead lead batteries.

And I know it really works wonders, it happened to me with my car and with my motorbike that the garage advised me to replace battery because dead and in both situations I managed to revive the battery with Optimate and kept using ithe "dead" battery for years after that.
Nowadays I put my batteries on the Optimate charger as soon as I don't use the car/bike for longer than a week to keep it in perfect condition.

 

Napa, Bosch, Merc Class, etc is a brand I meant that if it won't start and three new batteries have been bought you are leeching energy out faster than you can put energy in. So things to consider are :

- alternator is overvolting killing the plates
- alternator is undervolting and not charging enough
- battery was / is of an underpowered size and cant hold enough CCA
- the parasitic drain is permanently too high and the system can't hold charge
- your lifestyle is causing the issue, starting the car then not running for enough minutes to recharge the battery
- simply put one or too short a journey per week will kill the battery because it never replaces the initial energy used to start the car

If your trusty mechanic and the main stealer say there's nothing wrong, there is something very wrong. You say it will not start after 2 days, but don't say it won't start because of a low / high pressure fuel problem. For example is the battery spinning the engine like mad, in which case its not battery ?

............. and its still summer, prove it yourself kj981300. Take you car for a 30-40 minute ride with all wipers, radio, air con, lights etc off. Park your car and pull the IOD fuse for a full week. Then put the IOD fuse back in and your car should fire first time if its parasitic drain.

 

Thank you. I will try taking out the fuse once i get the van back from the mechanic. I have a suspicion that a small battery may be to blame although we have got what is recommended by chrysler. If in deed parasitic drain I will buy a charger. I dont think it's the alternator as it's brand new and we have had it checked twice and both times it was putting out plenty of juice. I have read sometimes if the BCM (Body Control Module) located under the steering wheel on the firewall underneath the dashboard, Can short out causing weird issues such as things not turning off, stuff turning on etc.. and my problem battery drain. I will check all of these and may as well replace the BCM as i can get one for under $120USD. Thanks, KJ. I will be back with review after further testing.

 

Yes it does seem a problem, but one I've only encountered once and that was when I bought the car.
Two things for you to check, first is what position is ignition switch in when you pull key out, is it inline with notch on ignition switch surround. This is a recent thread.
Second simple check is, do you turn lighting dimmer switch off when leaving vehicle. I found this was draining my battery when I got car.

 

That seems so logical to me right now that I completely forgot I made that mistake when I just got the car, now I pay attention every single time and still sometimes I almost leave it in wrong position.

 

Yeah I made that mistake also. However, my 98 Grand Voyager also has a very slight drain. It takes a week or more to really show itself but it is there and I've ran every test i can think of but everything comes back fine.

I even replaced the battery for a more expensive gel type but, same thing. So i just live with it. If I am going to be away or the van won't be driven for more than a week I just disconnect it.