hello all again.
my question is straight forward,how long does it take for your battery to lose enough power so the car wont start.
if i leave the car more than 5 days,parked up,the battery will not have enough power to turn the engine over.
its a brand new battery and is getting recharged when the engine is running,that side is working fine.
thank you
broon

 

5 days seems pretty short, time to check for amp draws

 

Is it a regular battery or AGM?

I ended ditching my optima red top because of this same issue. I would leave it for a week or so and my FD would never start up. I thought the battery was defective but after the 3rd replacement one I switched to a conventional battery. IIRC AGMs don't do well sitting dormant for extended periods.

I'm now running a regular battery (Autocraft) from Advance Auto and leave it on a battery tender whenever the car is parked. Haven't had an issue since then.

So I'd recommend getting a battery tender, not a big investment and alleviates the future headaches.

 

Why didn't you use a battery tender on the optima?

You can get a battery tender at harbor freight, they go on sale for 5 bucks once in a while. Normal price is 10-15.

 

I have an AGM Miata battery relocated to the rear bin, I disconnect it at the breaker everytime I park the car, I can leave the battery like that for weeks without having to put a tender on it, and it starts up strong everytime.

 

Check that your glove box light isn't on all the time... pull the bulb and see if that fixes the issue.

AGM/redtop isn't the issue. If an Optima is going flat after a week you have a big current draw, not a battery problem.

 

I forgot to disconnect my AGM a few times and each time was over a week (10-12 days). Started right up both times

 

I have the same issue since I've owned my fd.....I have gone through many batteries over the years, I keep a trickle charger on mine if I know I wont drive it in a 2-3 day period and beyond....never looked at the glove box light, I know most fd's have the same issue with the light. I thought that the light goes off with the ignition?? maybe not?

 

glove box light only goes off when the button in the door is fully pressed. Worn glove box hinges and latches can make switch no longer fully depress. Ignition off does not turn off glove box light.

 

Yep. I glued a little piece of a Cellblock in the recessed part of the glovebox door. It's worked like a charm for 5+ years. If you don't have an old skateboard laying around, just find something about 1/8" thick that you can cut and glue.

...Unless you don't want to be a hillbilly like me. Then you gotta take out, tighten down and re-align the glovebox.

 

I have an Optima Yellow Top in mine. I'm gone for weeks at a time for work. It's fired right up for me every time. The longest it sat without starting was 7 weeks. Started up on the first crank. A good bit of smoke for 15 minutes but the battery had no issues.

 

Check for draws on the battery when the car is off. (My ABS system was drawing 12 volts when the car was off)
Also if your set up isn't stock anymore try upgrading to a battery with more CCA then the stock battery, doing this fixed my issue.

 

Checking for draws:

what is the best way to do this??

 

Simple you tube search:

 

My aftermarket alarm was killing my battery in the same manner as described above. I wired in a switch to the alarm, so it has no power when turned off. Never any issues since then. My interstate battery will be 8 years old in March, and it's still going strong (I probably just jinxed myself )

 

Thanks for all the replys, going to do the amp test, will let you's know what the results are
thank you

 

mine was not turning off periodicly, the first time it happened I was driving down the road at night and it was "flickering" on and off, and I could see it from behind the glove box, I thought a fire was starting under the dash on that side! scared the crap out of me!

 

Mine does the same thing from time to time, and it is due to the little keyhole light in the driver's side door lock staying on, for some unknown reason. Must be some logic in the ECU that gets fawked up every now and then.

There are times when literally months go by that I don't drive or start my car, and unless there is something wrong, some current draw that isn't supposed to be happening, the car starts right up.

A battery should last a long, long, LONG time. Heck, I typically put my boat away in September/October and don't get it out until May, and the battery stays charged...that is 6 months or more sometimes.

 

I'll have to do the Amp test as well to try and figure out my problem....I do see the glove box light sometimes at night as well when driving but it appears to go off when I've locked the car. Hopefully the Amp test will confirm my issue.

 

I had that issue with the glove box on my old FD. It sucked but I made a few adjustments and the problem was fixed.

OP- definitely check to see if that is the case.

 

Fd should have no more than .02 amps of current draw. Back in the day, I let mine sit up for 2 months in late fall and early winter. Battery was weak but still strong enough that she fired right up.

 

I got tired of worrying about my car being dead and bought one of the CTEK chargers...works awesome. Always fully charged and ready to go.

 

My stock '92 JDM Auto... I have an Optima red top ($300.00 worth of battery here in Australia..!!) and my car can sit for 1 month and a few days, and still start and run fine.

I have an ultrasonic rat/rodent repeller system in the engine bay, which is permanently wired to always run, to stop rodents getting in the engine bay, chewing wires and things. Even with that constantly drawing power, and the flashing anti theft light inside the car, the battery still lasts a month sitting.