![]() Your car relies on your battery when you fire up the engine. The battery isn't charging while you drive. But if your battery is older, intense cold or heat could weaken its performance or even cause it to die completely! If you notice your battery having a hard time braving the elements, come into Firestone Complete Auto Care for a free battery check - our auto technicians will help diagnose and troubleshoot the issue. ![]() Newer batteries tend to have more resistance to extreme seasonal temperatures. It's extremely hot or cold outside.įreezing winter weather and hot summer days may cause problems for your vehicle's battery. You can help prevent corrosion-related problems by regularly cleaning your car’s battery terminals! If you are unsure on how to clean your battery terminals, come visit your local Firestone Complete Auto Care and have an expert technician do it for you. If your terminals become loose or corroded, you might have trouble starting the vehicle because your battery can't properly transmit its power! You could even stall out while driving or damage the vehicle's electronic components. These terminals may also become corroded. The positive and negative terminals connected to your battery can sometimes jostle loose over time. Your battery connections are loose or corroded. ![]() You can help avoid parasitic draws by turning off every light and making sure your trunk, glove box, and doors are fully closed and latched before leaving the car. The battery strain caused by these electrical whoopsies is known as a parasitic draw. While your engine runs, the alternator recharges the battery - which is why you typically don't have to worry about the battery dying while you're blasting the radio on your drive to work! But when the engine is off, the alternator can't recharge the battery, allowing little electrical mishaps to drain your battery entirely. What may drain a car battery when it's off are things such as interior lights, door lights, or even bad relays. These things shouldn't have a major impact on your battery. Something is causing a "parasitic draw."Įven while your car is off, your battery provides power to things like the clock, the radio, and the alarm system. But if your car doesn’t have this feature, your headlights may stay on until you either turn them off or till your car battery is completely drained. Many newer vehicles have headlights designed to turn off after a certain amount of time. If your car battery keeps draining, the first things to check are your lights. So, put those jumper cables aside, and check out these seven things that could explain why your car battery keeps dying. To help prevent a dead battery, you first have to know what causes one. What Drains a Car Battery?Ī dead car battery can be annoying, but it can also be avoided. And though your car battery probably isn't going to many social gatherings in its off-hours, there are still plenty of other things that may leave it feeling just as drained. I had to use this method last year and the culprit was the remote locking system picking up my wife's keys somehow and activating the lock solenoid all night long.A lot of things can leave you feeling drained, like an unbalanced diet, a long day at work, or even spending too much time with others. It's going to take some testing with a multimeter to tell how much voltage will develop during small current draws, but it's probably at least 10 watts to drain a healthy battery overnight during the summer. It will always register a few milliamps to keep the radio stations set but if it goes up, you will know. ![]() A multimeter is more sensitive, but you have to watch it carefully. If you don't have a relay, a flashlight lightbulb wired in series with the ground cable will do the same thing, show when current is flowing. ![]() Use the relay to turn on an alarm so you can go see what's causing the draining. Even a small current from an activated circuit (like the door light) should cause the relay to trip. You could set up a low voltage relay in-line on the battery ground cable (obviously only for when parked at night). ![]()
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