Almost no electricle power till car is started?

[svxsubaru1]

I just started driving my SVX again, and now the car almost has not electrical power before you start it up. The electric seat belts barley move, the CD player wont work, and the car will not turn over. Luckily I have been able to bump start to get it going, and every time it turns on all power that the car should have in the electrical system come back and every thing works fine. Once the car is warmed up it will sometimes restart with out a jump, but its not 100%. The car has a fairly new battery about 1.5 years old, it has a new alternator, a new ignition switch, and i did additional grounding, and have replaced the negative battery cable because of corrosion, but i still have this problem. Any ideas? Thanks.

[huck369]

Sounds like a weak battery to me....

[oab_au]

Sounds like a weak battery to me....

Yep, or a leak in the electrical system, draining the battery.

Harvey.;)

[Trevor]

From what you report it would appear that the car has been out of use for some time. If so, the battery will probably have sulphated up. Sulphate deposit renders the plates inactive. There are battery conditioning products available to treat this condition. If economy is important you could investigate this option.

[svxsubaru1]

Harvey, any idea on what could be draining the battery or at least a way to check to see if its being drained. By the way the car was parked for around 4 months.

[Trevor]

There probably was nothing draining the battery. The battery can go flat in the amount of time you specify through several alternative causes.

However, if you wish to check to be sure, disconnect one terminal and put an ammeter in series with the battery and the disconnected lead.

Edit P.S. If you do not have an ammeter a low wattage bulb in series will show up any load of real interest. If there is a drain the bulb will light up to a variable degree.

[SVXRide]

Harvey, any idea on what could be draining the battery or at least a way to check to see if its being drained. By the way the car was parked for around 4 months.


Given that the car was parked for 4 months with the battery connected, you probably want to pull the battery and put it on a low amp battery charger for the better part of a day to "gently" bring it back up to a full charge. There's a good chance that the amount of driving you're doing isn't fully charging the battery.
-Bill

[Trevor]

Given that the car was parked for 4 months with the battery connected, you probably want to pull the battery and put it on a low amp battery charger for the better part of a day to "gently" bring it back up to a full charge. There's a good chance that the amount of driving you're doing isn't fully charging the battery.
-Bill

Yes Bill,

Then discharge with a test lamp or whatever and repeat the process. This another way of getting rid of contaminated plates.

[msvx95]

I think most battery chargers now have that "slow" charge setting where it takes a full day or so....I did that when I first bought my car and the battery was weak.

Check your sunvisors too..some members have experienced that the lights didn't turn off causing electrical drain.

[SVXRide]

Yes Bill,

Then discharge with a test lamp or whatever and repeat the process. This another way of getting rid of contaminated plates.


Trevor,
You know, I was thinking about the old "test bulb" test, but didn't post it -- good show!
-Bill (who has an old tail lamp with pig tails soldered on it sitting in his tool box)

[svxsubaru1]

Given that the car was parked for 4 months with the battery connected, you probably want to pull the battery and put it on a low amp battery charger for the better part of a day to "gently" bring it back up to a full charge. There's a good chance that the amount of driving you're doing isn't fully charging the battery.
-Bill

I did put it on a low amp charge for about 10 hours then it was bumped up a little until it was done charging sorry for not mentioning it. The car would not start after the battery was completely charged (by the automatic shut off on the charger).

[dannmarr]

You could have a dead cell in the battery. Do you have a multi-meter? Check the voltage of the battery before and during start ups. Did you check all the cables from the battery? Make sure your ground wire is in contact to a clean bare metal surface not a painted surface. What other symptoms do you have? Engine cranks? starter turns?

[svxsubaru1]

I just replaced the battery yesterday and now the starts and works fine. Thanks for all the inputs.