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View Poll Results: When do you drive your SVX
Daily year round? 7 31.82%
Seasonal Summer? Drive daily summer 1 4.55%
Seasonal Winter? Drive daily winter 1 4.55%
Garage Queen 12 54.55%
No garage. Stored outdoors under cover 1 4.55%
Voters: 22. You may not vote on this poll

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  #16  
Old 02-26-2019, 03:13 PM
Ron Mummert Ron Mummert is offline
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Cool Re: Who uses their SVX for primary daily driving?

Carport queen, but I try to drive it to town, a 30 mile round trip, every 7- 10 days to keep the battery charged - unless it snows. I never put it on salted roads. But, I've had a battery problem with this car for many years. I seem to go through the things much faster than any other vehicle . I've had it checked for a parasitic drain a few times, the alternator puts out just fine, but nothing amiss ever shows up. I have a "decent" Autozone battery in right now that will 90% die after sitting for 10 days, especially in cold weather. Yeah, I know a tender would do the trick, but 4 other cars in this driveway never fail, so why the batmobile?
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  #17  
Old 02-26-2019, 03:52 PM
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Trevor Trevor is offline
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Re: Who uses their SVX for primary daily driving?

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Originally Posted by Ron Mummert View Post
Carport queen, but I try to drive it to town, a 30 mile round trip, every 7- 10 days to keep the battery charged - unless it snows. I never put it on salted roads. But, I've had a battery problem with this car for many years. I seem to go through the things much faster than any other vehicle . I've had it checked for a parasitic drain a few times, the alternator puts out just fine, but nothing amiss ever shows up. I have a "decent" Autozone battery in right now that will 90% die after sitting for 10 days, especially in cold weather. Yeah, I know a tender would do the trick, but 4 other cars in this driveway never fail, so why the batmobile?
Greetings Ron,

Exactly how have you checked for a parasitic drain as it would appear that this must be your problem and have you used a meter capable of recording fractions of an amp?

Regards, Trevor.
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  #18  
Old 02-27-2019, 07:29 PM
Ron Mummert Ron Mummert is offline
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Smile Re: Who uses their SVX for primary daily driving?

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Originally Posted by Trevor View Post
Greetings Ron,

Exactly how have you checked for a parasitic drain as it would appear that this must be your problem and have you used a meter capable of recording fractions of an amp?

Regards, Trevor.
Howdy, Trevor - As I've personally done nothing, I've left it to my "trusty" local mechanic, & he's found nothing. However, I'll ask about the "fraction" next time I drop by his shop. Thanks for responding old kiwi fart.
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Good s**t happened. 69 was worth the wait.

'92 stock semi-pristine ebony - 160K
'96 Grand Caravan - 240K
'01 Miata SE - 79K
'07 Chrysler Pacifica - 60k - future money pit.
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  #19  
Old 02-27-2019, 10:48 PM
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Trevor Trevor is offline
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Re: Who uses their SVX for primary daily driving?

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Originally Posted by Ron Mummert View Post
Howdy, Trevor - As I've personally done nothing, I've left it to my "trusty" local mechanic, & he's found nothing. However, I'll ask about the "fraction" next time I drop by his shop. Thanks for responding old kiwi fart.
Ron You have exactly disclosed your problem. Make sure your mechanic stops farting and reads the attached. I have been having problems and the attachment does not appear be working so read below:=


Battery Current Leakage Testing.

Sometimes a car battery can become discharged for no apparent reason, due to a concealed constant leakage of current. Such a fault is best located using the following procedure.

Disconnect the battery ground and connect a multi-meter switched to the maximum current (amps) range, with the meter negative to battery negative and meter positive to ground. Make reliable connections, so that a faulty contact does not confuse the issue. Switch on an interior or side lights and confirm that the meter is reading current. At this point and onwards, do not operate the starter, as the resulting massive current drain could damage the meter.

If there is no reading with all loads turned off, step down progressively through the current ranges on the meter, so as to finally detect even a very small leakage current registering in milliamps. It must be accepted that modern vehicles often include electronic items permanently connected to the battery, these constantly draw a small residual current in milliamps and a clock is a common item in this respect. It would be unusual for this to exceed 100 milliamps.

In the event that you measure an abnormal current drain, remove distribution fuses one at a time. At any point where the current drain ceases, you have located the faulty circuit and thus narrowed your search and you can proceed accordingly.

If the procedure isolating circuits proves unsuccessful, disconnect the alternator wiring and again check the reading. There could be an internal diode with a reverse leak, or some other problem involving the alternator or its wiring.

If you suspect an intermittent current leak, tap, push and move components while simultaneously watching the meter.

Negative results after these tests will then leave only the main positive battery cable, starter cable, or the mechanical aspects of the fuse box as being possible leakage paths.

Be aware that sometimes there can be an internal fault path between plates within a battery. Alternatively, dirt and moisture across the top of a battery can provide a fault path, sufficient to discharge the battery over an extended period. Make sure all is clean.

When trouble shooting, it is essential not to proceed with more than one test or experiment at a time, otherwise it is easy to lose the plot. Be methodical and careful, even to the extent of noting down each test/experiment as it becomes proven. It is so very easy to forget what you have and have not done, particularly if you become interrupted.
TRS
Attached Files
File Type: doc Battery Leakage Testing.doc (22.5 KB, 163 views)
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Last edited by Trevor; 02-27-2019 at 10:57 PM. Reason: Attachment problem.
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  #20  
Old 02-28-2019, 09:45 PM
Ron Mummert Ron Mummert is offline
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Thumbs up Re: Who uses their SVX for primary daily driving?

Thanks Trevor - your thoroughness is always appreciated.
__________________
Good s**t happened. 69 was worth the wait.

'92 stock semi-pristine ebony - 160K
'96 Grand Caravan - 240K
'01 Miata SE - 79K
'07 Chrysler Pacifica - 60k - future money pit.
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  #21  
Old 03-01-2019, 11:24 AM
irox irox is offline
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Re: Who uses their SVX for primary daily driving?

I used an approach very similar to the one Trevor outlined to diagnose a similar problem on mine. My problem turned out to be the previous owners cheap after market stereo, the "memory" function start putting ~3Amps when the ignition was off.

The main complication was that the clock and radio memory are on the same fuse, and I thought it was the clock going bad at first, so removed that before realizing the radio memory is also on the same circuit (radio would have been much much easier to remove than the clock). Just in case you run into a similar situation.

Cheers,
Ian
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