Volvo :: 1996 / 850 - Intermittent But Rapid Battery Drain
Jul 26, 2012
My 1996 Volvo 850 has a relatively new battery but every few weeks it will go completely dead. A typical situation is this: the car will start fine and we will go to a restaurant but when we come out the battery is so dead that the digital clock is off and the radio pre-sets are lost. The shop has done a lot of diagnostics and replaced the alternator but the problem persists. They have determined that the battery is fine and the current drain when the car is off is within normal specs. And, yes, they have disconnected the light in the glove box. They have done everything they can think of but because the problem is so intermittent it is proving impossible to track down.
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1 have a 1996 Volvo 850 GLT wagon with the following problems and issues. Should I pay to get the major issues fixed, or use the money towards another car? This is my second car, it gets driven on a once-a-week basis, and I would probably replace it with another 10-year younger Volvo wagon or similar. * Check Engine light with "incorrect ratio" code - my mechanic suggests replacing the speed sensor, flushing the transmission, and hoping for the best; will cost at least a couple hundred dollars. Web searches turn up PnP replacement might fix this.
slow battery drain - replaced the battery harness as per Volvo's instructions, but there is still a slow battery drain that kills the battery in a few days, which I cannot diagnose. If I want to use the car, I make sure the battery is charged the night before. Unknown cost to permanently fix - solar panel in the front window?
odometer broken - the odometer broke at 125 K, the car has approximately 130 K miles on it. Mechanic estimates fixing the odometer is $500. due for a new timing belt - Last timing belt change was at 52 K; mechanic estimates $800 after doing "everything they like to do at this time, like the water pump." various and sundry broken interior cosmetic panels Should I do the repairs and hope to get to 160 K miles, or put the money towards a new car?
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I’ve been having an engine misfire issue for a number of months. The dealership first changed the plugs, ignition cable kit and wiring, and that fixed it for a while. Then it came back and dealership couldn’t figure it out. They tested the O2 sensor and drove it around for a week to no avail. So I kept driving and have noticed a few trends. First the car drives better in overdrive, or when the rpms are 3,000 or above. Second when the car stalls, if I am trying to restart it immediately I have to give it some gas. Third it doesn’t mind idling in park. And fourth I’ve been having a battery drain. To solve the battery drain I’ve been charging the battery every night, and that definitely works, but I only get about 20 miles before the misfire comes back, and sometimes the misfire is just there immediately regardless. So I just replaced my alternator, and that didn’t solve the issue either. So what else could be the issue? I'm kinda at a loss and driving the car on the highway when the misfire starts is not exactly safe.
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My battery drains to 8v volts when I turn the key to the on position, not starting the car just turning it to the on position. I have done the key off parasitic voltage draw and there is none. This only happens when I turn the to the on position or start the car. The battery will only stay charged from a full charge to 8v or till car shuts off for less than 5 minutes. This is a huge draw! Okay it has a new battery and a new alternator, and I took battery out and did an ohms check received 14 ohms between neg and pos cable with battery out. I was told that was fine or normal. So any clues on what would cause my battery to drain so quickly? When I hook up my DVM to the battery while car is running I get 1 volt or more drop per minute only while running.
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1995 Volvo 850 stationwagon has been dying when it sits for 3-5 days. At first I thought that it was due to the cold weather, so I was sure to drive it daily when it was snowing. But as it warmed up, my battery still drained after sitting for a couple days. Every time, I would call AAA and they would get it started no problem. I took it to a mechanic who did a basic "used car check" and didn't find anything with the starter, transmission, etc that would cause a battery drain.
My next step was to replace the battery, which I did a couple months ago. But alas, the battery has died once again. My thought is that it is due to an electrical issue? I have noticed that when driving, the speakers fade in and out based on whether I'm going uphill, or turning right or left . I thought that this was just a quirk but perhaps it's indicative of a greater electrical issue? I'm not sure what my next step should be?
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Just trying to get a list of possible reasons my car is acting funny. I may have one problem or more than one problem.
-The dashboard lights started going on and off intermittently while driving. I could feel the power steering was off but the engine never shut off. This happened first while I was running the A/C, but eventually started happening when the A/C was off. When the A/C was on, the car made a funny squeal sound then more of a grinding. The A/C stopped blowing cold air.
-The same thing would happen when driving through water/rain (the dashboard lights would come on and it felt like the car died but it didnt).
-The other night, the SRS light came on, cars electrical started shutting off. Car died. Jump started it, it ran for a couple miles, then died again. This happened the whole 12 mile trip home.
-Mechanic came over, said it was my battery. Replaced battery. Car died again 3 days later. I noticed the lights on the dashboard came on more while making a turn, but they came on while driving too, so idk if that is a good assumption.
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My 1995 Buick Lesabre will intermittently drain the battery after sitting for about 12 hours. It is unpredictable. The battery was newly installed in December, 2010 and the alternator was tested at that time and about three weeks ago and proved to be recharging properly. This battery kill happens even when there is no visible sign of current usage, such as a dome light being left on. What I should look for in order to to find the source of the current drain?
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I replaced the exhaust back pressure sensor and the readings on my sct programmer didn't change at all so I don't want to keep blindly throwing money at it if one of you has experienced this and found a cure. The interesting thing is it never throws a code or check engine light or anything according to my sct. Doesn't even show that the egr valve is unplugged. I have read that it could be a bad turbo, vgt solenoid, icp, throttle positioning sensor, or a couple other things.
It feels like I'm the front car in a bump draft in cup racing when I'm at a steady speed. The truck has arp head studs, new style egr cooler with the tubes, coolant filtration, new oil cooler, new ficm, blue spring, all filters have been changed in the last month.
2004 powerstroke surge/ rapid idle - YouTube ...
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Very occasionally and usually from a cold start I get a rapid discharge of the battery.
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2006 Prius with 130k miles. I'm thinking that my HV battery has slowly deteriorated to the point where it's causing drivability issues, and now needs to be replaced.
The main symptoms I'm experiencing are rapid charge/discharge according to the MFD and significant loss of power once the battery has discharged to one bar. I realize the latter is "normal," but the problem is that I'm seeing one bar frequently now. Hill climbs that my car used to do with no problem and would drain the SOC to 2-3 bars now cause the battery to drain to 1 bar about half-way up and then loss of speed from 65 mph to 45 mph by the time I reach the top. Descending hills, it's not unusual to see the SOC go from 2 bars to 7-8 bars within 30 seconds or so.
I'm not seeing any error lights, and my (cheap) code reader does not report any logged DTCs.
This seems to be a slow degradation of battery performance, rather than an outright failure. I first noticed that the battery would charge/discharge a little quicker than it had been at about 90k miles. At 99k (before the warranty ended) I took it into the dealer and they tested the HV battery. Block voltages ranged from 16.59 to 16.68 V and resistances ranged from 0.025 to 0.026 ohms. Based on this, they said that the battery was fine, and sent me on my way. Since then, the problem has just gotten worse and worse, though.
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I bought the car a month ago and went to pick it up today and there was 3 inches of water in the left front and rear footwells. I drained the water from there but can still hear it sloshing around in the quarters. Probably the drain holes are clogged. Where are they and how do I get to them? Do the rocker moldings have to be removed?
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I am trying to diagnose a problem that a friend is having with their '92 Prizm (which is really a rebadged Corolla). It started when they went out to drive it one day and the battery was dead. So I checked it out, and it seemed like it had a dead cell. Bought a new battery and put it in, and everything seemed fine for a few weeks.
Then, the same thing happens. I take another look and notice that the positive battery terminal is very badly corroded. I replaced it with a new one and cleaned the negative terminal as well for good measure. I jump start the car, everything seems fine again for a few weeks.
This time, the car stalls out as they are leaving a parking lot. As in, they had driven somewhere with no problems, and then they started the engine again, and it died as they were moving at parking lot speed. So now I start thinking maybe it is the alternator or voltage regulator (I believe the regulator is inside the alternator on these, right?). I took the alternator to Autozone, and they tested it and said it was fine.
After that, I checked all the fusible links and fuses, all were fine. I checked the ground strap from the battery to chassis and engine to chassis, and they look fine as well. I have run out of obvious things to check.
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I have a 2003 Passat 1.8T. Over 8 Hrs the battery goes from 12 to 10V and the start is real sluggish. I'm going to test the load on the battery when it is just sitting there to see if there is a short somewhere. I'm wondering what the load should be from the clock and radio which draw power even when off.
It is 4+ years old so it might be just time for a new battery..... Alternator is working....14V on the battery when the engine is running...... so there is charge form the alternator.....
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Installed an RNS-510 in my 2006 Passat, and this morning, I could tell my battery was nearly completely drained. Also, I know the unit is receiving constant power because it never "boots up" even after leaving the car turned off for a while. Usually, it should completely shut off after the car is off for ~30 minutes.
I guess I need to update my CAN module. What is an updated CAN that will work, and where this is located on my 2006 Passat?
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My 2005 kia sorento has a battery drain somewhere, AAA checked alt and battery and said it is fine. I heard there could be a spring stuck in the starter?
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I own a 2003 BMW 5301 with the sports ,premium and 'M' package. Of late the battery drains for no apparent reason. This happened a few times 2 months ago and I had the battery and alternator replaced. This has again started happening. The car starts promptly in the morning but refuses to start in the evening when I am ready to leave work. It has to be jump started. This does not happen everyday and the BMW service folks have not been able to figure this out.
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I have a 96 grand am that will turn on fine at first but after it warms up, it will not start and just keeps trying to turn over. I've also tested the battery with a light test and there is a constant drain on the battery, it will be completely dead overnight and when I charge my battery after starting it once, it will fully charge in about 30 minutes from red so I'm wondering if it's just not holding a charge. I'm not sure if it won't start when it's warm or if the battery just doesn't have a charge??? I took the car to autozone and the alternator passed all tests and the battery is new, the starter is 8 months old. Also the brake light stays on.
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I have a parasitic drain on my battery. 4.5 amps to be exact. I've tracked it down to the CTSY fuse or Fuse 3 in the fuse block. When I pull the fuse it drops to 40 mA which is pretty normal.
What is the most likely cause of this drain since my lights seems to be working and shut off when the doors are shut? I've almost got the dash ripped apart to get at the wiring harness but hopefully I can find it before taking the whole dash out.
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Just wondering if leaving the USB plugged in with the car is off drains the battery at all? Should I unplug it when I shut the car off or is it ok to just leave it plugged in?
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I started having a problem last week when my 2007 Prius was setting for two days while I was using my pickup truck. Found the 12 volt battery dead so I disconnected it and tested it with a battery load tester. And it showed it was bad. Well Ok, that figures, since it was an OEM battery and ~6-7 years old.
I have another 2007 Prius here for body repairs so I took the aftermarket (newer) battery out of it and topped the charge off in it. The battery load test indicated it was still a serviceable battery.
Put it in the car and cleared the red triangle, etc.. Everything was fine.
Since I was still going to be short one battery, I contacted Battery Systems, my shops battery dealer and ask them to drop off a new Yellow Top Optima that fits the Prius (FYI my shop price is $159.96). I would be a couple days til their deliver truck would be here and again I left the car sit for a couple days and drove my truck. On the day of the delivery, I had an appointment and drove the Prius, about 15 miles. No problem. Left it at in a street parking space for about 2 hours. Came out and all systems were dead. Nothing. Dome light was the only indication that the battery was so low that it was very dim. Head light were off and I hadn't used them while driving.
I called for road service and got a jump start and the systems came up and I was able to clear the Read Triangle when I got home by turning the car off and back on again.
The new Yellow Top Optima arrived shortly there after and I installed it. Drove the car for 6 days and this morning everything was fine when I drove to church and left it, head lites off (never had used them), came out 2 hours later and when I started the car, I got the Red Triangle and Ready but continued home. I turn it off and on again but this time I got no Ready but the Triangle and the whole sting of check light. Could only get it from park into neutral. Nothing else. Wouldn't clear.
Using my Torque Pro program, tried to read the ECU and it indicate no codes stored, Several tries, no codes or history. Called friend who has reader that will read the CAN Bus and he managed to find an odd P0503 code having to do with a speed sensor. Cleared that and the Triangle went out.
In the end I went and checked the voltage of the new battery and it was only 12.01 volts. I put the load tester on it and the condition is fine. Just the charge voltage is low.
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What the approx current drain on the battery in an over night situation. Mine now is approx 340 mA and need to confirm this as correct!
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