My battery light had been on in my crossfire for a week or so and my car was dying and/or just not starting. I bought a new battery and it did the same thing and the battery light stayed on. I had the alternator tested and they said it was in working condition. Has anyone had this issue with the battery being drained so quickly, what can do that? Any help here is greatly appreciated!

 

Remove the negative battery cable and then connect a 12v light bulb between it and the terminal.
Use a backup light bulb or similar or a 12v test light.
Start pulling and reinserting fuses until you see the light go out.
Investigate from there.

 

Would a light ever go out with all the "normal" drains on the car?
A digital volt meter would probably be the way to go - just not sure how much of a spike you would need to see to determine you had found it..

 

well, if you aren't very technical, check the easy things 1st. Glove box light, dome light, things that might be on without your knowledge. The battery cables can be corroded enough not to make good contact, so clean them, make sure they are tight and don't move on the battery posts. These are the easy checks 1st.

 

Normal drain is around 25 mA, that is, .025 amp. A brake or tail light bulb will not illuminate on that current.

WES84: Chrysler calls that light the "Charging System Warning Light", I don't know just what triggers it, but I DO know that if your belt breaks and the systems "sees" that the alternator is not charging, the light comes on.

I strongly suspect your alternator is bad. I know you had it tested, but all WE can go on is what little we HAVE to go on.

As has been pointed out, putting a bulb in series iwth the battery cable (or better a milliammeter) will tell you just what current drain you have.

You can do a BASIC test of the alternator yourself, with a cheap voltmeter from Radio Shack, Lowes or Autozone:

1) With the car off, measure the voltage across the battery, is SHOULD be 12.0 volts, maybe as high as 12.7, etc.

2) Start the car, even at idle, the alternator should be able to raise the voltage across the battery to 13.8 volts, perhaps as high as 14.2 or so.

If you see NO increase, the alternator is not charging. If you only see a 1/4 or 1/2 volt rise, the alternator is only BARELY charging.

If you see the voltage rise to 13.6 or higher, the alternator is charging and the problem is likely something in the car draining the battery. If this is the case, see post four:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...oing-dead.html

Be aware that something in the car draining the battery when parked will NOT light that "Battery" light.
I'd bet money you have a bad alternator.

 

Wes - if you have a roadster it is most likely that the trunk in not completely latched. This battery thing happened to me twice when I first bought the car. It looks closed but isn't....

Alicia

 

Whoops - just saw that this is on the coupe page - sorry - was only looking at new posts. Alicia

 

I was assuming that since OP said "battery draining QUICKLY", that there would be enough amperage pull to light a 12v bulb, but as pizza said, I could be full of it ... ( I usually am )

a milliamp meter, or amp meter would be the correct thing to use, but not everyone has easy access to them ......

I had recommended to someone else in another post to go get a cheap cigarette lighter voltage meter for the alternator test, I will again suggest that here.

 

I did as you said and the battery was 12v with the car off, I then started the car and checked it in idle and the voltage was only 9.2 and decreased from there. Does this mean the alternator is bad?

 

did as suggested and the battery was 12v with the car off, I then started the car and checked it in idle and the voltage was only 9.2 and decreased from there. Does this mean the alternator is bad, or something else is draining the battery?

 

did as you said and used a test light pulled all fuses and the light never went out...

 

Batteries tend to sulfidate over time and when that happens they are unable to develop full voltage either charging or discharging. If you have a good charging system and no known drains, I'd put my money on the battery itself. Recommend taking it to a reliable parts store like NAPA or one you trust and have them test it. But the way, new batteries can fail this way too.

 

Generally speaking, when an alt is not charging, the battery voltage will go down when the engine is running. Voltage goes down because of all the electronics drawing juice.

Good chance the alt is bad. Before you remove the alt from the car, be sure you are getting battery voltage to the main stud on the alt. Voltage must be present at the stud. If you are getting battery voltage to the alt, then I would have the alt checked again.

James

 

James beat me to it, but CERTAINLY your battery is not being charged. The reason the voltage does DOWN with the car running, is the battery is powering ignition, air pump, etc. with NO help from the Alternator.

For WHATEVER reason, the Alternator is not charging the battery. Your belt isn't missing or mis-routed, is it?

 

First off I would like to thank everyone for all of the helpful info this site has made three months of he**, just a lil better. Wish I would have found it then. I took the Alt and had it tested again and its TOAST, dead........So I guess the people at Advance and AutoZone didnt know how to use the machine to check an alt the first two times I had it tested three months ago...So the lesson is go with your gut I had a feeling it was the alt but after having it tested twice I thought I was looking at a ground or a computer issue that would have been well over 189.00 dollars. My Bluecrush is running very nicely now. Thanks everyone you guys are great. Great site!

 

Glad it worked out for you.