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Battery keeps dieing

1986c10

1986c10

New member
Hi, snagged a 97 coupe gt grand prix for 300 bucks that needed an alternator. replaced alternator, jumped it and it ran good, stayed running and no problems at all. let it sit for a week fired right up. tried to start after a week of sitting, no cranking at all, no interior lights turned on or nothing. jumped it for a long time and it finally started so i let it run for 10 minutes. tried to start it this morning and it was completely dead. battery isnt that old. Any suggestions? Thanks
 


definitely sounds like a battery ground to me too now that you mention. where does the ground go on mine? i know on my truck it goes to the alternator bracket...
 
havent checked voltage. another thing, the negative i believe cable part is kind of torn so is it possible that these old battery cables are junk and corroded and could be the problem?
 


parasitic drain ? check current draw while sitting everything off
or disc battery cable overnight and then see if it still starts
 
i'll be sure to do that because that is definitely what it is. found alot of things i didnt want to looking for a grounded wire. probably about 20 cut wires with copper exposed in the engine bay and going to the cd player (which doesnt play of course). taped them all up, pulled the fuses for the cd player. positive cable of the battery cable was mostly exposed so i fixed that. right rear shock mount area has the metal around it broken. front shock mounts are broken. control arm bushings shot and a ton of other things. i'll check tomorrow to see if i cured the problem
 
best to just replace the battery cables, once the rubber is torn back and the wires turn dull looking vs the nice fresh shiny striped wire. it gets what is known as dry wire, they don't pass a current well any more.

and if the car is not on the road and just sitting, a 10 minute idling wont charge the battery up enough to last to next week if its going to just sit.

put the battery on a charger for a day, then start the car test the volt at the bat while its running, then turn the car off and test the battery's volts with car off, off should be at least 12 volts, running up to 14 is ok, but no less than a hi 12.

ps: i just got a pair of dorman lca's from partsgeek.com for 97 bucks shipped.
 
Okay thanks for the info, i need to check that because it was only idling after jumping it then i turned it off. were the control arm bushing bad to do or pretty straightforward? thanks for the input
 
1986c10 said:
Okay thanks for the info, i need to check that because it was only idling after jumping it then i turned it off. were the control arm bushing bad to do or pretty straightforward? thanks for the input
Click to expand...

just change the whole arm, 3 bolts pretty much, start spraying the bolts with penetrating oil for a few day before you start the swap.
 


thanks alot. i will be doing that next, i priced it out on rock auto, i think i can replace both arms and all bushings for like 150 bucks. Is the front shock mounts that are seen in the engine bay called the front upper shock mounts? because i cant find them on the site...
 
try out partsgeek.com, i just got both sides for 97 shipped to my door. dorman stock replacements.

i think your talking about the upper engine mounts, they sell polly upper mount bushings for them, if your engine is moving a lot, take a look at your engine and trans mounts, they will let the engine move a lot if they are bad.
 
If you aren't referring to the engine mounts, perhaps you mean the upper strut mount? The thing that sits in the middle of the shock tower w/ the large nut in the center?
 
sorry i meant the strut mounts. if i push down on the car, the nut will move about 2 inches up out of the hole on each side. I'll try out parts geek
 
strut mounts are cheep, it just that you need to take the spring off and take the strut apart to change it, i had a local shop change the mounts, they charged 30 for the pair, the mounts were like 30 each im thinking.
 


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