dead battery...

originally i thought the bad starter was killing my battery. Starter works great now since i rebuilt it a couple days ago.
Last night i went to fire up the jeep and found that the battery is dead... so its draining while its not running...

I'm assuming its a short, so i'll go through the electrical system to see if i can find it, but my question is.. could this be caused by anything other than an electrical short? The battery is a 2-3 year old optima.

 

i forgot to mention i have a 1 wire alt... installed about a year ago

 

If there's a short somewhere, it will show up as current on your multimeter. Meter on "amps", disconnect battery cable, measure current from the cable end to its post.

I hear a test light works too, but I would prefer the meter.

 

The off-road guys are finding that the newer (7 year-ish) optima batteries are not as good as the older ones. Lots of problems with draining off, and not holding a charge. How old is your Optima?

 

2-3 years

 

theres your problem....

 

i ran it in my DD for a year before putting it in the flattie and never had a prob with it... :?

 

I always like to start simple and work my way up. Have the battery checked at a local parts store. It's free most of the time and the easiest part to check.
Keith

 

i have run it a few times since my last post and disconnect the battery every time i shut it off... it still holds a charge afterwards. So i'm guessing at this point that it has to be a short. I've put a quick disconnect on the positive post until i can get it figured out. :?

 

ive got the same problem in my 46 new wirin new battery new alt no shorts any ideasdead horse

 

I had this same thing happen way too often. I finally spent a few bucks on a battery load tester at Harbour Freight. Charge the battery up, run the check. It lets you get a reading on the battery instead of the FLAPS telling you the battery is fine when it isn't.

You can check the alternator with a spare ammeter. Just put it (temporarily) in between the charge wire and the post on the alternator. After that you have to get a little bit more creative.

Short term... ...I agree put a cutoff switch in the system. It also makes it harder for someone to steal the Jeep.

 

If you turn everything off and remove the positive batt cable, you then clip the test lite alligator clip to the cable and stick the pointie end into the battery positive post. If the test lite bulb comes on, you have a draw (drain) in the system. You then proceed to disconnect individual items to find the drain. HTH

 

Walts idea works well, It will work on either battery post. I also dissconnect the Ground or Negitive post. To find which circut is the problem, start by pulling fuses, then the non fused circuts. Pull fuses and leave them out until your light goes out. You may have more then one circut that has a short in it. My buddy once cut his wiring harness 4 Wheeling and had a short in his brake lights, his tail lights, AND his horn circut. He kept trying to find the short with this method and could not get the light to go out. He would pull the fuse for the brake lights and the light stayed on. He then put that fuse back in and pulled the tail light fuse, when the light stayed on he put it back in as well. What was happening was that the electricity went thru his tail light circut when he pulled the brake light fuse, and went thru the brake light circut when he pulled the tail light fuse. IHTH, Good luck, Matt W.