battery prob

[82_camaro_owner]

hey yall since feb 01 when i got my car everytime the weather changed from warm to cold and i mean the DAY it changed my battery keeled over, ive tried everybrand from everstart to those vortex jokers, and the battery will run pristinely during the entire spring and summer then the day it gets cold it dies, i replace it and it runs perfectly thru fall and winter then the day it gets warm the battery dies. i replaced the battery 2 weeks ago and yesterday it was 20degrees warmer then it has been and guess what, today my battery dosent push 2V. does anyone know what the deal with this is? you can rule out big drains on the battery since there are none, the alt is the highest output made that fits that car. and everything inside i ran to switches so its not on unless i switch it on. any ideas yall?

[Gearhead52]

Some of the things that I know that will kill a battery are:

Vibration....

A mechanical intrusion into one or more cells. (a screw pearcing a cell) and freezing of a cell.

High amouts of short cycles

Deep cycles in a non marine or non deep cycle battery.

A drained battery and a worn out battery can be distinguished by running some simple tests. If you find just a drained battery then the problem is within the cars system which can also be linked to temp changes and humidity increases.
A worn out battery is from the number of cycles the battery goes through. Start to investigate why from that end.

[82_camaro_owner]

took it to have it tested and just like the 4 before it it was shot to %h93 cells were bad and was only pushing 2 volts. the battery isnt in its orig holder i built a custom holder that cushions all bumps and jolts. after replacing the battery i drove to have the charging system checked and alt is putting out good so its not that, all the wires going to and from the battery are secure and far from heat source and none of the batteries have been broken or punctured they all just completely expired the day after the weather changed

[Gearhead52]

Testing the specific gravity is not the only way to test the battery. If all cells are low it may just be a drained condition.

The tests I'm refering to are.....

Charge the battery for a good length of time. Test each cells specific gravity as the battery charges. If one is not increasing with all the others then that cell is bad and so is the batt.

Once the battery charges and all cells are equal then do a load test. Do this by putting the batt. back in the car and disabling the ignition system and crank the engine over for 7 to 8 sec. If the batt goes below 9 volts after the cranking then it is bad. If it holds 9.5 or above then it's OK but the lower reading indicates it's wearing out.

An alternator that charges 13+ volts when running could still drain a battery when shut off. If one diode goes bad it will allow current to pass both directions and the batt will drain when shut off and the alt. will charge fine.......

To find this.....recharge the batt. and while sitting overnight disconnect the batt. at the alt.

As you can see there are many other things that can make a battery drain or not function properly.

[82_camaro_owner]

i already KNOW for a fact that it isnt the charging system because the battery runs PERFECTLY until the day the temp changes. if the alt was draining the batt then the batt wouldnt last 6-10 months at a time. and they did the load test, they put it in that machine that charges it up then they put a load on it and it went dead soon as the load was given. its like my car has a computer virus thats on a timer or something because ill have no problem whatso ever then when the weather changes the car is just dead and i mean battery below 2 volts dead

[justen]

thats a wierd one, maybe your battery is somehow over worked or something is being done. To discharge your battery. Humidity can play a role in it. And weather can play a role in it. For example when I used to have all that stereo stuff in my younger days running amps, sub and lights you name it, Can work a battery pretty hard. When the weather changed boom it was gone, later I found out that one battery wasn't enough so then I added 2 batteries and that seem to help. But then I was going through alternators pretty much yearly.

[danny]

i hate electrical problems, especially shorts. you have a slow drain somewhere not allowing the battery to stay fully charged. have you tested your electrical system for battery drain when not running? a friend had '71 chevelle that he drove only on weekends and he was constantly changing batteries, turned out he had a glove box light on and couldn't see it during the day, then one night he discovered it and hasn't had battery problems since. just an idea

[82_camaro_owner]

yeah i know its the wierdest thing ever, it runs pefect then the instant almost that the weather goes from hot to cold or vice versa its dead. danny i have this device i hooked to the battery the 2nd and 3rd and 4th time it died and id watch it and it wouldnt drain while shut off, i can leave the car sitting for weeks at a time as long as the weather dosent change and when i go to crank it she fires right up. so ive ruled out parasitic drain, bad charging system, and unless 4 diff brands of batteries i just got the 1 bad one out of the group i got the bad one thats ruled out. what else is there?

[raceman6135]

I don't usually post when I don't have anything to contribute, so this is a first for me.

I highly doubt it is the battery(ies). The chances of getting 4 bad ones in a row, all from different manufacturers, is extremely low.

Take it from a guy who has not only had dozens of vehicles in his past (between owning them and working on them as the chief mechanic at my father's farm equipment business), but I also spent just over 7 years doing automotive retail sales. And all of this time has been spent on the prairies of Canada, where the temperature routinely goes from -40 to +40 C over a 12 month period.

There must be some other relay, or solenoid, or fusible link, or some type of wire connection that is weather affected that is frying your batteries. If I can make a $50 battery survive for 7 years up here, there's no reason they shouldn't last for you, too.

I know this doesn't narrow it down for you much; sorry 'bout that. If the batteries showed some sign of being boiled (overcharged), that would help tremendously. Otherwise, I'd try removing fuses one at a time, wait for the weather change, and if the battery survives, the problem lies in that circuit. The only other thing to do is triple-check every wire on the vehicle -- in, on, under and through every nook and cranny -- for a short. Replace relays and any other type of switch that you can find.

And keep us posted. And keep excellent notes regarding ANY abnormalities.

DJS

[Gearhead52]

To emphasize the point, the electrical problems most cars have are not supernatural or ghostly, they are real and you have to spend a little time looking for the problem and trying to understand why.

I fully understand how frustrating it can be. I was, like raceman, forced to understand the problems because I didn't have time to spend changing parts and it still not fix the problem. I was a fleet supervisor for a large delivery company. 250 vehicles and they did up to 200 starts per day, each.

If you remember a previous comment that cycles kill a battery too....high drain and quick charges are cycles. When the winter or cold weather comes around cycles get deeper because of headlights, wipers, starter loads, etc. Summer has it's own set of circumstances and any dirty connections compound the problem.

Think about the loads you are putting on the system. This stuff kills alternators and batteries. A 93 Olds 98 I had would take one alternator a year and one battery every two.

It was a high cycle system with all the power acc. it had. (bells and whistles)

Sounds like when your battery went, it went like gang busters. My best friend has his own bus company. Batteries last him one year but they are deep cycle systems, lights, TV's, A/C power swinging doors etc.

Look at the whole picture.

[82_camaro_owner]

ive replaced the entire wiring harness and upon talking to the people i bought the car from when they got it back in 89 they went through the same prob as me. but im gonna do something someone else told me to do, its cold today but supposed to be 30degrees warmer tomorrow so im onna unhook the battery and see if its still dead when it goes cold again, ill keep yall posted

[89s10]

have you tried the ignition switch ore starter in tv work i seen them form there own ground path in switches and temp had an efect on it it looked like a thin black line hard to see and drive you nuts

[82_camaro_owner]

all been replaced, all fuseable links replaced, all wires going to and from the starter replaced, new ignition switch, and it still does it

[89s10]

your car has been cursed by a force from the twilight zone

[82_camaro_owner]

i seriously belive it, btw congrats your a senior member now