Got back from a wonderful delayed Christmas on the left coast with family monday evening, 6 days the Jeep sat in the airport parking lot, and the battery was dead, got dome lights and key fob worked, but nothing for cranking. Got a jump start from somebody (thank you very much, sir, you and your son are gentlemen and scholars), and the alternator ran the engine, the AC/defrost/fan, the headlights, etc.

So yesterday am I jumped it again from the Old Van, after checking to see I had 11.7 volts across the battery. Sure enough, 14.5 volts when the engine was running. Took it down to Advance Auto, where they determined that although the battery was in need of a good charge, it was still a good battery. The alternator had put enough juice back in it that it started without another jump. It appears I have a 4 amp parasitic draw somewhere.

So, if it stops raining today, I get to work my way through the electrical system to find that little sucker. My guess is that somewhere there's a wire passing through/over/under/around some body panel or metal part and the rubbing is on the way to creating a big sucker of a short. If anybody has any suggestions of likely suspects, I'm all ears. In the meantime, I'll be pulling fuses one at a time and wiggling wires here and there.

Across the battery with the engine off you should have close to 12v. 11.7? not bad ?

With the engine running the alt will put out 14+. So 14.5 is good across the battery.

I don't see a problem here. If you think there is a amp draw with the engine off? You can check the draw on the battery when off.

_________________
05 Liberty CRD Sport with Leather 115k
GDE ECO, No EGR, no FCV, (system gone)
Oil Drain plug P/N 090-039
K&N Air Filter, 2nd gen Fuel filter head
NEW Rockers & lifters
Mobil 1 0w-40
Stant 13519 195 deg inline Thermostat.
0 281 002 845 MAP
Etecno GX3123 7v Glow Plugs
Advance Gold 800CCA Battery
Traded it for a Quality VW TDI

I had a vehicle with a .8A parasitic draw. The battery wouldn't start the vehicle if it sat for about 4 or 5 days.

A 4A draw is pretty big. If it's a small wire, the shorted wire should be warm to the touch. A large wire, not so much. Those are typically a PITA to find. Good luck.

Billy

I had a similar problem, check your ASD Relay first and foremost, replace it and the one next to it.

They are known to go bad, and like pappy always told me, fix the cheapest $*$* first!

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Silver 2006 KJ 2.8L CRD Limited:
GDE ECO Tune / Fumoto Valve / E-Tecno GX3123 7v Glow Plugs / 2nd Gen Fuel Head / Mishimoto RED Hoses / Rockers/Lifters @ 114k / Hayden FC + 11 Blade Nylon / Sears P1 Battery / Transgo 45RFE-HD2 Reprogramming Kit / Timken Front Bearings

I was always led to believe that an alternator couldn't fully charge a dead battery no matter how long you drive it.

Whenever I have done similar I always remove the battery and give it a proper charge overnight, at least 10/12 hours if possible.

Drained the battery of a car I had so badly that the central locking no longer worked!

After a good charge the battery lasted another two years, don't know how long it would have lasted as the car was stolen.

This idea was reinforced by an article in Car Mechanics Mag a while ago.

One of the contributers has a PT Cruiser CRD which has a gel battery, which have a habit of going flat in cold weather.

He had it jumped and thought all was golden.

Until it did it again, he took it to an auto electrician who reminded him, and me if I'm honest! That the alternator won't fully charge the battery.

Overnight charge and away he went.

The PT Cruiser CRD sadly doesn't come with a VM lump, I think they get the engine from Mercedes?

Also out it in the Caliber for Europe!


Hope you get it sorted.

ISSUE RESOLVED!

It has turned out to be an internal battery problem.

I had seen a 4 amp parasitic draw, but that turned out to be very transitory. Mostly it wasn't there, so I had no luck tracking it down. There is a constant 0.3 amp draw -- but at that size, it ought to take 10 days or so to kill a fully charged battery.

Anyway, I disconnected the battery and put it on the charger for several hours, at the end of which it showed 12.56 volts, over 90% charge, probably as good as an approximately 3 year old battery is gonna get. I left it disconnected overnight, and the next morning, before reconnecting it, I checked the voltage again. 11.5 volts, something INSIDE the battery is drawing it down. Indeed, the usual mode of failure for lead-acid batteries is to grow lead needles between the plates, eventually shorting them out. I happened to catch this one just as the shorting process has reached the tipping point.

Turns out this battery is a red-top Optima that replaced the red-top Optima that came in the Jeep. It was replaced on 1/10/2010, and I was replacing it 3 years and 10 days after installation, and 10 days after all warranty expired. Dang, I wuz 11 days too late! And y'all know what THAT means.

But I did catch the last day of a 20% off sale at Advance Auto online. Instead of replacing with another red-top Optima, I've put in a standard design Autocraft Gold battery that is supposed to have the identical 800 c/a capacity but a 3 year free, 7 year pro-rated warranty, costing $103 rather than the $160 they wanted for the Optima with just a 3 year free warranty.

Of course, I'm still a tad concerned about that 0.3 amp parasite. I know the radio programming and small lights and such will draw something, but shouldn't be 3/10 amp, seems to me.