answered question
0
Votes
Votes
4
Answers
Answers
M$5.00
Why won't my 1992 Honda Prelude start after it sits for a few days?
I've taken it to the Honda dealer and they can't figure out what the problem is. They state that there is no parasitic current drain on the battery. I live in Buffalo and it's damn cold (for more information). When it doesn't start, it seems like the battery is flat and I can get it going by jumping the battery with a portable jumper or by jumping it with another car. Usually if I drive it every 24 hours, there is no problem at all. If I let it go for 48 hours without driving, I have a problem for sure. I just changed the negative battery cable on the advice of the dealership, but that has not solved this problem. The car has 145,000 miles on it and is in good mechanical condition and has been well cared for. It doesn't seem to be something obvious like leaving the lights on or anything like that. I've checked the light in the trunk and that is off at night as you would expect. Also, the battery was replaced about 4 months ago with a Sears Diehard. Sears also recently checked the battery and charging system and said that they all check out okay. Please help!!
answers (3)
The best next step you could take would be to get a current tester. Attach it between one of the cables and the battery and see if current is flowing through the cable. If it is, then you know the dealership didn't do their job and there is parasitic drain. At that point you need to look at electronics and wiring, a problem for a mechanic.
If you don't have a current tester, you can get a voltage tester and see what the voltage on the battery is doing. But I can almost guarantee its dropping though. The question is why.
If there isn't parasitic drain then it's a battery problem. Get a battery from someplace with a good return policy and put that in your car. If its fixed then you know the problem was the battery and take the bad one back to Sears.
If both of those don't lead to anything, put a sign on your car telling the aliens to stop stealing your batteries power.
If you don't have a current tester, you can get a voltage tester and see what the voltage on the battery is doing. But I can almost guarantee its dropping though. The question is why.
If there isn't parasitic drain then it's a battery problem. Get a battery from someplace with a good return policy and put that in your car. If its fixed then you know the problem was the battery and take the bad one back to Sears.
If both of those don't lead to anything, put a sign on your car telling the aliens to stop stealing your batteries power.
| Asker's rating: |
Thanks for all of the help - I'll let you know what happens with the voltage test and when I take it in to Sears! Mark
Have you taken the battery itself to a battery store and had it tested? It may be low on fluid so that it's not retaining a charge for long. There could also be a short somewhere in the system that's intermittant. Because it's fine once you jump it, it isn't the alternator (or not likely), because your car would die mid-drive if it weren't charging the battery. And it's probably not the belt for the same reason.
I've had cars do the same thing, and it's usually just the battery itself that needs replacing. Always seems to be in cold weather, too. Or at least uncomfortable weather so that when I've been stranded it's not pleasant.
I've had cars do the same thing, and it's usually just the battery itself that needs replacing. Always seems to be in cold weather, too. Or at least uncomfortable weather so that when I've been stranded it's not pleasant.
source(s):
Experiences I'd rather not have had
Experiences I'd rather not have had
I don't know, but it happens with some older cars. One of these might help...
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298862&whse=bc&Ne=4000000&eCat=bc|3960|21273|21276&N=4001203&Mo=13&pos=0&No=12&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=21276&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10614-Cat21273&topnav=
It's a solar 12V car charger.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298862&whse=bc&Ne=4000000&eCat=bc|3960|21273|21276&N=4001203&Mo=13&pos=0&No=12&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=21276&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10614-Cat21273&topnav=
It's a solar 12V car charger.
Related questions
140 characters left
ask any question
How does that sound? Would you even bother with those steps, or would you run out and get a new battery and see if it solves the problem as you suggested in your post?
BTW - the battery checker thingy verifies that the alternator is able to charge the battery back to 100%, so I don't think there is any problem with that system working correctly.
Thanks!
Typically, if your battery were not lasting as long as it should, it would suggest a cell is out of balance, which a trickle charge would fix.
But, that's not whats happening, your battery is actually discharging itself over a rather short period of time. If you did the current test right and aliens are not zapping the energy out of your car battery via sattelite, then I am 99% confident there is some manufacturing defect or internal damage inside of your battery.
Wikepedia has a good explanation of the pate structure of lead acid batteries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead-acid_battery.
Whats likley happening is that current is managing to flow from a positive plate to a negative plate within the battery. If this is the case, then it is probably not a good idea to keep it in your car because it could fail in a more spectacular manner if the mechanical damage got worse.
If it does drop voltage and they still don't believe you, take the battery in, have them test the voltage, shop for an hour or two and have them test it again. This will only work if its dropping pretty fast, but if you need to do it...