coudl this be the reason?

[cb1101]

My car keeps dying on me...could it be that after a year of the installation of my stereo, somehow now it drains the battery? here is the scenario...the bird was my daily driver for 5 yrs. since september it has not been driven daily...maybe 3 times a week. ive been having battery/alternator problems now ever since. could it be that b/c i drove it everyday, my battery never got completly drained so i never had a problem? car has been at the mechanic for a week now and no word?? even they don't understand why it is having so much trouble.

for those who dont already know...brand new battery and went through 3 alternators in a months time....

can anyone give any input as to what is causing my problem? Am I dead on that it can be my stereo that is doing it....just a head unit, no system or anything. Thanks guys

[black98V6]

well if you have a slow drain running then that will of course kill batteries and if your alternator is having to try to charge up a nearly dead battery every time you run your car then that can kill the alternator.. my roomate is in the same vicious cycle with his 86 corvette..

I'd bet you have something in your stereo setup that is staying on and sucking the life outta your battery..

then it could be completely unrelated to the stereo or a short caused something you messed up while putting in the stereo(proably the most probable)

[cb1101]

I just spoke to my mechanic... he said that normally the battery reads .04 mv's. mine is at .26 mv's . This means that something is infact draing the battery....whoever he said he pulled all the fuses and watched to see which 1 could possible be draining the bat. not a damn thing!

the only thing he didnt try is disconnecting the alternator. he said he will do that now and if that doesnt work......also he has an electrician that goes around to dealerships and all when these common problems arise...that is his last resort...then he will kill himself cause he does not know what is wrong.

[XtreMeCamAro]

tell your mechanic to disconnect your ECM, if there is a wire grounded in there it would cause the battery to drain, also tell him to check the alternator that was my dads problem the alternator was deffective and also there was some wire grounded on the frame, hope i was helpful good luck

[stagen]

Completely disconnect your stereo system including any wire you have runnng from the battery to your amps. Now test your charging system. Check your voltage at your starter and alternator. ALso check the volatage at the starter on teh start. Yoru starter could be going bad and be pulling a strong charge weakening the Alt and battery. You could also have ashort aroung the starter.

When your car is running and the stereo is off do you hear any type of static still coming through the speakers? What about if the stereo is on?

It's basically a process of elimination and tracing back your steps. ALso, are you getting all thes alternators from the same place? If so get one from somewhere else. A lot of these refurb alts are cap and often have diodes that bleed and drain your battery.

[cb1101]

The mechanic is getting the alternators from the same guy...he even told me that he is having trouble with alternators in other cars from the same place.....If in fact it is my alternator he said he will bite the bullet and go to another guy that cost more for the alternator. Hopefully thats the case just so i do not have to pay for it.

I also think it is my alternator cause under full load ( heat on high, blinkers,radio, wipers,rear defroster) my alternator sh*ts the bed..does not hold well.

do you really think that after a year of same stereo that it could be doing this to my car now?

[cb1101]

forgot to mention....absolutely no static coming out while radio is on nor off. Thanks for the reply.