dave1123

Yes, I would either replace both cables or replace the ends. If any strands of wire are broken, you're pulling amperage thru a smaller conductor creating heat, plus it's the starting point for more electrical problems.

jeepdeadhead

ok , its been 15 days , and the battery is dead. i have been coming home from work every day and checking the battery. first i check the volts and it is at 12.2. then i check the draw,. its at .17. its been like that for 15 days , then my son went out to start it while i was at work and he called me and said it was dead . i got home and checked the volts and they were at 11.3, then i checked the draw , it was still at .17. i also was driving it every othrr day , so it was not just sitting. now i have no clue whats draining the battery. any suggestions ?

czettlera

Hi maybe a stupid question, are you driving it on short trips, with lot of starts and stops? My battery needed charging every week, when my wife has driven it day by day in 4km trips.

czettlera

Sorry I haven't read till the end. in this case it's not the situation. Removing the fuses one by one seams to be the only way to eliminate the components.

fishbone

Jeepdeadhead, you have been given suggestions. Have you done anything to try and find the draw? Nobody here is going to be able to tell you the exact offending component. You've got to do some work on your own to find it. Aftermarket stereo system, was mentioned? Did you try eliminating it? Bad cables or loose connections were mentioned, did you check that out? Have you tried removing the fuses one by one to isolate the circuit? There is no magic wand that can be used, electrical problems can be difficult to resolve.

jeepdeadhead

Fishbone , if you read my posts I did try to find the drain , it's called an amp meter like I wrote in my posts. Problem is there is no draw. I checked all switches and wires , wiggled this , pushed that , ect. Just trying to see different problems that other people might have. Battery is only 1 1/2 years old going to take it to brother in laws garage and do a load test on it with his battery machine. We' ll let you no tomorow

fishbone

Oh, sorry I didn't realize there wasn't a draw and a dead battery every few days was normal. My bad. Perhaps aliens are utilizing some of the current to power their space ships because last time I checked 12volts is technically considered a dead battery and you are recording 11.3. I'd say something is drawing out power.

You really didn't tell us anything other than you have a dead battery every so often. I have no clue how you did the amp test, did you use a multi-meter set in series on the neg terminal?, what are you setting the scale at to read the amps? is it in amps, miliamps or millivolts? Are you using an amp clamp? and if so where did you connect it to determine the draw? Are you trying to use a shunt with an ammeter? Or what type of device are you checking this draw? And don't just simply tell me an amp meter. It seems unlikely that every time you check the amps it's drawing .17 without deviation. Have you checked the power distribution box for live key off voltage across the fuses? Have you actually checked all the battery cables as suggested. Now you're going to take the battery for a load test. To prove what? That you need yet another battery? Load tests on modern batteries are not an accurate assessment of their condition. A continuity test is a more accurate indicator of available cranking amps and gives a more accurate indication of the condition of the internals.

Hey good luck. If you say there is no draw, then there is no draw. Just keep watchin the "amp meter".

dave1123

Just for jollies, connect up your ammeter and turn on the headlights. What does your meter read then?

RERJR

I have been a proud and happy Jeep owner since 1992, all 4L, 4WD including a 1990 XJ and a 93 & 96 YJ. With about a total of 950,000 miles on the three of them.I am also a mechanic, by now long retired but have bought the shop manuals for all three so I have been able to do all the necessary work, including rebuilding one transmission and the valve body on another.

I will say this problem has plagued both my later YJ's, I don't recall if it was persistent on the the XJ's but a battery seldom lasts 4 years on either the 93 and 96, Just today another year old battery died on the 96. Naturally I always do the isolated battery volt test and the key off draw-down circuit (always about 1.7ma ) test. I always use Dura-start batteries because they are the most reasonably priced where I live and the local supplier is very good at honoring the 4 year warranty, and I have always done due diligence to test everything to make sure the problem is not the fault of the Jeep, so I test every possibility every time I return one.

What I have discovered every time, with the two this happens on average once a year is that the battery has lost its ability to take and hold a charge. Easy way to test that is pull a cable, test V and let it sit overnight. Or in even an hour, if you see the voltage drop your battery is shot. Maybe OK if you travel every day but after just 2-3 days it will be dead. To be fair to the battery manufacturer their storage capacity drops as years go by, IMO about .15 volts a rear starting new at about 12.6 volt so don't look for anything above that equation. Naturally I always suspect the "key-off-drain" circuit but have never found that to be the problem. One thing that the owner's manual does say in this regard is to pull the IOD fuse if not used for awhile or they predict that a battery will drain within 18 days as I recall so I pull the IOD often, especially in the winter.

I have two suppositions about the problem which I have not solved yet except by replacing batteries:
1) Batteries are not made as well as they used to be or
2) It is very possible that when auto makers started having the computer make the call for more voltage instead of the legacy voltage regulator, it could be that the battery is being overcharged at times and damaging it, and I am beginning to think this is likely the problem. The same make and model of battery will last for sometimes 10 years in my old 1979 Dodge van. The fault code system (key on/off, on 3 times) should indicate overcharge if there is one but I have never read a stored report that says the alternator was putting out too much juice. But I do think that is the problem, but with one reservation. Just like roofing shingles that had to be re-cecipied to meet new haz-waste regulations (and failed in 8 years VS 30) car batteries probably have been redesigned too. That could be the problem as well.