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Flat Battery - fully charged to dead flat in 12 hours???

JustVSCommodore

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Hi Guys,

New member and poster so thanks in advance for any help you give!!!

VS Commodore Acclaim V6. Had a dead flat battery last week and had RACV put new battery in. They did a test and advised that the alternator is charging properly. Come Friday and again the same thing with a new battery. I have not had a boot light switch in place for ages so it appears not to be the boot light. The interior light blew about 3 months ago and I put a new bulb in which worked for maybe a week and then didn't work, then did work, for a day or two then hasn't since.

I currently have the interior globe out so it's not draining anything. I put a replacement stereo in about the same time as the light blew, perhaps a few days apart. Two days back I disconnected the battery and charged it up and it was showing approximately 12.5 volts without anything connected. Connected it again and disconnected both power connections to the stereo so that it doesn't have permanent or accessory power, the car started vigoursly and was fine that day but overnight it again drained the battery.

Today I found that with the charger connected and charging, the Fuel Pump relay was oscillating on and off very quickly and the lights on the dash were quite dim. There was not enough power to turn the motor over and the voltage across the battery was down to 6.05 volts. With the ignition turned off the reading was more like 11.85 volts.

The oscillating of the fuel pump ceased when I pulled the 7.5 amp ignition fuse out under the dash.

Any ideas? I have read a lot of other posts on Just Commodores and they all seem to have one or two things in common with my problem but are different at the same time.

HELP!!!

JustVSCommodore
 

lout

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recharge your battery
do you have an amp installed
have you or anyone else performed poor modifications
is car generally in good condition
disconnect all leads from your alternator overnight and see if battery still drains
 

VS-THE-BEST

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I had a 96 vs 5.0ltr HSV Clubsport that was doing the same thing, i put a new battery in her but after 3 days was dead flat.
Took her to a Sparky, he told me its a common problem with the Commodore due to the Security light constantly flashing and enformed me to always turn the Stereo off before shutting the car down, might have had something to do with the electric areal i think maybe, another guy told me to disconnect the battery if leaving the car for 5 or more days, never disconnected the battery but followed the Sparky instructons and never had a prob with flat battery again, got this car as a Repairable Write Off from a Wrecker, it had a lot of issues over the years so i sold it.
 

magnetvh

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Does your glove box light turn off wen u close it. My vr did that and it was the glove box light stayin on. The switch was stuffed.
 

mint

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You need to re-trace your steps by removing each mod/alteration ONE at a Time.
 

JustVSCommodore

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Hey thanks for your comments.

1) Battery has been replaced with a new RACV 420 CCA rated battery. When it happened again with this new battery I recharged it for more than 24 hours so that I have done.

2) I don't have an amp installed.

3) There are no modifications to the car from factory standard except for the after market stereo which I installed. I know that the stereo was correctly installed and when I started searching for the issue I removed the stereo on the off chance that it was the culprit. It made no difference so this is not the issue.

4) The car is in good condition for a 17 year old vehicle and has been in the family since it was 6 months old so I am very familiar with it specifically.

5) 'Disconnect all leads from your alternator overnight and see if the battery still drains' - great idea. I will give this a go and see what happens and post the results.

Again thanks for your comments!!!

JustVSCommodore
 

JustVSCommodore

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Hey thanks for your comments.

I don't have an electric aerial and I removed the after market stereo as part of my testing process and it made no difference.

Still trying to work it out!!! Thanks for the suggestions though, keep the ideas coming!

JustVSCommodore
 

JustVSCommodore

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Hey thanks for your comments.

I checked the glove box light and switch and they were functioning correctly and just to be sure I removed them and it made no difference.

Still searching for the reason!!! Thanks for your ideas, keep them coming!

JustVSCommodore
 

JustVSCommodore

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Hey thanks for your comments.

Good idea and that's exactly what I did. The only thing I had done to the car from factory was the after market stereo since the factory one was a tape deck. It made no difference at all removing it and the battery still went flat. I even removed the interior light and the boot and glove box lights. With an ammeter connected I pulled the fuses out one at a time and there was no difference at all listed.

The vehicle is with a mechanic/auto electrician now and it has him stumped too. He's done all the tests that I did and the last option seems to be replacing the alternator with a known good one and then connect it all back up and see what happens. That's what we are going to do this afternoon.

Again thanks for your comments.

JustVSCommodore
 

acarmody

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Do you have an aftermarket alarm? I had one and my battery would go flat in just over a day, and thats a big battery.

Also check if any of your relays are buggered.
 
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