Anytime it gets pretty cold, im not sure what exact temperature, but if the temp drops, the next morning my car wont start and the battery will be drained. I think i must have a short of some sort somewhere but i dont know how to go about looking for it. Or if that is even the problem. I replaced the alternator bc i took it to autozone last time this happened and had them check out the battery and alterator and they said the alternator was the problem. Anyone got suggestions?

3/22/2006 10:40:21 AM

replace the battery

3/22/2006 10:54:54 AM

Yeah, I doubt a short would be dependant on temperature. It'd be more of a common occurence. I'd go with the battery.

3/22/2006 11:05:08 AM

ive done that twice though. I got a new one before christmas, and it lasted for a bit and then about a month ago it died again, so i took it to autozone and they replaced the battery and checked it and told me to get a new alternator, so i did that and its still having problems.

3/22/2006 12:55:04 PM

Uh, is there a new stereo in the car? Something sounds like it's draining the battery.

Anything hooked up as an accessory?

Mike

3/22/2006 1:42:04 PM

new alternator may be bad

3/22/2006 2:20:11 PM

Check the ground on the alternator, make sure its not loose.

3/22/2006 4:13:02 PM

if it does it only when its cold, its the battery, get a new one, and dont believe auto zone people about anything, basically what they test the battery with is a glorified hand warmer, it doesnt check the impedance

3/22/2006 8:16:16 PM

no new accessories, and im pretty sure the alternator is good bc once i jump it off, it stays charged until i either dont drive it for a few days or it gets cold.

I'll check the ground in the morning.

It could be the battery but they replaced the battery bc it was under warranty last time i was at autozone and i really doubt i would have gotten 2 bad batteries back to back. Although, if i got a new battery, and had a bad alternator, could have running the new battery with a bad alternator run down the battery and cause it to go bad?

3/22/2006 11:14:02 PM

what year is it? I know the earlier LT1 camaro and T/As had a shitty ignition system called optispark or something that had problems a lot.

3/22/2006 11:43:51 PM

shut the fuck up noob

3/22/2006 11:51:15 PM

im not joking, and so what Im a noob here, I know about domestics Ive torn down and rebuilt a 5.0

3/23/2006 12:03:49 AM

Quote :

"what year is it? I know the earlier LT1 camaro and T/As had a shitty ignition system called optispark or something that had problems a lot."

thats has absofuckinglutely nothing to do with a parasitic drain on the battery

3/23/2006 8:22:32 AM

its a 97 but it has the 3800 in it anyway not the lt1. thanks for trying to help though. any other ideas?

3/23/2006 11:37:41 AM

first of all, you have an autozone battery, second, disconnect the negative terminal, put an amp meter on there and see what your ignition off battery drain is. if it is more than 50ma, then disconnect the alternator and check it again, if it isnt that, then start pulling fuses till you figure out what it is.

3/23/2006 12:27:16 PM

thanks.. ill go try that now.

3/23/2006 4:56:31 PM

get a red top (wirewound), wont do that cold shit...

3/24/2006 12:44:07 AM

i popped open my fuse box and one of the fuses was hot to the touch, took it out and it fell to pieces. so i just took it out. ill put a new one in today and see if the problem was the fuse or if a short somewhere else caused the fuse to blow.

3/24/2006 9:29:28 AM