harristotle

Alright, I've gotten to the point where this is getting extremely frustrating to deal with...

I bought my car a couple months ago from Arizona and had no problems for the roughly first month of ownership.
Well I went down to the parking lot one cold afternoon to go out for the day a little over a month ago.... Dead as a doornail even after an extended jump. No big deal, the cold crank amps for an Arizona battery and a Colorado battery could be it. Buy a new battery, install it and it starts right up. Problem solved right? That night after sitting for about an hour it again wouldn't start, but after jiggling the negative terminal connection on the battery it started. After this I went on Christmas break and after being gone for three weeks go to leave for the afternoon. Not to my surprise, it's dead as a doornail again. After quite a lengthy jump it fired up and didn't have any issues for the rest of they day including sitting two separate times for about an hour each. Well, I decided to unhook the battery every time it sits for more than half a day, so when I went to leave today I just hooked the battery up and it started. Well after sitting at the restaurant for an hour it died stone cold again and needed jumped again My thought is that something is definitely draining the battery while its sitting, but I don't know what or how to find out. One suggestion was that I get a solar battery charger, but my car is covered when I park it so I can't put it in a window, and I can't put it outside of the car because of the possibility of theft.

Some of the quirks electronically are:
The high beams won't stay on when switched to the stay on position only when you pull back for temporary high beams.
The headlights won't come on unless I click the high beams, then the headlights come on (the headlights are quite dim too).
It has an after market stereo, but that's the only thing I know of electronically that's not stock on it.

Two questions I do have are, there are 3 larger fuses in the fuse box, but there's slots for 4... is that normal?
Also, it idles at a steady 450rpm's. That seems really low to me, but I'm not sure.

Thank you for any help!!!

karman

First things 1st.
The idle is too low.

harristotle

I figured that, what is the proper idle and is there a way I can set the idle or is it going to take a computer tune?

mustangGT90210

Idle should be like 750-800 I would think...

conv_stang

mine idled right around 900 stock. about the same now. how much of an aftermarket stereo is there? If its just a deck. I doubt that is it. if its a full stereo there could be a short or something going to the amps causing the drain. Could be a bad battery cable, not making a good connection. That is why jumping not helping b/c the cable is bad. Could try replacing the negative cable since you said you jiggled it and it started

Poisoned Pony

sounds like a short or an open somewhere on the headlight circuit or the multi-function switch.

harristotle

All that is aftermarket is the head unit, everything else is the Mach 460.
Is there a way that I can adjust the idle speed?

Is there a way I can check this, or what kind of things should I be looking to replace. Electrical is one area that I am not knowledgeable about, and it's the one area I'm having trouble with

97svtgoin05gt

My suggestion to narrow this down is to remove fuses one at a time during down times to see when the battery maintains its charge. The headlight operation is suspect, I would remove that fuse first. If you take that out and it starts, you know its all related. Perhaps a partial short, broken wire rubbing or something. Once you narrow it down to the right system, then its just a matter of figuring out what in that system is the culprit. I'd also put a meter on the battery to test that the alternator is indeed working. You'll see a higher voltage reading at the battey while the engine is running vs when its off.

Hope it helps!

harristotle

Thank you to everyone who chimed in! I was able to spend all of today working on the car with my friend. Changed the oil, changed the fluid in the rearend, got my door lock working, and gave her a bath. Still want to change spark plugs, and fuel filter but didn't have time today.

The real news was that I changed the leads on the battery cables. Since doing that I have been able to leave the battery hooked up for even a couple hours and be able to start it right back up. I left it hooked up tonight so we'll see when I go down to drive it tomorrow if there's still power... I'm just excited to be able to go somewhere and have it start right up even after sitting for a bit.

We also changed the headlights, but they are still really dim. I think I'm going to have to get new housings for them since the ones now are the old faded ones. I also figured out that I can click the brights on, but I just have to be aware of how far forward I push the stick or they will turn all the lights off.

harristotle

Well it's been over a week, the car has sat for a couple days at a time and (knock on wood), I haven't had a problem with it draining since.

Again thanks to everyone for your help... now I can get back to fixing everything I already knew was wrong with it.