Steve 1stgen

Hi,
I have a 1998 4runner and if I don't start the truck for a week, the battery dies. I tested the battery and it is good. Any common shorts that drain the battery if the engine is not run for a week. FYI, I live in Colorado, but it has not been cold enough to kill a battery.
Thank you for the help.
Steve

TacoNut

How did you check the battery? If you took it to a parts store and had it tested that's good. Most likely it is good. To find whats draining it get a multimeter and set it for DC current. Disconnect the positive battery cable and place the meter in the circuit, if there is current flowing then something is draining the battery, then start pulling fuses when the current flow goes away then you have found the circuit that is causing the problem. Mind you that stereos will oftem draw a small amount of current to keep the memory going. your looking for a fairly high current draw, .2 to .5 amps to kill the battery in a week. Stereos will draw maybe 10 to 20 milliamps (.01 to .02 amps).
Hope this helps!

Steve 1stgen

Thank you for your advise, it is going to help. I did get it tested at the store and it was good. I have a tester at home but I wanted to make sure.

firemaniac

A couple of things I found killing the battery in the short bus (99 Astro AWD) that dosent get driven as often, mind you it eas a combination of things, cell charger, invertor, clock, and the glove box light switch is going bad ie not turning off the light when closed all the time.