fireteacher

Wife got a Diehard gold while i was on deployment 3 years ago and i am on my 3rd battery now.

Seem to last about 10 months. Alternator and starter are good, batt cables look like though! Wondering if i need to replace the cables or pay for an electrical diagnostic?

Anybody else have/had this issue?

Yukon

Do you have a winch? Any non-stock electronic goodies? Have you messed with the wiring anywhere? How do you know it goes through batteries? do you have to jump it every morning, as in the signs of a slow leak, or is it fine for a while then just dies off quickly after a year?

fireteacher

no winch, after market stereo and bass link. They just die after about 8-10 months.

ISFast

Do you ever run your battery all the way down like having the stereo on when working on something? I ruined a yellow top doing that.

fireteacher

never done that

CLin9383

strange. i have an aftermarket stereo, bass link and 500 watt amp all hooked up to a red top. still runs like a champ

Yukon

Weird... Do you go off road a lot? Maybe the heat and vibration are killing the batts? Just a guess though..

Ironmike4x4

Most likely a parasitic draw. If you aren't too handy with a multimeter then you'll want to have an Electrical/driveability tech look at it.

swampfox

you can make a cheap tool to help locate a draw on the system out of a 12v buzzer. just put a wire on the pos and neg posts of the buzzer with alligators clips on the other end of each wire.unhook the pos batt cable and hook the pos buzzer led to the batt post and hook the neg lead to the pos batt cable.make sure the pos cable doesn't touch the pos batt post, the short will act as the ground.you will need to pull the fuses on items that normally has draw ecu, clock, stereos, etc and then just start pulling fuses on suspect items untill the buzzer stops. my shorts where caused by a blown dome light and a bad seat belt buzzer.

fireteacher

thanks swamp...

I do have a multimeter but do not know where to start. Anyone can follow directions!

BajaRunner

I'd just check to see what the draw of amps are when the car is off.

With the multimeter, you will need to most likely switch one of the leads so that it runs in series (I think) rather than in parallel like when you check voltage. Then you disconnect the positive battery terminal, and place the multimeter in series with the terminal on the battery and the cable you pulled off. Sounds a little confusing, but, its not bad.

+post ------{Multimeter} -------- +cable

Mikel1871

X2 with ^^^^^^use a voltmeter and check draw then pull fuses until draw stops to narrow down the suspect short if any.

Ironmike4x4

Thanks Baja for taking the time to explain it. I had 2 nieces pulling at me while trying to post so I didn't get to finish it.

What you can also do is go to wal mart and buy a cheap battery disconnect with the green knob. It's like 2 bucks and drill 2 small screws at each ends. Use these ends with the aligator clips with the DVOM. That's what I did with mine instead of buying a fancy one off the tool truck for $50

fireteacher

baja...confused!

Mud-Runner

I was having the same thing happen. It destroyed 2 new batteries and a rebuilt alt before I took it to a mechanic and he replaced the connector for the power wire to the alternator. Haven't had a problem since and this was over a year and a half ago.

fireteacher

Mud, I was looking into changing all the cables. Glad to hear that fixed your problems!