Hey guys, i went to fire up the 964 this morning and nothing. battery is completely drained. the PO told me that this had happend to him on one ocassion, but he was unable to track down the problem. i believe he replaced all the fuses as a result. so where do i start now? i know one of the tail-light bulbs is out, other than that, i can't see anything that would cause the battery to discharge so quickly. any ideas guys? thanks so much!!!!! Kyle.

 

Start by taking the battery to an auto parts store and making sure it holds a charge properly. It costs nothing and takes minimal time. If the battery is bad, you are in the right place to replace it.

 

While this doesn't get to the root of your problem, I think many of us have experienced battery drain issues - obviously long periods of standing without use is guaranteed to drain, but also isolated incidents of no charge. I've one of those plug in small conditioning chargers in my trunk and generally (when I remember) leave my car plugged in to that if I'm not driving her for a few days.

 

A common cause of battery drain is the light in the luggage compartment, because the switch is a bit flaky. Many people pull the bulb.

If it's not that - then once you've confirmed the battery is good the standard way seems to be to measure the current drain. If it's high, pull fuses one by one until you see which circuit was taking all the power.

 

Common causes are the glove box light, And ditto on the luggage light. However I beleive the luggage light might also influience the engine lid light.The only adjustment in the rear lid switch is to put 2 gaskets under the switch rather than one. Watch for the pen that gets caught in the hindge for the glovebox. Good luck!

 

Which of the lights are affected by the luggage light seems to be a regional thing.

For example - my UK car illuminates all lights (engine lid and interior lights) when the luggage light is on - and vice versa for the other lights. I know other peoples are the same.

 

Did you remove/replace your radio lately? If the radio is not properly installed the anti-theft wire will cause a drain on the battery through the alarm (the alarm doesn't sound). Check to make sure your alarm arms correctly when you lock the doors. The specifics on how to tell are in your owners manual, and probably on here as well (do a search).

Searching the board will also find you info on exactly what the radio issue is and how further to tell if that's the problem.

Ultimately you might have to measure the current (amperage) drain across the battery and if you find one then pull fuses 1 by 1 until the drain disappears. Then you know that's the circuit causing the problem. Again, more detailed info by doing a search.

Regards,

Jeff

 

ok guys, battery was not good, so i bought another one.
it was dead the next morning, but i think i might be getting somewhere.
the previous owner had told me that it died on him, it seemed in bad weather. well, i noticed my defroster was on when i recharged the battery and fired her up!
Kyle.