2000 Camry 4cyl Very slow battery drain

[apathybill]

Hello everyone, this is my first post; but I have been using this site as a resource for some time.

Here is my problem: After about 4 days without running, car will not start, battery dead. Also may be coincidence but last 3 times this has occoured it has been after a heavy rain. All in all in the past 4 months this has happened 3 times and each time I thought I had solved the issue.

Here is what I have checked:

1. I have a new Battery less than 2 months old, no corrosion. Replaced original battery which was 10 years old. This was my first solution.
2. Alternator tested and passed. Some heavy corrosion was present on the connectors and I cleaned it. Removing the corrosion was my second solution.
3. My rear driverside power window does not work anymore. My current guess is that something is very slowly draining my battery and I wonder if it is possible that this broken power window is somehow draining the battery after 4 days. Note: Windows don't work without key in ignition and turned.

I believe the battery is getting charge from the alternator because I do drive my car often and it does not die. This only happens after several days of non use. Anyone have any ideas of further test I can do or any guess to the culprit?

Thanks for any help.

[zythr]

You're on the right track. Something is staying on causing the drain. It very well could be the power windows causing the draining.

[hill8570]

It's all guesswork without a way of measuring current.

If you have a Harbor Freight nearby, they have a cheap multimeter (less than $5, but if you can find a coupon in the Sunday paper, it goes for $1.99). Plenty good enough for troubleshooting this sort of problem.

With an ammeter, pop off the + battery cable, and figure out what your drain is, just sitting there. We can take it from there...

[apathybill]

Thank-you for the reply guys. Hill, I will go out tomorrow and buy a multimeter. If I can have some clarification as to what I'll be measuring before hand that would be great (I'm not very experienced as far as electrical work). So I'll be pulling off the positive cable from the battery then what will I use the multimeter to measure? Or what post on the multimeter go where?

thanks again, I'm feeling positive about figuring this out.

[uibalnme]

It's really easy. Disconnect the positive battery cable as hill said, set the meter to measure amps, touch the positive probe of the meter to the positive post of the battery, and the negative probe to the positive battery cable. The basic idea is to have the meter between the battery, and the cable.

[apathybill]

Thank-you. I'm on my way out to get my smog done (ugh california) and then i'm going to pick up a multimeter and report back to you guys.

[BamZipPow]

How bad are yer battery cables looking? They can/will pull juice from the battery if they are corroded in the cable (white dusty stuff=sulfuric acid...don't git it on you or yer clothes). It's a common mistake that most people overlook. Moisture will exasperate the problem...

What did you do to clean up the corroded alternator cables? If they have white stuff inside, they can pull some resistance, too.

Check yer ground points...especially to the body and to the engine. Got piccies of yer engine bay?

Do you have an alarm system? Any adjustments to body panels or switches lately?

[apathybill]

I was not able to get the multimeter today, biggest pain in the ass smog check ever today. I will pick one up tomorrow.

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

How bad are yer battery cables looking? They can/will pull juice from the battery if they are corroded in the cable (white dusty stuff=sulfuric acid...don't git it on you or yer clothes). It's a common mistake that most people overlook. Moisture will exasperate the problem...

When I replaced the battery about two months ago I completely cleaned the cables and contacts, and I give them a good brushing every 3 or 4 months.

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

What did you do to clean up the corroded alternator cables? If they have white stuff inside, they can pull some resistance, too.

I used a wire tooth brush to clean the alternator cables as best I could, there is still some residues inside however.

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Check yer ground points...especially to the body and to the engine. Got piccies of yer engine bay?

I don't know where the ground points are but I can put pics up next time i'm under the hood.

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Do you have an alarm system? Any adjustments to body panels or switches lately?

I have a stock alarm system located under the steering wheel. I opened up that whole area a while back to see if i could remove the alarm [it is a POS] and ended up not removing anything because I could not determine where the alarm was going to from just looking. It is all back to as if I never removed any panals at all.

when I get back from work tomorrow with a multimeter I'll write up the amp measurments. I'm trying not to put this off to the weekend.

[carsrus]

Another thing to ponder for such a small drain could be a faulty door switch somewhere. Does the door ajar light turn off?

Another spot could maybe be the bulb in the trunk. If its taking 4 days to drain your whole battery its most likely something reallly small. Possibly a aftermarket headunit or anything that isnt stock wired in. Something as simple as a cell phone charger or gps.

[apathybill]

Hello again everyone. I got around to using the multimeter on my car and after removing the positive cable from the battery post I set my multimeter to amps put the positive probe to the battery POS post and the negative probe to the positive battery cable. The meter read 0 amps. I tried touching the neg. probe to different sections of the cable and it always read zero.

However the sun was shining right into my hood and I took some pics of corrosion (more then I remember from last time I checked), and also just noticed part of the cable is tearing on my POS battery cable.

How do I go about cleaning this white corrosion on the alternator cables? The wire brush isn't cutting it.

Cable Tearing:

How would I go about fixing this safely? It looks like I can just cut it and strip the insulation furster back and use some pliers to squeeze it back into the harness but I don't want to come out extra crispy. Also could this be the culprit of my slow drain if it is severing contact every so often. Car started just fine after I put everything back on.

[apathybill]

I cannot figure out how to post multiple pics. I apologize for extra post.

Next two are cable corrosion

[apathybill]

[apathybill]

Next 2 are alternator

[apathybill]

[uibalnme]

can you post a pic of how you have the meter set? There are 2 different settings. It may be set to measure full amps. What you're looking for is a milliamp reading.