2001 Solara SE V6 Battery Drain

[mdowdy227]

I have a recurring issue with my 2001 Toyota Solara where the battery drains fairly quickly if not started regularly. It is a backup car and is not driven often. I've had the battery die in less than a week of non-use.

I've switched out the battery with a new one several times, and each time, the battery has died, eliminating the possibility of a bad battery.

I read online that an alarm system can drain a battery quickly. Now I lock the car without the alarm. That has improved the situation. However, recently the battery died after two weeks of non use. I am not sure what else I can turn off to reduce the drain on the battery.

There is one other bit of information that might be helpful in diagnosing the issue. When I jump the battery to recharge it, I have to use the jumper cables slightly differently than prescribed. If I attach the cables with the (+) to the dead battery, then the (+) to the live battery, then the (-) to the live battery, then grounding the (-) to a metal part on the dead battery car, nothing happens. No juice gets to the dead battery. No lights on the dash come on. It stays dead.

However, if instead of grounding the (-) to the dead battery car, I instead connect the (-) clamp to the (-) terminal on the dead battery, it starts right up. I don't know if that should work, and why it does work, while doing it the normal way does not. I thought I should mention it to see if that could help explain why my battery is draining so quickly. Thanks!

[tht1gurl]

Here's an article with suggestions: http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm.

Do you have access to voltmeter in order to do this? If not, I would jump the car and take it to a car shop/dealership and see if they can use one they have on hand. You should probably call first just to make sure they would be willing to do this for you if you have to resort to this. (I just thought of this.)

Good luck with this and I hope the info helps.