John Ahnen

This evening we went to a party for a friend in the 2000 Eddie Bauer
Explorer (68K miles). It's been starting and running fine, no problems
whatsoever. When we went to leave about 2 1/2 hours later, the battery was
nearly flat dead. There was nothing left on to drain the battery. I tried
jumping it off, but it would not charge enough to crank.

Anyone have any ideas about why the battery would go dead so quickly? I
plan to go buy a new battery in the morning and go get the car. Is there
something I should check before or after putting a new battery in? I do not
have much experience in working on new (computer-type) cars, but I can
follow simple direction and read the owners manual.

Please if you have a suggestion, try to put it in simple terms for me.
Thanks in advance.

John

Searcher1

I would test out the alt. You may have driven the battery to die. Also,
check the belt and tensioner.

Searcher1

Big Bill

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 02:59:56 GMT, "John Ahnen"
<jahnenp9@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

>This evening we went to a party for a friend in the 2000 Eddie Bauer
>Explorer (68K miles). It's been starting and running fine, no problems
>whatsoever. When we went to leave about 2 1/2 hours later, the battery was
>nearly flat dead. There was nothing left on to drain the battery. I tried
>jumping it off, but it would not charge enough to crank.
>
>Anyone have any ideas about why the battery would go dead so quickly? I
>plan to go buy a new battery in the morning and go get the car. Is there
>something I should check before or after putting a new battery in? I do not
>have much experience in working on new (computer-type) cars, but I can
>follow simple direction and read the owners manual.
>
>Please if you have a suggestion, try to put it in simple terms for me.
>Thanks in advance.
>
>John
>
It's been my experience that when a battery dies of old age, it often
does as you describe: run fine, then not start, and not take a charge.
To be fair, it usually gives hints that aren't seen as such; slower
starts, drastic dimming of lights when starting, for example. Then, it
won't accept a jump, because it's shorted internally.
Obviously, the cure is a new battery.
Good luck!

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

Big Shoe

You don't say if we are talking about the original battery here. If
we are dealing with a five year old battery, then the problem you
describe is to be expected and the solution is to install a new
battery.

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:04:48 -0700, Big Bill <bill@pipping.com> wrote:

>On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 02:59:56 GMT, "John Ahnen"
><jahnenp9@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
>>This evening we went to a party for a friend in the 2000 Eddie Bauer
>>Explorer (68K miles). It's been starting and running fine, no problems
>>whatsoever. When we went to leave about 2 1/2 hours later, the battery was
>>nearly flat dead. There was nothing left on to drain the battery. I tried
>>jumping it off, but it would not charge enough to crank.
>>
>>Anyone have any ideas about why the battery would go dead so quickly? I
>>plan to go buy a new battery in the morning and go get the car. Is there
>>something I should check before or after putting a new battery in? I do not
>>have much experience in working on new (computer-type) cars, but I can
>>follow simple direction and read the owners manual.
>>
>>Please if you have a suggestion, try to put it in simple terms for me.
>>Thanks in advance.
>>
>>John
>>
>It's been my experience that when a battery dies of old age, it often
>does as you describe: run fine, then not start, and not take a charge.
>To be fair, it usually gives hints that aren't seen as such; slower
>starts, drastic dimming of lights when starting, for example. Then, it
>won't accept a jump, because it's shorted internally.
>Obviously, the cure is a new battery.
>Good luck!

Mikepier

Start with the simplest thing first. Inspect and clean the battery
cable connections. If they look good, check the alternator output. Then
use an ammeter to see if theres a drain on your battery when the cars
off.
It's good to rule out all these possibilities before rushing out to buy
a battery.

John Ahnen

"Mikepier" <mikepier@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:1111336941.884016.202110@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Start with the simplest thing first. Inspect and clean the battery
> cable connections. If they look good, check the alternator output. Then
> use an ammeter to see if theres a drain on your battery when the cars
> off.
> It's good to rule out all these possibilities before rushing out to buy
> a battery.
>
Thanks to all for the advice. I did go buy a nw battery today, then when we
got home I disconnected it until I can get it into the shop to have the
alternator checked. Appreciate the help, and the battery did look to be the
original one.