1972 Mercury Monterey

[Guest 1972 Merc]

Hi...i am new to this forum....Just wanted to ask the experts a question....I have a 72 Monterey with 38k orig on it...A few monthes back i started having issues with the battery draining overnight.....Replaced battery...Replaced a mich needed new starter...Battery cables wires etc....Car was running great yesterday....came out to start it this morning...and its just cranking....After a.few times of just cranking...the brand new battery is slowly dying again.....Any thoughts on to what else could be draining the battery?...Any help would be appreciated

[John_S_in_Penna]

Mr. Merc owner, I have had a couple of old cars

that had that situation.  There is evidently a small

electrical "drain" that is slowly--or not so slowly--

draining your battery.

 

Take it to a good automotive electrical shop.

There is probably one near you.  The drain could be

due to one of a number of causes, but they

will be able to locate it and solve your problem.

 

Meantime, you should disconnect your battery whenever

your car is parked, so that it won't continue to drain.

Otherwise, you'll be ruining batteries and replacing them often.

Edited February 20, 2016 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Guest 1972 Merc]

Hi John...Thanks for the reply...Your right...thats my next move....Just discouraged i shelled out $750 in repairs the other day on it and still an issue....Going to look for a local auto electrical repair shop.......Thanks so much......Mike

[junkyardjeff]

There is a couple things you can cheak easily,the voltage regulator can cause a drain so charge the battery up and disconnect it and see what happens and there is a capacitor looking radio noise suppressor hooked up to the voltage regulator that I ran into one going bad on a 74 torino and it would kill the battery in a few hours.

[RansomEli]

I second all of the above opinions. Had a slow leak in my '56 Olds that drove me crazy. The battery would drain every two days. Tried tracking it down myself with no results. Finally took it to a local electrical shop who quoted a $50 check-it-out price. He found a shorted wire at the bottom of the steering column in less than 30 minutes. Fixed it for another $25 and the problem was solved.

 

With old cars, wiring and connections can go bad with age. Don't take your car to a big shop - find a small, local person.

[JACK M]

I had that problem recently and it turned out that the trunk light was not turning off.

You could try pulling one fuse each night and see if you can isolate it to one circuit.

[Rusty_OToole]

Could be a blown diode in the alternator. Have it checked out.

 

If not that, could be a short or load somewhere in the car, on a circuit that is not shut off by the key. An old trick is to take out the fuses one by one and substitute a 12V test light. If the light glows there is a short or something in that circuit. Narrows down the search anyway.

[Guest 1972 Merc]

Thank you all for he great replies...I will be checking all of these out...Highly appreciated

[John_S_in_Penna]

Hi John...Thanks for the reply...Your right...thats my next move....Just discouraged i shelled out $750 in repairs the other day on it and still an issue....Going to look for a local auto electrical repair shop.......Thanks so much......Mike

 

Don't be discouraged!

Finding the specific problem is best, before you begin

replacing things in the hope that you're correcting the problem.

Whether an expert shop does it, or you do it, don't try hit-and-miss.

 

And remember, when you spend money on your car,

you are making it better, more reliable, and more enjoyable!

 

Where are you located?

Edited February 20, 2016 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

Here's this you can do yourself

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain