Findareatta Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Greetings Reatta fans. I have owned my 1990 coupe for about 3 years and it runs fairly well. What I have noticed is the battery (which is a 5 year battery) will start showing signs of going bad and has been changed about every 12 months. I have tested the alternator which seems good because it is charging the system at about 14.00 volts when running with a full load. I have cleaned ground straps and battery connectors, spark plug cables and drive the car about once a week for 30 minutes. Any suggestions on why the battery only lasts about 1 year would be appreciated. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phils38cpe Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) It would seem that you have a parasitic drain somewhere in your electrical system. I would test that by hooking up an amp meter between the battery post and the cable. I think a normal reading is around 50 Ma Edited October 8, 2018 by Phils38cpe grammar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry yarnell Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 When checking for parasitic drains, make sure it's AFTER the RAP times out. About 15 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 How To Measure Battery Drain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stall Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Just a slight off-ramp to the topic. This year I am planning to spend 5 to 6 months in the South. Outside of loosing the radio presets what is wrong with just removing the negative battery cable or installing a battery shut off on the negative side. Thanks, Murray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 1 hour ago, stall said: Just a slight off-ramp to the topic. This year I am planning to spend 5 to 6 months in the South. Outside of loosing the radio presets what is wrong with just removing the negative battery cable or installing a battery shut off on the negative side. Thanks, Murray I do that to the Black every spring and to the Red and the 'vert every fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booreatta Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I have quick disconnects on all my cars if they wont be driven for a couple weeks..As cars age wires and systems are subject to failure. Car fires start because of this failure.I have heard of issues with light switched in 88s and 89s and with the 90s having a one year only switch can be an issue. Safety doesn't cost it pays .Reattas don't seem to have any real issues with batteries unhooked During winter months I do use a battery tender on all batteries except daily drivers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 (edited) Greetings Reatta fans. I have owned my 1990 coupe for about 3 years and it runs fairly well. What I have noticed is the battery (which is a 5 year battery) will start showing signs of going bad and has been changed about every 12 months. I have tested the alternator which seems good because it is charging the system at about 14.00 volts when running with a full load. I have cleaned ground straps and battery connectors, spark plug cables and drive the car about once a week for 30 minutes. Any suggestions on why the battery only lasts about 1 year would be appreciated. Can we assume that "changed" above is actually charged? If you only need to charge the battery every 12 months, that is not something I would loose sleep over. Charging greatly depends on how much you drive the car and how long, you could drive a car every day but only a mile to work and that probably would not be enough to keep the battery charged........it would slowly discharge. Driving the car once a week for 30 minutes should be OK but I would put a charger on it every 3 months and fully charge the battery. There are many thought on batteries in old cars.......I have disconnected the cables, I have used the battery disconnect, I now use some of the new Schewmaker electronic charges that will charge and MAINTAIN the battery voltage. The argument is there is a possibility of a electronic fire......but that is a possibility with or without a charger or maintainer. Guess I am lazy....don't like to reset the radio buttons. Edited October 9, 2018 by Barney Eaton (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Findareatta Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 Could this battery drain problem be a caused by a faulty ignition switch and are they hard to replace? My ignition switch may be bad. Please comment and is there a solution Thank you.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 17 minutes ago, Findareatta said: Could this battery drain problem be a caused by a faulty ignition switch and are they hard to replace? My ignition switch may be bad. Please comment and is there a solution Thank you.. It's not likely that the switch is the problem but the problem could be a worn key. My battery was going dead often and I discovered that a worn ignition key was allowing the key to be removed easily in the ACC. position (all the way back past the OFF position). When in that position the battery will drain much faster. I replaced the worn ignition key with a new one that prevented me from leaving the switch in the AAC position and my battery drain problem went away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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