Starter Battery

[Sangie]

I have a 2004 Chevy Express. My issue is that something is draining my starter battery.  I’m not driving it at the moment.  I have a battery isolator. I’m not sure what other information is needed to make informed suggestions.

 

[bullfrog]

Is the house battery holding it's charge? How old are the batteries and what kind are they?

 

[user 423]

My issue is that something is draining my starter battery.  I’m not driving it at the moment.

How quickly does the battery go dead?   Any vehicle that isn't driven regularly will discharge the battery over time.

It may be caused by something simple like dirty connections.

Need more info....

 

[Trebor English]

You may have something broken that can be fixed.  If you don't keep it charged it will die soon.

My Ford Windstar mini-van has computers and loads controlled by the computers.  It was regularly killing the battery.  For the first step I installed a battery disconnect switch like this: 
https://www.amazon.com/Ampper-Battery-Disconnect-Switch-Isolator/dp/B07JYYXJH7/ 
Then I added solar to keep it charged.

 

[user 423]

For the first step I installed a battery disconnect switch...

A disconnect will work but every time you disconnect the battery, the engine control module loses saved info necessary for an optimum fuel mixture.  It has to relearn it each time so, for a while anyway, driveability is affected negatively.

 

[Sangie]

Thanks everyone for the info. I’m not real sure of how long it sat before it drained bot no more than a month. I believe all batteries drained when the starter battery drained. I know batteries will drain if left but I thought that was like 6 months or more. I just bought this in October.

 

[Sangie]

The starter battery is an Interstate, date is 10/18. The house batteries are Lifeline, not sure of age

 

[MikeRuth]

Under normal circumstances I would think that your 2004 Chevy van should be able to sit for a month and still startup if it was parked with a full charge to begin with. Am I wrong? let me know folks. My Ford 2007 E-150 will sit fr a month easy and start.

So I'd guess that something, one or more somethings have been added to the starting battery circuit that are drawing power on this battery above and beyond what it should.

What you need to do and I'm assuming you will need someone with the experience is to measure the current draw while the van is in the off/parked setup.
This is done by simply removing one of the battery cables and then placing a multi meter in line setup to measure current. With the meter in place you can actually see what the draw on the circuit is. From that and I'm guessing it will be a fairly high draw you can start looking for things that are sucking up that power. Typical drain should be about 50Ma or less.
Here is a an article that should help you out in trying to find the problem.

https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/car-batterydrain

In the mean time disconnecting the battery, albeit not the best solution is acceptable.

Mike R

 

[bullfrog]

You will need to make sure batteries stay fairly well charged as discharged batteries can easily be damaged while sitting in the cold.