1997 GMC Jimmy BATTERY KEEPS DYING?

[Jay_in_302]

I've had this problem for quite some time now. I have a 1997 GMC Jimmy and the battery is dying. I'm am not a skilled mechanic but I'll will start off with what I know is NOT the problem.

1) I know its not the alternator I've had that tested at Autozone.

2) I"ve replaced the Starter so that's good to go.

3) The connections to the battery are clean

4) This will be my 4th battery I've purchased from walmart

I noticed something before I began to come on yahoo answers and ask this question (because it just happened) all my interior device are working (radio,temperature lights, ect). After I get a jump the truck runs fine,its just when I try to start it after its been sitting over night. So like I said I"m not a mechanic but I know its something drawing juice from my battery and hope someone could help out with this problem.

 

[Michael S]

Let me get this straight. You would rather spend the money on FOUR new batterys rather than take it to an automotive electrical shop. OK!
I'll just say that an automotive electrical shop should have all the necessary equipment to check out the vehicle and figure out what is the problem

 

[nocal08]

if the battery last about a few days then dies it sound like the alternator auto zone is lying try looking up a motor electric a Business that works on nothing but alternators and starters they can bench test them both i would never trust a place like auto zone also you can go get a multi meter from kregen or auto zone if you touch the multi meter to the positive and negative it should say something like 9 volts to 12.5 volts this is your battery power then start it somehow and do it again it should say like 14 volts if the alternator is working if the number doesn't change from the first time you checked it its a bad alternator you can also put this device on the started positive and negative and get a reading a Standard battery has 12 volts when a car is running it can be higher like 14 volts because its charging if its dying it will go all the way down slowly so my advice go get a multimeter its like 20 dollars and you Will track down the problem!!!!

 

[alr538]

you have a short somewhere in your electrical system,disconnect the neg. battery cable and use a multimeter or a test light,connect one end or lead to the neg. cable and the other to the neg. battery post,if you have a short the light on the tester will come on,with multimeter you will see the voltage reading on the meter go up(usually between 10 and 12 volts)with the meter or test light connected start pulling fuses one by one until the light goes out on the tester or the voltage reading drops to zero on the meter,the short is in the system that coresponds to the fuse that turned out the light...............make sure when you do the test for the short that nothing is on on your car,interior lights,underhood light,ect,these will regester as shorts also.once you find out what system the short is in trace the circuit back from the fuse box until you find the problem.

 

[mingitup]

If you have a multimeter, hook it up in series with the battery, and see what the current draw is on the battery when the car is turned off. Then start pulling out your fuses one by one until you see the draw drop down to almost 0. Then figure out which fuse caused the current drop and something in that circuit must be shorted out.

 

[robert r]

bad voltage regulator, unfortunately its inside the alternator, and the whole thing has to be changed as a unit, after swap out, your problems will evaporate to something else that costs lots of $$