Is my battery gone?

[ALEX_R]

About a week after I bought my car the battery went dead. However I thought what caused this were the map lights on the rearview mirror which wouldnt turn off, so I put the switch halfways in order for them to turn off. After this I disconnected the connector for these lights, but today I went to turn on my car and it tried to turn over but very weak and finally just started clicking. So my question is do I have a short somewhere or is my battery done, what could be causing this? by the way my battery is an optima red top

Thanks in advance,
Alex

[Bungle]

jump start it and run it for a while if it won't hold a charge then its done...

Bung

[Jasin]

Take it to advance auto and they can test the battery for free.

[ALEX_R]

thanks for the replies guys, well I took it to orielys the only autoparts store in my town, and they tested it and was good and now are going to charge it. So do you all think I have a short of some sort?
Alex

[95 Camaro Z28]

alternator maybe

[Greg Norris]

how long after you disconnected the lights was it before you went to start the car again? days, hours?

[VetteC5RFrEak]

Originally Posted by 95 Camaro Z28

alternator maybe

If it's the alternator, he can just let the engine run and see if the voltage gauge drops continuously.

[ALEX_R]

About 5 days went by before I went to start the car again.

[Greg Norris]

Originally Posted by ALEX_R

About 5 days went by before I went to start the car again.

hmmmm, might have been already drained from before you disconnected the lights.

i went on leave for a week or 2 about a year ago, left my car sit the whole while I was gone, only thing hooked up was the radar detector (it was turned off) when I got back home, batt was dead.

[ALEX_R]

yeah after I disconnected the lights, the battery was indeed drained, but i took it to get charged. When I put on the freshly charged battery the lights were already disconnected, and again it drained in about a week.

[VetteC5RFrEak]

Check for any of your accessories running. Isn't there a way to see if there is a load being drawn off of the battery? I swore there was...

[ALEX_R]

I have already checked for accesories running and nothing is. I really cant think of anything that would drain the battery so fast except a short ( really hope im wrong) As for checking if a load is being drawn off the battery I dont know how to check.

[92'25th]

You can take it to any Sears Auto and they can do a check of the whole system. starter, alt. and battery and also see if there is a draining load.... you just have to tell them to make sure they put the "memory saver" in. I work there and a lot of the time we dont do that. That will tell you pretty much all you'd need to know but it wont tell you where it is. and also sears cant do anything about it.... they can only do Alt,Baterys and starters

[sikZ28]

Check this out.

My 85 IROC was drawing a load off of my battery.

Finally found it when I started to replace/repair my underhood harness. It was one of the red power distribution wires that had a fusible link on it hooked up to the starter. (P.O. must have cut it off). You could see were the wire was burnt through and metal threads were showing were it shorted out.

So if you get a chance, look and make sure you have fusible links on the 3 wires that go onto the large starter stud along with the battery cable.

Hope this helps...

[ALEX_R]

Thanks for the replies guys, well yesterday I was driving my car and I stopped at a restaurant, and when I went to start up the car againg it kinda struggled. So I got on the road home and I checked my battery voltage guage and it had dropped to 10 volts!!! So I'm guessing it must be the alternator, is my suspicion correct or could something else be causing the battery to drain while driving the car?