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PLEASE HELP!! Battery keeps going dead

92tahoexj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Southwest PA
Ok, so I have a 92' cherokee limited, 4.0 I6, factory anti-theft. I have a set of KC 5x7's and custom headlight harness wired to the battery. My battery keeps going dead. I just put a brand new one in on Saturday because I thought my other one was bad. If I jump it it's fine, but the next morning the battery is dead. I haven't used my KC's since summer. Two years ago I unplugged my horns because the alarm would go off for no reason when it was unlocked. Could this be the cause? The battery gets charged up fine after I drive or just let it run for a few miniutes, but overnite it's dead. Can an alternator charge a battery and still be bad?
 
Ok, to begin with, if the battery is going dead overnight, but charging up all right, I would not look at the alternator. I would look first for an electrical drain that exists when the ignition is off. If you have an alarm system, that would be the first suspect, and the second would be something in the interior lights and radio memory circuit. But if you have some kind of accessory light system that works with ignition off, that would also be something to check.

I would start by turning everything off, and then disconnecting one battery terminal. Then use an ammeter to get a current reading between the terminal and the cable. It should be in the milliamps, no more than radio memory and alarm arming call for. If it's more, you're going to need to start hunting down loads. I'd start by leaving the ammeter connected, and pulling one fuse at a time, both from the kick panel fuse panel and the load center in the engine compartment, until you (hopefully) come up with one which, when pulled, kills the current draw.

You can use a relatively cheap multimeter's ammeter function for this, as long as you don't turn any accessories on or start the engine with it connected.

While you're at it you can use said cheap multimeter to check voltage at the battery when the engine is running. This will tell you immediately whether or not the alternator is doing its job properly.
 
If you have an alarm system, that would be the first suspect,

Is there a way to completely disable the factory anti-theft?

I'm not sure about totally disabling it but on my factory 97TJ with factory alarm there is a switch under the dash that when held in and the key turned will disable it, disconnecting the battery though and then reconnecting it re-arms it though.
 
i did that meter trick, and the only time it dropped from 7 amps was when i pulled the two fuses that goto each other, one under the hood to the in cab, and in one in cab to the underhood..

is the wire inbetween bad?
 
If you have an alarm system, that would be the first suspect,

Is there a way to completely disable the factory anti-theft?

Cut the red wire...or is it the blue wire...

If a frikken' thief really wants your Jeep he's going to get it...and he knows how to disable the alarm.
 
Cut the red wire...or is it the blue wire...

If a frikken' thief really wants your Jeep he's going to get it...and he knows how to disable the alarm.

I'm thinking that my alarm is malfunctioning and killing my battery. A few years ago it would go off without even being armed. As far as I know the factory anit-theft on the 92' is only activated when you lock the doors with the power locks or lock the door with the key. As I said earlier I disconnected the horn because the alarm kept going off without being activated. I'm thinking the alarm is going off again and just flashing all the lights until the battery is dead.
 
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