2nd Battery shorted out...WHY?!?!

OK a few months ago I had a shorted out battery. Jeep was giving signs something might go soon when this happened. I bought a new battery and PRESTO!! all was good.

Fast forward to today. Jeep ran fine to the gym, when I get back in it tries to start, dies, and now NOTHING is on. No lights, no electric locks, etc. DO I just keep buying batteries? Is something else wrong that is causing the batteries to die? I am CLUELESS on the electrical stuff. Any Help?

By shorting out you mean dead? Have you checked the charging voltage at some point before replacing the battery?

It could be a parasitic drain somewhere. Basically,with the engine on and the battery fully charged you should see 13-14v with no electrical loads-this indicates the alt is ok.

Giving that it lasted so long I'd venture to guess it charges intermittently.

Edit: If you take it to a shop, don't use the word 'shorted-out battery'

The battery is charged. Its just that nothing is getting power from it. Could it be bad wires?

Might have a bad ground take a jumper cable and put one on the engine one on bare metal. See if that works if it does fix your ground =]

Well here is the update. I opened hood in the gym parking lot. Was going to detach the wires. I tapped the black wire and the under hood light came on. I started it and kept foot on gas to make sure with wouldn't die again. It is now home again. I am starting to suspect the wires. With no loads it does show 13 - 14v.

Oh. I'd start with checking the battery connections (and even removing and reconnecting them)

Take a glance at the cables at the starter, just try to move them around if there tight thats good.

What year?

It is a 1999. Weird thing was when it happened a few months ago I would detach wires and reconnect and when I tried to start it would just dim the lights and die. This time doing that worked.

I would replace the battery cables in that case. Glad to hear you got it to work

by the way you described the gym lot incident I would give another vote for checking the battery clamps.
I have the clamps with the wing nut on them for quick disconnecting the cable, and had a problem with the ground clamp seeming very tight, all connected, but not providing a proper connection.
turned out the bolt going through the clamp (the bolt which the wing nut was on) was coming loose in teh clamp therefor not connected very well. new clamps solved the problem. Which were much like you described, seemed like dead battery, but moving the clamps and things popped to life. next time this happend take your volt meter and test voltage on the battery posts, then test the battery clamps, than the wires. thats how I noticed the bolt in the clamp was loose.

Thank you everyone for the advice. Always good to have someone tell me where to start with these things. I suspected the wires, connections last time but never pursued that course of action.

I probably should get a new vehicle. But then again where else would I find a car with 106,000 miles, no A/C, with potential to leave me stranded everyday? What fun would it be without those headaches. haha