10 replies to this topic

[CHEVY2SHELBY]

My GT-H has been experiencing a battery drain for about 3 months now and ive tried numerous attempts to locate it. The battery reads 13.8 volts, the alternator is doing its job but i cannot pinpoint the drain. Has anyone experienced the same thing?

[JeffIsHereToo]

I've never had the issue but others have mentioned it here and other Mustang forums. Have you looked into putting an ammeter on the battery (15 to 20ma in a stock config is typical) and then pull fuses to see if you can at least pinpoint the area where the drain is coming from? You might want to get a battery tender until you do to if you don't drive it much.

[GT350conv]

Odds are there is no additional draw from the battery that wasn't present before. If the battery is 4-6 years old, then it's simply getting weak & it should be replaced. All batteries have a memory, so it's best to keep a charge on it when sitting for more than 2 weeks at a time. By doing so, it will extend the battery life. My 06' GT OEM battery experienced the same issues this past year. Sitting around any longer than 3 weeks, it would just click the starter solenoid. You could try to check & top off the water level and keep a battery tender on it.

[JeffJ]

Do a few searches. This is not specific to your GT-H, but extremely common on 2005-2006 Mustangs, maybe others . My car did it also. I still have the original battery now with no problems. Sometimes it would die in two days. On my car it always related back to the radio. Now I just make a habit of making sure it is turned off before I turn off the car. Once I've done that, no more problems. Other's say that is impossible, and have had other things cause their battery to drain. All I know, is once I started doing this, no problem. Now if I leave my car sit where I know I will not start it in over a week or two (like now in winter), then I just leave a battery tender on it. But that is not specific to this car. It's just cold here! Not good for any battery. I have to get two new ones for my PSD truck Saturday, yuk! They are only two years old and toast!

[Cali_KR]

JeffJ, on 23 February 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

Do a few searches. This is not specific to your GT-H, but extremely common on 2005-2006 Mustangs, maybe others . My car did it also. I still have the original battery now with no problems. Sometimes it would die in two days. On my car it always related back to the radio. Now I just make a habit of making sure it is turned off before I turn off the car. Once I've done that, no more problems. Other's say that is impossible, and have had other things cause their battery to drain. All I know, is once I started doing this, no problem.

I had the same condition with regarding the radio, left "on" battery died, "off" and all good...the first time I had this, when I put the trickle charger on, it sounded like the disc player kept trying to load...

Anyhow, good to know I'm not going nuts...

[CHEVY2SHELBY]

I used an ammeter last night and was able to trace it to the stereo. The radio is always searching through the discs and the radio can never find a radio station other than the preset for the sirius if its on seek. I wonder if replacing the stereo would help?

[CHEVY2SHELBY]

and thank you all you all for the advice, i have a tender and will leave it on. Plus two new batteries is never fun sorry to hear that

[SGT-C0056]

Many topics on this subject with 2006 and 2007 Mustangs. If your not going to drive it often, you need to turn off the radio prior to parking it. It drains the battery somehow.

[Doug_GT350]

The onboard computers continue to run for several (30) minutes after you shut off the car. Like others have said if you leave the radio on that's going to cause more computers to run. Everytime you open a door, or the trunk, or activate the lock, etc.. it restarts the computers, and the whole cycle starts over again.

[H0050]

I use a battery tender now but I did discover that prior to letting the car sit for several weeks, I would hit the door unlock button and my battery would last a lot longer. Not sure why. I decided to get the tender as it sits some times for a month. No issues since.

[Doug_GT350]

H0050, on 24 February 2012 - 07:00 PM, said:

I use a battery tender now but I did discover that prior to letting the car sit for several weeks, I would hit the door unlock button and my battery would last a lot longer. Not sure why. I decided to get the tender as it sits some times for a month. No issues since.

my guess would be because it takes the alarm offline. One more computer that can sleep.....