My daughter has our '93 5-speed manual 850GLT away with her at college in Indiana. She just called to report that the second new battery (free replacement) we put in the car 2 months ago when I was there will not start the car tonight. It has been outside in freezing weather for 2 weeks without her driving it. Prior to that, it started and drove just fine every time she tried it after no more than a week of sitting each time. Same exact thing happened with the last new battery. Seems like there must be a short somewhere. Once it's jump started, the car runs fine and the battery recharges somewhat, but will not start again after an hour or so of being turned off. Any ideas why the battery may be drained of its charge after only 2 weeks, or would this be normal in that kind of weather? Any help would be most appreciated! John

Driving the car for 30 minutes with the headlights on will not charge the battery. Take a look at Ebay for solar powered chargers. They are fairly cheap and work even on cloudy days. You should be able to rig up an inside the car plug/unplug for it so your daughter can then move the charger from the dash to the back seat when driving.

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

Things to check to make sure they are turning off properly:
1. Glove box light, 2. Trunk light, 3. All door switches.
You can check the door switches by tripping the latch manually with the door open. The red light should go off when the latch is tripped. Don't forget to reset it before closing doors.
Glue a coin on the glove box door to actuate the switch more. The doors warp. (or remove the lamp) Trunk light can be checked by dropping one of the rear seats or center arm rest and looking at the lamp.
The battery should be charged over night for a full charge. It won't charge fully by running the engine for an hour or so. An Auto Zone (or equivalent) can test the charging system.
I know what it's like to have a car away at college. Three over a 10 year span.
Good luck.

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Tom 69-1800S, 72-1800ES, 96-850T,2000-S70 GLT-SE

Pete gave good ideas. I'd start with checking alternator charging...if that's low, it will slowly kill a battery. Grounds can definitely be a culprit. If it's charging well, test the battery load with the car off. If it is much of anything, it could drain the battery over a short time. If you have a load issue, check to make sure it isn't something like one of the courtesy lights that the switch has broken on and so it's on all the time. It could be something simple like that.

This definitely is not normal. I had a 5 year AC Delco battery last exactly 5 years in Ontario winters, which included some vicious abuse with rally lights and such. It was parked outside the whole time There's an issue somewhere in your charging system or you have some small drain.

Good luck!

Nate Gundy
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1997 850, 1979 242GT, 1990 740GL

Have you checked the voltage while charging? You would want to check both accross the battery posts and accross the alternator positive and negative connections. Do the battery check and then do the alternator check. Voltage should be above 13.5 volts when the car is running. Sometimes corrosion builds up on the contacts and while the alternator light may not come on the alternator won't charge the battery due to poor connectivity.

I'm not as familiar with the 850 electrical system, on some of the older models cleaning the primary ground connection can make a difference.

Another thing to check is the battery cables, they may be badly corroded and cause this type of problem as well.

I hope this helps.