Minivan battery dies a lot

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

This thing is a POS. I also want to say I'm a nub about cars, but I hopefully won't do things as stupid as people jamming AGP cards into PCI slots.

So I used to drive this minivan and the battery would die every month if you didn't drive it for that long (I didn't have a car with my in my first few years of college). I decided to bring it up finally this past year to make good use of it and it was fine. I do remember one day back on high school when this car did die on my in the parking lot somewhere and I found someone to jump the car for me. I knew how to do it and if my memory serves me right a Tacoma helped jump start my Previa.

We got a new car a while back and I've been driving a 98 Camry since. I moved home a few days ago because I have my internship starting on Tuesday, and my mom tells me the minivan is dead again after leaving it untouched. I pulled out our jump cables and I know ideally you want to find a similar sized car, but I hooked our 07 Camry up to the Previa and no good. There's not even a sound when you turn the key of the minivan. I would've thought the battery would at least struggle a bit even if not enough juice is coming from our Camry.

Then my mom said "see I told you it wouldn't work," and she told me how she had the neighbor's Ford F-series truck try to jump start the car before and it didn't work. Not wanting to argue, I said "Fine I'll call AAA tomorrow, which was what my mom was going to do to begin with."

Any suggestions? Maybe I'm hooking things up wrong. I'm positive I know how to hook it up having done it before.

 

[Eli]

If the battery was completely dead, even jumper cables won't supply enough amperage to charge the battery and turn the starter over. You've gotta let things sit and charge for a while.

 

[BoomerD]

How old is the battery? If it's more than 3-4 years old, it's probably time to replace it.

Often, when a battery totally discharges and remains that way, the lead plates inside will start to sulfate. Too much sulfation, and the battery is junk.
Is it a maintenance-free battery or does it have removable caps through which you add water? If the battery is too low on water, the plate will sulfate, and it won't hold a charge.

Here's a brief tutorial about auto batteries, written in pretty plain, easy to understand language:
http://www.progressivedyn.com/battery_manage_101.html

 

[NoShangriLa]

Check/clean battery terminals, fluid level, sign of damage (crack casing), voltage reading, starter, solenoid, and wires.

 

[Jeff7]

Warning, car n00b here.
When jumping, would there be any harm in removing the wires from the minivan battery, and jumping directly to the Camry's battery, bypassing the minivan's battery completely? If I remember correctly, a dead lead acid battery will try to suck up a lot of current, and this may be what's preventing it from starting.
Removing the wires from the minivan battery could alleviate this.
Then when the engine is running, reattach the wires to the terminals. I figure the alternator would then feel a strain, and the engine might slow down, since it'll be trying to charge the dead battery.
I guess this could be a bad idea if you short out anything while you're working, but I guess shorting out anything with a lead acid battery is always bad, whether or not the car is on.

Exactly how long does the minivan sit between starts? My car can drain its battery in about a week just from running the various components in standby. I measured the current drain at around 0.2 amps, and that was without the keys even in the ignition. Assuming a 40 amp-hour battery, it would be completely drained in a little over 8 days. I figure that the security system is the main thing responsible for this high a level of current draw.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

It's a minivan...

It's attempting to end its miserable existance. Let it. Sometimes suicide is the answer. If you had a soul you'd let it go...

 

[mobobuff]

Does the dome light come on? Does ANYTHING happen? Sounds like you've got a short, dirty terminals, or a bad battery cable. Check the connections.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
Does the dome light come on? Does ANYTHING happen? Sounds like you've got a short, dirty terminals, or a bad battery cable. Check the connections.

I don't know how long it's died as this car has been sitting in the garage for at least a month. This is something that has happened in the past, and so my parents drive around in it every few weeks. I kept it alive for the past year or so by driving it around school, but since May I've switched off cars, and so it's just sitting in our garage.

The battery itself does have a little charge left. Lights come on inside and what not.

The original battery had issues too and we replaced it a few years back, but this car has only seen light use. Maybe 20,000 miles in the past 7 years at most. Most of the driving was done in the past 2 years (roughly 10k or so by me, 7k of it just this past year).

I'm guessing that the battery just doesn't have crap worth charge in it that the starter won't even go, but that's just my guess.

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: mobobuff
Does the dome light come on? Does ANYTHING happen? Sounds like you've got a short, dirty terminals, or a bad battery cable. Check the connections.

I don't know how long it's died as this car has been sitting in the garage for at least a month. This is something that has happened in the past, and so my parents drive around in it every few weeks. I kept it alive for the past year or so by driving it around school, but since May I've switched off cars, and so it's just sitting in our garage.

The battery itself does have a little charge left. Lights come on inside and what not.

The original battery had issues too and we replaced it a few years back, but this car has only seen light use. Maybe 20,000 miles in the past 7 years at most. Most of the driving was done in the past 2 years (roughly 10k or so by me, 7k of it just this past year).

I'm guessing that the battery just doesn't have crap worth charge in it that the starter won't even go, but that's just my guess.

Okay, if some of the accessories come on, it's not a short or bad connection.

 

[0roo0roo]

rev charging car for a bit, you dont start right away..u gotta let it sit for a bit.
battery...if its starting to die like that you can't fix it. you gotta get a new battery. changing batteries is relatively easy, just go to the auto parts store and follow directions in the manual. draining batteries(deep cycling) too far is bad for lead acid batteries, so stuff like leaving your lights on and draining the battery can cause damage. only special deep cycle batteries for rv's and boats can pull that off. and since you've had repeated total drains its really borked. don't call aa, just buy a new battery

 

[steppinthrax]

It seems no one is hitting the point. If the battery is dying like every month and you checked to see if the battery is in good condition you need to check/change the alternator. Most autozones, advance auto parts and pep boys do free battery/alternator testing. They wheel a little machine out to your car and have you rev it to see if the alternator is working. Also advance auto parts does free battery charging. They charge it in a special maching that tells you if the battery is bad afterwards. While the engine is running the alternator should push out 14V. The entire electrical system should be at 14V. You can simply check this by testing with a multitester across the battery terminals. If you are getting around there then your battery is bad then. Change the battery.....

 

[Scarpozzi]

Get a new battery. Pay a little extra for a decent one... If you go cheap, they're more likely to fail. (I've heard a lot of bad things about the discount batteries that Walmart sells)

Get a Duralast from Autozone or an Advance Autoparts Silver...

Having a low battery can cause all kinds of problems with the van's gas milage and everything else if it's not getting enough spark. You can get the battery tested at Autozone or advance for free. They can also check the alternator by looking at the voltage before the van is started and after...

Chances are $65 will fix it.