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-   -   Battery killed after 2 days (https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350943)

Ron McIntyre 07-23-2025 01:56 PM

Battery killed after 2 days
 

New wiring harness. Battery takes a charge. Seems every 2 days battery is dead. What can cause this.

Marshall V. Daut 07-23-2025 02:15 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Tap the top of the generator cutout with a small hammer or wrench to unstick the points. They may be stuck and are draining the battery.
Also ensure the brake light is off when leaving the car for the night.
Marshall

Y-Blockhead 07-23-2025 02:41 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron McIntyre (Post 2402078)
New wiring harness. Battery takes a charge. Seems every 2 days battery is dead. What can cause this.

In addition to what Marshall said, IF you have a modern alternator, one or more diodes in the rectifier may be bad.

Ron McIntyre 07-23-2025 02:44 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Thanks everyone

joncrane 07-23-2025 03:02 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Battery may be kaput. How old is it? Freeze in the winter?

nkaminar 07-23-2025 03:05 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

A lot of Model A owners end up putting battery disconnect switches in their cars. It will save the battery and is a safety thing.

With the battery disconnected, use the ohm setting on your multimeter to see if there is a drain to ground. Disconnect one thing at a time to discover which item is causing the drain.

Also what Jon Crane said.

Marshall V. Daut 07-23-2025 04:42 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Get into the habit of checking the ammeter after shutting off the engine. If the needle dips into the negative side and stays there when the ignition key is turned off, something is drawing current. Stuck cutout points usually take an hour or two to completely drain the battery, while a stuck brake light may take one or even two days to do the job. Although unlikely, if the instrument panel light is left on, it, too, will eventually drain the battery. Those lights are not real bright, so if you only drive your Model A during the day, you might not even notice that the light had been inadvertently turned and left on.
Marshall

Keith True 07-23-2025 05:15 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Has this only happened since you put the new harness in?

ModelA29 07-23-2025 06:01 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkaminar (Post 2402088)
A lot of Model A owners end up putting battery disconnect switches in their cars. ......

Our Tudor has a cutoff switch. The PO mounted it by the starter so you need to open the hood each time when you take it out for a spin or put it away for more than a day or two.
I mounted this one in our Coupe. It's through the wood floor board (flush with the wood). I just lift the mat to turn it on or off. The connector for my Battery Tender is right next to it.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g1442

JoeCB 07-23-2025 08:17 PM

Re: Battery killed after 2 days
 

I had a slow drain, turned out to be a misbehaving "Pop - Out" ignition switch. Pushed in OK but saw still "on" . Drain was elusive because of position of breaker points. A turn- around to MR Crabtree for a rebuild solved the problem
Joe B


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