Hey guys,

I'm having this recurring issue with my '07 Adventure. I've never been able to track it down. I'm wondering if anybody else has ever run across this.

I'm technically the second owner; my dad took delivery of it new, drove it for two years, and I bought it from him in '09 w/~20k on it. Other than the common radiator issue, it's been trouble-free its whole life, save for this one nagging issue.

Sometimes the battery goes dead. It's usually after it hasn't been driven for a day or two. It just happened again. I drove it to work all week last week. I drove it late Saturday evening, but not Sunday. Today (monday morning) I went to leave for work and it was deader than a doornail.

Years ago, we figured out that if we left the key in the ignition in the garage, it would stay in accessory mode and the radio would kill it, so we got in the habit of always removing the keys. So it's not that.

I just replaced the battery in February with a NAPA Platinum, and this has been a longterm ongoing issue, so I know it's not the battery.

I've tested the voltage with the truck running, and it checks out, so I know it's not the alternator, or at least it always runs perfectly and appears to check out. I've never had an issue on the road or with it not charging the battery.

So, it appears something is just taking the battery down.

It happened a couple of months ago, and I suspected the dome light was sticking. I couldn't find that a door switch that was sticking, but as a preventive/testing measure, I used the button on the light module and disabled the dome light. I thought maybe I'd finally nailed the issue down because it hasn't happened, but this morning I checked, and that button is still pressed. So, it's not the dome light.

So, not battery, not dome light, not alternator.

I'm wondering if it could be the OnStar module not shutting off or something. Has anybody had anything like this happen?

Thanks!!!

SC

 

normal drain is 110 milliamp, 1/10 amp.
a meter in a batt lead will read 2 amps briefly then drop to 110 ma.
if more, pull fuses till you find it.

 

I have never looked at the drain on my 2007 H3 but mine goes dead after about 10 days. Overnight obviously means something is amiss. You may want to monitor the drain current as you methodically pull fuses to determine which circuit(s) are draining your battery.

 

Two things:

1) you did not mention that you changed the crappy azzed OEM battery terminal connectors for some quality aftermarket set like Stingers or your favorite brand; and,

2) open the back door, look under the chassis between the bumper where the wire harness goes to the license plate light (and trailer plug if you have one), it is known to rub through the insulation and cause a ground out short.

#1 above is the first mod that should be done to all H3s, it is not a matter of "if the OEM Battery Terminal Connectors will fail", it is just when. Search it out, lots of threads here on that, best way to kill electrical gremlins, inexpensive and easy to do.

 

Thanks, guys!

I'll put a meter on it and see if I can see a current draw that's out of line. The problem is that it's so damn intermittent. I can't understand how it can go two months or more without a problem (and I frequently leave the truck sit on the weekend), then out of the blue it sits for a day and a half, and it's dead.

Replacing the battery terminals is an excellent idea. I was just cussing them last night when I jumped it to get it going again. The appear to function fine as far as making a connection, but they do suck to try to attach a jumper cable to.

Thanks for the tip on the license plate light. I'll check that, too.

I jumped it last night, drove it for 15 minutes and 10 miles, parked it overnight, and it fired right up this morning.

Arghhh...

I have a Gobi rack I bought locally used with some nice Hellas on it, but I don't want to hook anything else up until I have this issue resolved.

Thanks for all the input! I'll report back if I can figure anything out.

Cheers,
SC