Car battery keeps dying

[WIlsonsGarland]

Short recap: I have a 2009 Honda Civic, about 69,000 odd miles, got a brand new battery for it in October 2015 and everything else on it seems to work fine.

Since I got this new battery, it's died on me at least half a dozen times and I have to charge it overnight to get it running. I thought it was because I don't drive it every day and because of the cold weather, but it seems to conk out on me even in decent weather. Had the battery tested and the alternator looked at not even a month ago and both were totally fine. My neighbor who checked everything said it was some kind of a problem with the key fob, so I quit starting it remotely, but still used the fob to lock the doors.

The battery crapped out on me again today, after a spat of warm weather and after I drove it two days prior. Weirdly, when the battery died on me in the past, absolutely nothing worked, including the lock buttons on the keychain, but those still managed to work today even though the car wouldn't start.

No battery light came on (no warning lights came on at any point, actually), so as far as I can see, everything is in working order... even though it's clear that everything is not in working order if my battery keeps on giving me the middle finger every other week.

Is there any reason why this would be happening? Any other part of the car I should be looking at for possible solutions?

 

[HockeyZombies]

Do you have any aftermarket audio or such? Sounds like you got a DC hookup without a return. Maybe a bad ground is causing it too. A grounding kit might help but some where you have a electric leak. Maybe employee an electrician to diagnose the issue. Check battery terminals also

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

You seem to have a parasitic draw. This means that even when you shut the car off, some circuit is still closed and therefore draining your battery. If you have some tools, best way to do is use a multimeter (best ones are the ones that measure current when you put the cable through it, instead of having to connect it). Once you set this up, you'll see you have some type of current going through the car even when it's off (this isn't supposed to be the case btw).
This might be a two person job (depending on where your fuses are located). Go ahead and pull ONE fuse, then check if the current went to zero). If it did not, put the fuse back on and you know that circuit is NOT the problem. Repeat this process for all fuses and relays, and you'll eventually find which one is draining your battery. Make sure when you do this you do not open any doors or trigger things that would make dome lights and such things turn on (which could throw your readings off).
Good luck.

 

[WIlsonsGarland]

Thanks very much for the replies! I wound up going on a little repair adventure today and finding out what the actual problem was. I took the car to Auto Zone where they claimed they would test the alternator to see if that was the problem, but I think they only tested the battery and then told me the reason the battery's power was so low was because the alternator was bad. So, as per their advice, I bought a new alternator and took it to my usual garage to have it installed. Upon taking a look, the mechanic said the alternator was working perfectly fine; the battery was responding to the alternator correctly (and vice versa).

So he took a closer look and found that the problem was the battery had a dead cell. And since the battery failed within Auto Zone's warranty period, I got a replacement at no charge (and returned the alternator I "needed"). Welp, glad it was as simple of a fix as a bad battery; the mechanic said that if the battery had been fine, it was most likely a more complex and more serious problem. Plus, it's not often that I get free car parts or repairs.

 

[XpL0d3r]

Glad you got it figured out!