For some reason, the battery in my 67 Skylark will not hold a charge. I had it completely charged yesterday afternoon with a charger, and this morning when I went to start it, it was completely dead again. I've checked all the lights, and all the electronic stuff, and I can't find anything that's still on, or disconnected or anything. Could this be an alternator? The battery holds up fine when I run the car though, it's just when I let it sit dead for several hours that's the problem. Anyone else have experience with this kind of problem? The battery is BRAND new, so that can't be the problem.
Sounds like a dead short in Your harness. I would start looking for a bared wire or a bad ground. Do You have a light under the hood or in the trunk? I have seen them stay on and drain the bat:idea2: With older cars I always leave the neg terminal off the bat at night to save the bat and prevent fires:shock:
Yeah, I do have a test light. It looks like I'm going to need to do some tracing. Anybody have any idea what might be the most likely wire to be shorting itself? This car doesn't have any of the options, like power windows, or power locks, or power seats, so there really isn't much electrical stuff to look through.
One thing that I did was pull each fuse out one at a time to check for a short. Turned out the problem was in the accessory circuit - this controlled dash board lights, interior lights, rear armrest (I have a convertible), etc. I'd take out that fuse, charge the battery and see what happens. When my car was in the shop and the front end was off for a suspension rebuild I decided to just go ahead are replace the entire wiring harness.
X2 on pulling the fuses one at a time. You need to use your head though. Remember that if a door is open, the interior light circuits will be activated and you will have a draw. Also it may well not be a "short". It could be something such as a trunk light that is not shutting off. I assume that you have positively determined that the battery is good.
You might want to take the battery back. Brand new, it should hold a charge. If you are in doubt, charge the battery up and disconnect the battery from the car, let it sit overnight and see if the battery held the charge.
I would get a volt meter and verify if your alternator is working and also what the battery voltage is... Sounds like a bad battery though.
