battery charging problem..

esext0three · Post by **esext0three** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:15 pm

as for as a year now my battery light has been on and I never payed any attention to it, now after changing the suspension on my car and letting it sit for a day the battery dies after 6-8 hours. i took it for a wheel alignment and figured i needed a battery also but they called me up and said my battery was good bad the charging system was not working. They said maybe i wire is uplugged or something, but i cant find anything, any suggestions?

cgneon · Post by **cgneon** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:38 pm

clean your terminals and battery posts with one of those twisty wire brushes u get for a 1$ . my buddy called me for a jump, thought his starter crapped, etc.. i cleaned his terminals and it started right up...... just a suggestion, since its free, couldnt hurt..

oklamopar · Post by **oklamopar** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:57 pm

Chryslers are bad about doing weird things with ground wires off.
is there any dtc stored?

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:57 pm

Have you checked the charging system yourself?
Get a multimeter connect it to your battery, run the car at an idle..where is it at? then bring the revs to 1500rpm...where is it at, then finally bring it to 2krpm, you should be fully charging there.....

esext0three · Post by **esext0three** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:40 pm

i went to have a new battery put in and they ran a battery test on my old one:

battery: 12.30v
rated for 450cca
tested @ 432cca

charging: load off 13.27v, load on 13.31v

they said the machine report a 'diode ripple', and possible a wire is loose on my charging system?? i jacked up the car and looked at the wire under the alt. and it was secure, i swapped the battery out and im still throwing the CEL :

P0517-BATTERY TEMPERATURE SENSOR HIGH

the battery is good for like 6 hours then its to low to start the car, i am letting the new one sit over night, but i think its going to be the same..

maybe something in the vehicle is shorting out? when my battery is dead and i jump it, all the gauges go fully to the max and then jump back down slowly, some crazy shyt.

oklamopar · Post by **oklamopar** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:53 pm

check the battery temp sensor , its suposed to be in the side of the battery thermal guard. thats what Mitchell says.
youalso need to do a parasitic draw test to find out which circuit is at fault

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Fri May 26, 2006 6:05 am

You never mentioned the fault code before....
56041053 - $38.60msrp - Battery Temp sensor
The temp sensor tells the pcm what the battery temp is and regulates the charging voltage from that. If the sensor is bad it will not charge the battery properly...
I would try that first..and oh yeah that sensor fits 99+ neons and is located in the thermal guard around the battery...
As a note from DCx:
**********************
OPERATION
The PCM uses the temperature of the battery area to control the charge system voltage. This temperature, along with data from monitored line voltage, is used by the PCM to vary the battery charging rate. The system voltage is higher at cold temperatures and is gradually reduced as temperature around the battery increases.

(NGC Vehicles) The ambient temperature sensor is used to control the battery voltage based upon ambient temperature (approximation of battery temperature). The PCM maintains the optimal output of the generator by monitoring battery voltage and controlling it to a range of 13.5 - 14.7 volts based on battery temperature. The system target voltage is 13.5 – 14.7 volts. However the actual voltage go below this during heavy electrical loads and generator speeds. Also the actual voltage can be lower than the target voltage between the battery and the battery voltage sense circuit, approximately 0.2 — 0.3 volts.

The battery temperature sensor is also used for OBD II diagnostics. Certain faults and OBD II monitors are either enabled or disabled depending upon the battery temperature sensor input (example: disable purge and EGR, enable LDP). Most OBD II monitors are disabled below 20°F.

SupaDawg · Post by **SupaDawg** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:49 pm

At least you're not going through what i went through last week. I had a 6 month old batter decide to cook while in my neon. havent seen a dry-cell smoke that much in ages.

2003silverneonsxt · Post by **2003silverneonsxt** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:17 pm

what happens if u have a aftermarket battery (optima red top) like i do, and that stupid thing doesnt fit around the battery, then what?

SupaDawg · Post by **SupaDawg** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:21 pm

What i did Silver (it was an optima that i fried) was i removed the temp sensor from the battery warmer and attached it to the cable then tossed the warmer in storage.

It seems that if the temp sensor is not present that the battery light stays on.

But that should do it.

2003silverneonsxt · Post by **2003silverneonsxt** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:34 pm

so if i just have it sitting around the back of the battery it wont work right or what.. its like tucked around the back..so i dont know..

SupaDawg · Post by **SupaDawg** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:53 pm

2003silverneonsxt wrote:so if i just have it sitting around the back of the battery it wont work right or what.. its like tucked around the back..so i dont know..

It shouldn't be a problem. It's just a warmer. Might have a negative effect if living in a cold climate but mine survived the winter fine without it.

2003silverneonsxt · Post by **2003silverneonsxt** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:43 pm

aight cool thanks very much!

lilolneon · Post by **lilolneon** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:30 pm

if you get the Group 35 Optima, it should fit in the battery warmer, mine did...

esext0three · Post by **esext0three** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:41 pm

my cord was ripped out, for some reason, i replaced the battery anyway and tucked the sensor away, all is well now.

now i need to fix my moisture infested headlight...