battery drain
 

Hi
I have a 96 Toyota Camry with a strange problem. It seems that there is something draining my battery when I drove it. it only happens when the weather is cold. I have replaced the alternator three times now due to voltage regulator failure. Any suggestions?
Jerry

RE: battery drain
 

Go to your local Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, NAPA, etc, and have them check the battery and alternator.

Are you buying rebuilt alternators?

RE: battery drain
 

Had the alternator tested last week. It checked out OK. Only seems to be draining the battery when it's running. Could there be a short somewhere?
How do i find it?

RE: battery drain
 

If the battery is ok and the alt is putting out proper charge voltage/amps then I would trace the wire/connections from the alt to the battery that charges the battery.

RE: battery drain
 

OK. So here's an update. Alternator finally died today. I went last week and bought a tester that plugs into the cig lighter. It was OK for a week then on my way home from work yesterday the alternator died. I got it home and put it on the battery charger overnight. Went out htis morning to start it before I left for work and alt was charging fine. It ran for ~15 minutes then stopped charging. Went to NAPA and they said they'd replace it one more time. What can be causing all of these alternator failures?

RE: battery drain
 

Rebuilt alts and starters have to have the worst QC of all the parts I hear about. You may want to buy new for the hassle. The last Bosch I bought worked fine for many years butI don't know how their quality is now.

RE: battery drain
 

Yeah. I could believe I got one bad one. But, I'm going on the fourth. They only seem to fail when it's cold out.