Mario

I recently purchased this 93 cobra. It is now registered as a collector vehicle in New Jersey. As such it can only be driven 3000 miles a year, thats if you listen to the state. Truthfully, I don't use it that often and thus my problem. When the car sits untouched for 5 to 7 days the brand new battery dies. I've checked for shorts and evreything else that would normally come to mind. There is no obvious drain on the battery and then for an unknown reason the battery will drop to 6 or 7 volts inside of 12 hours and 3 volts inside of 24. My charger has a meter and when I hook it up it pegs the needle as if it's over charged. The car will not even begin to turn over. after charging as little as 5 minutes the courtesy lites come back on and it tries to start. The portable jump starter then will start it, and it didn't even try in the beginning. I've talked to ford mechanics that worked on that year back then and now and the've got no clue why it dies that way or resurects either. Can anybody HELP. I'll be glad to call or mail anyone more info if they think they have an idea thanx
Mario

vfast

has the iginition been replaced?..there was a recall and this was one of the problems....if the car sit for weeks just pulled the neg. cable off

Mario

thanxs for the reply. How would I know if the ignition has been replaced. The one I have on might be the original one from the factory, but I dont know. Was their a part number or something? Or anyway of finding out?

vfast

call ford and give them your vin number..it was a recall

roundman

there must be a current draw coming from somewhere to draw the battery down. make sure the top of the battery is clean and dry, current can leak across the top of a dirty one. are you sure that the underhood light and interior lights are off when the hood/hatch are closed? make sure on these first. then get an ammeter and disconnect the negative cable from the battery and hook up the ammeter between the cable terminal and the negative battery post, this will show some current flow if there is any. pull the bulb from the underhood light and see if the flow goes down or to zero. it should drop some from the bulb being out. if this doesn't make current go to zero, pull fuses from the fuse panel one at a time and watch the meter. if nothing changes, go to the next fuse and repeat process. eventually you will find the fuse that is providing the power to whatever is causing the current flow. once you know which circuit is flowing, you can check the items that the fuse protects to see which one is pulling the juice out of the battery and fix/replace it. The label on the inside cover of the fuse panel will tell you what things are wired to each fuse. I once found a stuck-on idle control solenoid valve on an old Cadillac this way that kept pulling the battery down. freed up the plunger on the solenoid and the current flow dropped to zero and the problem was cured.
closely check any aftermarket installed items like stereo's, etc to make sure they go off when the ignition key is off, if not, they could be the source of the problem also. they need to be connected to a hot wire that goes off when the ignition is turned off in order to stop any current draw. this method will work, just hang in there and be persistent and you will find the problem.

IBSTROKN

My battery terminal BURNT COMPLETELY off because the STARTER Wire Shorted out on my header...it was causing the Negative Terminal (ground) to arc out on the terminal. Just one instance of the battery always pulling...