Hi,

Im having trouble with Hyundai Elantra 2005 roughly 35K. Im out of town by 7 hrs and the only 2 car places in town are still having trouble.

My car died last week completely dead - so i got a new battery. The car was fine to start the next morning but 5hrs later was completely dead again.

They then checked the alternator said it was at 14.11v. I took it down to get looked at and they pretty much said im a blonde and have left something on.

It wouldn't start the next day so I went to the other place. They have had it for a week and concluded the battery that was put in new was faulty and put in ANOTHER new battery.

It was charging fine yesterday so I took it home. This morning I woke up top check it - it started BUT an hour later when I left for work it couldnt turn over???

Please help, Im in a small town and know nothing about cars. What could it be what can i do?

thanks gabi

I'm having the exact same problem too! I have a 2004 Elantra (with about 65,000 miles) and have put in 2 batteries. I've had my alternator tested, and the core charge tested, both coming back good. I even put in a marine show battery, since I'm running subs/amp. If anyone knows anything about this, please respond. I don't want to spend tons of money fixing things just to find out something else is wrong. THANKS!

I would contact someone, maybe an electrician, that would have a clamp on DC Ammeter. You can check around and buy on if you like. Check how many amps are being drawn on the battery cable with the car off. If it is excessive (might want to compare to another similar vehicle) you can pull fuses one at a time and find the cause.

Edit: I am assuming that this issue is happening only when you go to start the car that the battery is dead. It seems like something is using the battery up when the car is off. Is the car dying after it is running and then not turning over? If so, this sounds like the alternator. You would think there would be a light on the dash to let you know. Could also be a corroded or loose cable that is conducting with little load, but causing a big drop when starting or trying to charge a dead battery. Might want to check the battery voltage with a multimeter on the battery posts when the car is off, starting & running. May want to check AC volts when running, should be very little. Might be over 0.5 volts if a diode is bad.

Just my ideas. Electrical issues with cars do not follow normal electrical theories, LOL.

This post has been edited by Traveler62: Aug 3 2008, 09:03 PM

When you had the alternator checked, did they check the diodes? If they didn't check the diodes and just volts coming out, they didn't do the whole job.

Cool thanks. I'll ask them to check those. I asked some of my friends as well and one guy thinks it could also be the starter motor? or spark plugs?

I just dont know how I should go about asking/telling them what to do. If its not fixed in a week I'll just have to take it back home.

Thanks for the posts, please keep them coming if you know anymore.

Gabi,

I would put spark plugs and the end of the list of potential problems. If the car is not even turning over then spark plugs will be of no use yet.

The starter could be a good point, but I'm leaning towards the alternator.

You said they checked the alt and it was reading 14V. Now when the battery was replaced a few times was the battery checked? Was it completely dead? You said the problem is happening again, what is the battery reading now? If the alt is putting out 14V when the car is running and the battery is fully charged but the car is still not turning over then it could be a starter issue.

Since it is not starting now, do you hear any type of clicking when you turn the key? Does it make a chugging shound like the starting is trying to turn but it does not have enough power to do so?

No not really. The only sound it did make was just the same when it trys to turn over except it was drawn out. and then it didn't turn over.

I drove it back home on friday and it should be taken in today. Before I left the auto leky? said he found the Radio had a leak. ie. when the car is turned off the radio was still drawing current from the battery.

It sounds reasonable to me but who knows. These were the people that tried to tell me the first new battery(deemed not faulty by RACQ) wasn't going to work and I would have to buy their battery too...... ($190) I put the hard word on in fear of being taken for all im worth.

They still charged me 100 for their efforts and pretty much said I wont get my car back until I do. Which is a lot considering I only asked for a written quote originally.

You obviously are experiencing a parasitic draw problem and going to chain type service centers posing as auto technicians. They are pros at selling batteries and alternators. If the alt is charging 14 volts its ok and you look at other things. You've tried 2 batteries, at least one of them is good, so scratch that off your list. When the car doesnt start, is it turning slow or just not doing anything? do you have any accessories that work or is the battery just flat dead. If the battery is infact going dead, you gotta now analyze things that could cause parasitc draws. Do you have any chargers, radar detectors, poorly installed aftermarke radios, etc then work from there.