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Battery keeps dying. Tried new battery, same thing

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Chapel976 
#1 ·
The guy who just bought my car called me up yesterday and said the battery died on him overnight.
So, he got a new battery and today it drained again.
The ONLY difference between now and when I had it was I removed my XM Unit from the car, but that was just plugged into the rear cig lighter.
He thinks it's the alternator, but would the car have made the 300 mile round trip without an alternator?
The battery would have died after a few minutes if that were the case
I'm trying to help out as much as I can, the car NEVER had a dead battery during my ownership. Nor has our wagon.
He said he tested the system and there's no trickle
The only thing I know is that the alarm has a service theft message, but that wouldn't kill the battery, would it? Sometimes the thing would go off all night on me, but the battery would never die

Any help would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
It does sound like an alternator issue.

I've driven well over a 100 miles without an alternator on a VW a few years back so it will run for awhile on just the battery.
Has the charging system been checked out?
Advance auto parts will usually do something like that for free.
 
#3 ·
he had the alternator checked, seems fine
belt is tight.
charging system is working properly.
I'm thinking the Service Theft Alarm message might be the problem.
the only other difference was that when he picked the car up, the driver's side headbulb exploded when he turned them on, then off, then on again in succession.
I had driven the car 150 miles to him with the headlights on.
 
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