Sounds like a bad battery. U can recharge it. And it will last acouple hours but the it will die. Because when batteries go bad theyre not able to keep the charge in. Go to auto zone and test your battery. It sounds like its a bad one. Other than that it seems like its all workin properly. So if the battery is good you must be leaving some light somewhere on
Dieing. Dying is what you do to your jeans to re- colour them.
First, check battery fluid levels.
A parasitic drain can be bad diodes in the alternator, or something extra you have wired into the system that continually needs extra current. You should only see milliamps of current flowing out when the car is stopped with everything off. If you see amps, you have a problem. If it's the alternator diodes, disconnecting the wires from the alternator will give a drop in parasites. DON"T do it while the battery is connected, disconnect the battery negative cable first, then replace it after disconnecting the alternator.
You could have a load test put on your battery, but really, if it's years old, why not shout it a new one? It's not possible to load test individual battery cells in modern batteries.
We can only guess from here. You need to get the battery and charging system tested. Possible causes of battery drain are (in no particular order of importance):
1. Bad battery
2. Bad alternator
3. Faulty battery connections
4. Light or other accessory is on. Glove box light, trunk light or engine compartment light could be on without you knowing about it. It's like a refrigerator light - does it go off when you close the door?
Could the radio be draining the battery? Sure. Like any accessory, if you can turn it on with the ignition switch in the off position, it can drain the battery.
You say you measured with a voltmeter. What was the reading? If it was >13.5v with the engine at idle, the the alternator is probably good. 15v with the engine at about 2000 rpms, the alternator is probably good.
I had to buy a battery for my car today when I found a dead battery cell. You can check for a dead battery cell by measuring the voltage between each cell. Should read about 2.2vdc. Remove the battery caps, stick the volt meter probe into the electrolyte of each adjacent cell to measure the voltage between each cell. Also measure between the battery post and the cell closest to that battery post. A dead cell will read zero (or very near zero).
First get the battery tested to make sure it doesn't have a bad cell. If it's good, do a parasitic battery drain test. Read this article on how to do it
http://ricksfreeautorepairadvice.com/bat...
I have a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire, I've charged the battery up and let the car sit for about 3 days and try to start it and the battery is dead. I've checked (using a voltmeter) the battery while the car is running and the alternator does charge the battery. It's like something is draining the battery. On a side note whenever I try to start the car while it's dead the radio lights flash and makes clicking noises. The radio was off while the car was off but is it possible the radio is draining the battery? Would buying a new receiver solve it if this is the problem? The one I have now is JVC if that matters. Either way the car only dies when its off.
