I have a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire with battery problem

Tiny
DAVID 1962
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 PONTIAC SUNFIRE
  • 148,000 MILES
I have replaced the battery 3 times now every time it goes dead in about 5 day of replacing with new battery I can jump start and get it to auto parts store where I purchased the battery they put on the tester and say it is a bad battery so they put in a new one and test and say that everything is fine now so it is good for 5 to 7 day and go to start and it happens once more I dont know how many times they are going to say bad battery and keep putting in a new one but it is getting to be a pain so please let me know if there is something else wrong that I can check. THANKS
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 AT 12:16 AM

5 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 110,176 POSTS
It sounds like a bad alternator or fuseable link.
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Thursday, March 1st, 2012 AT 12:18 AM
Tiny
DAVID 1962
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
The tester they use says that the alternator is working fine and before I replaced the battery there was no problems at all with the car but I will try anything to solve the problem. So if you can tell me how to check or test the fuseable link I will do it.I am old school car guy when things were simple to work on but my daughter is 18 and she likes new things that I have a hard time working on so any help would be great. THANKS
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Thursday, March 1st, 2012 AT 12:32 AM
Tiny
MERLIN2021
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  • 17,250 POSTS
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-dead-overnight
Look into a parasitic drain here.
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+1
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 AT 3:56 PM
Tiny
DAVID 1962
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Thank you merlin2021 I will check all the things they say to check in the link you provided me. But what I do not understand is its not just draining the battery but when I take the car back to the auto parts store and they test it they tell me that it says battery needs to be replaced not just charged that is what gets me I have never had a battery go bad after 5-7 days normally it would just say battery needs charging anyway I will try anything to fix the problem so thanks again.
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Thursday, March 1st, 2012 AT 10:52 PM
Tiny
MERLIN2021
  • MECHANIC
  • 17,250 POSTS
If you have a aprasitic drain, it may be killing one of the cells, once that happens the battery is no good anymore.
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Friday, March 2nd, 2012 AT 8:31 AM

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