2000 Saturn SC1 Battery won't hold a charge

Tiny
SOBERJACK
  • MEMBER
  • 2000 SATURN SC1
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 112,000 MILES
I have a 2000 Saturn SC1. I have put a new battery in and my car still won't hold a charge. Have had the battery and alternator checked and both are fine. One mechanic told me it could be the ecm? My keyless entry has been acting up and I am wondering if that might be draining the battery. Any suggestions?
Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 5:13 AM

10 Replies

Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
  • 30,870 POSTS
What has ur keyless entry been doing?The best thing to do is test ur car for a parstic draw meaning a draw that happens when the car is turned off u can do it urself but u would have to buy the tools or have it done some where. Let me know what u find.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 8:46 AM
Tiny
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Yes I have been told there was a parstic draw already. Sorry was a little vague there about the keyless entry. Basically it's like this: sometimes the keyless entry unlock's the door, sometimes it lock's the door. It will always pop the trunk. Inside the car sometimes the power door locks work when you hit the switch inside. When I take the negative cable off the battery my door locks start going crazy. The keyless entry system has been acting up for 5or 6 monts now. The battery went dead a month ago, bought a new one, 3 weeks later it was drained, had it charged and checked out fine. I wonder if my problem lies in the alarm wiring somewhere?
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 11:27 AM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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What model saturns is this a s model or ls model it will be helpfull to know so we can figure this out.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 12:05 PM
Tiny
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It is a 2000 Saturn SC1. It has 112,000 miles.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 1:04 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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They have a tool that plugs into ur fuse holder with the fuse and tells u the draw of the circuit if u thought it was ur keyless entry or the body control module circuit which controls the keyless entry and it tells u the draw when the key is off. Or u could rig it up to hook to postive cable between the battery like it works with fuse to check overal draw of ur car.U can flip ur back seats down and see if ur trunk light is staying on also. That's about all tips to finding it I can tell u. Let me know what u find. If u don't find excessive draw then I would look at ur battery again even though they test good and are new I have seen them self discharge and not show up on a load test as bad.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 3:21 PM
Tiny
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The trunk light is not staying on. I took it to a mechanic a couple of days ago, just a bolt on mechanic. He told me it was my ecm. He said I would have to take it to the dealer to get it fixed. If it is the ecm, is the ecm a plug and play thing, or once you put a new ecm in do you have to have it programmed? Also, can I just unhook the alarm if see if the battery drains? If so, where in the heck do I unhook the alarm from? You have been very generaous to help me so far, I really appreciate your knowledge.
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 3:32 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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The ECM is not plug and play it has to be programed u can't disable the alarm or keyless entry it's part of the body control module which u need that to start the car. How long does the car have to sit for the battery to goes dead?
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 3:44 PM
Tiny
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If I let it set 48 hours it dies. I would say around 36 hours. I was checking some different fuse ie. The power door lock fuse, and the body comp fuse, when I pull them out and then put it back in, before I put the fuse all the way in, the power door locks start engaging and disengaging. Also when I take the negative terminal off the battery and then make any contact with the battery to the cable the door locks will do the same. Is this normal?
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010 AT 4:24 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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Honestly I have never tried that or paid attenion if that happens and dont know if that is normal. But if u take the power away from a relay or ur bcm which has relays and switchs and they lose power and get power then yes it could happen when its getting power and everything is settling back to its normal state. There are so many things that could drain ur battery I had a car about the same yr as urs the tech tore the whole car apart couldnt find it. The car was passed on to me u know what I found draining the battery the master window switch in the center console who would have thought that.I unplugged the switch the draw went away.I honestly doubt ur ecm is drawing ur battery down I know its possible but thats a expensive gamble. Unless the guy that said it was bad will put it in writing thats it or he will pay for the computer. Its cheaper just to get a tool that will check for draws and start pulling fuses and unplugging things. They had that cool digtal read out one that plugs right into the mini fuse slot of ur fuse box and u could adapt it to fit the bigger fuses and to go on ur battery cable there like 25. Let me know what u find and what u want to do.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010 AT 10:54 AM
Tiny
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I'm with you on the ecm being a big gamble. I got a buddy that has more knowledge than I and about cars, and he has got a volt meter and hopefully this weekend we will get the fuses tested out. The whold thing about the ecm just seems a little far fetched to me. Also it seems like a lot more money to me. In the time being I purchased a stop current flow that hooks up to the negative post and you lift a lever and it will supposedly stop the current. I am about to put it on now. Hopefully it will be my bandaid until I get this thing firgured out. I will let you know what I find out.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010 AT 11:16 AM

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