Battery's not holding charge

[Bigred]

My batteries will not hold a charge. After sitting for a few days it barely cranks. Battery's are less than 2 years old. any thoughts ?

 

[dentpusha]

have them tested.its free

 

[knkreb]

Cables in good condition?
Alternator working?
Tach working?
x2 on Load testing them.

If the batteries are kaput--- should be matched set replacements.

 

[JMJNet]

another thing to check is the grounds?

 

[89SWB]

To be shot in two years, sounds like you've got a short in a circuit that is causing a high amp draw when you leave it parked. Try hooking up an ammeter between the positive battery terminal and the positive cable (been a long time since I've done this, hopefully someone can chime in if I've misspoken on placement). A google search should verify placement.

Once hooked up properly, check the amount of amps being drawn. With engine off, should be practically zero. Enough to keep the clock running is all I can think of. Once you have a baseline, start pulling fuses one by one and watch the ammeter. You get a big dip in amps, you have identified the circuit.

 

[Rhinopkc]

I was going through batteries every 2 years until I put in some Optimas.

 

[Bigred]

The battery's test good. Alternator good. Tester show normal draw. I am going to unhook the battery's tonite and let it set for a couple days and rehook and see what I got.

 

[RadioMan]

Had a under hood light stay on a while back. Couldn't figure why my batts kept going down -- Till one night when I accidently found the culprit...
Go out to the truck well after dark and have a look around - Ya never know what you might see.

 

[jmiller]

Make sure that ther is not a parasitic loss, under hood lamp, glove box light, some accessory going directly to the battery, etc.

a glove box lamp can draw enough to cause an issue after several days.