Dead battery after 2 weeks!

What's is causing the batteries to drain so fast with these cars? 2-3 weeks without driving car shouldn't drain battery. Had it jumped today. New battery and it's an 08 f430

 

Modern cars with a lot of electronics draw hundreds of mA just sitting there. That will drain your battery in 2 weeks if you don't drive it.

 

Unless you drive the car everyday, I would just always put it on a battery tender. You then never have to worry about it. Really, it appears that these cars are designed to be either running or plugged in.

 

Yep, hook up the battery tender when the car is not being driven to keep the battery always fully charged.

Dan

 

Even so, two weeks is way too short

 

+1

 

You have a leak somewhere, but unfortunately that seems to be about par. The F430 WSM says the maximum draw when everything is turned off is 30 milliamps. If you do an absorption test and it exceeds that, the WSM says you have a current leak somewhere and should try to find it.

Here is an absorption chart out of another Ferrari WSM to give you some idea of how long your battery should last depending on absorption, which your dealer can check.
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Terry,
Good chart, thanks.

On my older cars (like the TR) I always did the test simply by disconnecting the negative terminal (does not matter which but the negative is safer) and hooking the VOM (set to amps) between the terminal and the battery post. Can I do the same on the 360?

 

Anti-theft trackers tend to be a drain.

Be wary of jump starting, the car's electronics are sensitive (and expensive).

 

Do you have children? One of them is getting into your car and jamming out to the stereo.

 

Yes but you need to wait for a couple of minutes on the 360 for all of the various consumers to shut down. After 3 or 4 minutes a 360 will typically go down to 25ma or so.

Most of the cars 360 and newer draw 10 amps or so just leaving a door ajar. Many systems are brought to stand by status by the door switches. I attach the VOM to the battery and run the cables to the outside of the car and close the door. Come back 10 minutes later and see what it is down to. It is a bit of an education to watch it the entire time and watch the load trickle off as various systems shut down.

 

Ha! Yes, just saw my 18month old cranking the tunes to Bon Jovi


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Wow this is super helpful. Hearing about 3 weeks, most batteries die. This issue is even when I drove car, it wasn't for a long period of time so battery never fully charged. Once we move in 45 days, I will have access to outlet and have car plugged in. For now, no luck




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Brian- Thanks.

 

We can't jump start car? Dealer said ok


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Dealer full of crap, to some extent. Safest thing is to turn off the battery disconnect switch, charge the battery, and then turn the switch on again. Jumping a late Ferrari can cause problems with the electronics and has been known to fry ECUs, or at least set the Airbag ECU lamp. Takes an SD2 to reset it.

 

Thx for the cautionary comment. I always use a battery tender for all our cars. However, if you're in a condo, that may be a problem. Then I would suggest installing a Odyssey battery that has 99% lead plates and is also an AGM battery. In essence it's a combo deep cycle/starting battery. http://www.odysseybattery.com/auto_ltv.aspx

 

I cant find the thread right now but there is a great one on Odyssey batteries in here someplace. I put one in mine a few months ago along with a new granite digital charger to match the charging requirements of the battery and am very pleased. The thing is about half the weight of a standard battery and very small. No mods to car required if you also use the aluminum odyssey holder on top of your battery plate. It looks the business too.
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Odyssey makes great batteries.

Kevin, if that is a 925, just be advised it has much less cranking power than the OEM battery, so make sure she is kept fully charged. The recommended Odyssey for the 360, the 34R-PC-1500 weighs 48 lbs.

 

Brian,
Thanks for the advice

 

Thanks, I think it's mainly the CS guys that are running these due to the light weight but I am sure I am not the only non track guy running one. I couldn't find anyone saying they had problems with the 925 so I went for it. I am religious about keeping it on a charger so I am hopeful all will be well...if not you will see it here as a B&M post.

 

Definitely not worth the risk to ever jump start it. Trickle charger should have it working in a couple of hours.

 

Excellent info on Odyssey as replacement battery. Thanks Terry and Kevin!

Dan

 

Have same model. Found out why mine went flat after couple weeks.
Problem I had was the window switch lights were not going off after closing doors. This was an intermit problem that was driving me crazy.
Have a look in the dark and you may see them glowing. Should go off a few minutes after closing doors.

 

Excellent info!

Dan