Battery Problems?

[Phrozen]

Hello everyone, I've got two wonderful questions!

1)I've been having some problems with my car for the past month or so, resulting in my car not starting and me having to get a jump start.

At first, the reason was because I would play the music while washing the car, which I learned took energy directly from the battery, instead of being powered by the distributer and thus gave me a dead battery when I tried to start it.

So I stopped doing that, and the car was fine.

A few weeks later, I get out of school, park my car, sleep and such, and try the next morning to turn my car on, and it doesnt even have enough energy to do anything at all. No lights, no engine trying to start up...nothing.

Yet, the battery tester people at my local Schucks auto say my battery is in top form and fully charged (Its an Interstate...something if you needed to know, has a green race car on it)

Before that morning I had been driving with no music at all, no heated seats, and only the fog lights...I don't see how it could be drained, and I did not leave anything on when I left the car....

Is this something bigger than needing a new battery? Or are those battery testers bogus?

Btw, my car always starts on the first try when jump starting.

2) My windshield washers don't squirt out anything, but the reservoir is not empty itself at all....does anyone know common problems with the washers? =\

Thanx in advance for your help =D.

[WarNox]

1. my mate had this happen on his integra, he installed an amp and a sub, the amp runs non-stop, even when the car is off, therefore draining the battery, it could be that! he just installed a switch to turn off his sub, which therefore turned off the amp as it runs trough the sub! i thought it was stupid tht it did tht, but it did nd thts the way it works so yeah...im guessing u have an amp nd stuff since the music must be loud enough 4 u 2 hear it while washing ur car!?

2. just a guess but the motor/pump tht powers the washers could be dead, can u hear a noise, like a motor working, when u press the button to squirt the water?

good luck with everythin

[Rookie]

Couple of things! You need to tell your friend to wire that amp into the remote power lead coming off of the deck so that when the deck is powered on and playing music it will kick the amp on and when he turns the deck off if he doesn't want to play music it will turn the amp off.

As for your interstate battery problem. I had the same exact thing happen the fucker would die every other day no matter what. I do have a big system and thought maybe I was just pounding the hell out of it. However even when I ran with the system off and left the car on a charger it would still die. I had the battery tested, and the alternator tested they said both were good. Stupid huh!

Long story short, I don't think our cars like the interstates I don't think it has enough cranking power to do it right or something. I have since installed a red top optima battery and leave the stereo on without the subs playing while washing my car or working on it for an hour or two(haven't tried anything longer than this) and the car will fire the first time I try to start it.

Interestingly enough I gave the interstate to a friend and the thing works great in his car('87 rx-7 POS) my recommendation is buy yourself an optima they have a lifetime warranty and they are a sealed unit I think they are like $180USD however you will never have to buy another battery again. Also you will have to rig something up in the trunk because they are smaller than the stock batteries.

I hope this helps. There is nothing like the humilation of a broken down beemer!

[Phrozen]

Awesome advice, to all above posts...

I do not have an aftermarket system, I'm running all stock against my will because I'm a broke college student.

Perhaps it is the interstate battery though, I will look into replacing it with a better one =D.

Thanx again for all of the help!