Car has been needing to get jumped several times over the past month. The first time it sat parked for almost 3 weeks while I was out of town. The second time was 2 weeks later after it sat for 3 days without use. The third time was after 2 days without use. And then yesterday I needed to jump it approximately 10 hours after parking it. No issue starting it this morning. The last time it happened was nearly a year ago, and I replaced the battery shortly thereafter as the battery was closing in on 3 years. First time it happened was in 2017, then again in 2019. Didn't think much of it, and figured I had just left something on.

Had the battery (less than 1 year old) tested at Advance Auto, and they said my alternator was bad. The reading on the instrument cluster always reads 14-15 volts, usually around 14.3-14.4V.

I did a basic parasitic draw test, just checking the fuses inside. Nothing significant. Haven't checked the underhood fuses yet.

Couple questions:
How reliable is that tester they have at Advance Auto when it says the alternator is bad?
Could it have been the alternator all these prior times? The guy at Advance Auto said the alternator probably works sometimes and doesn't work others. Showed me some graph on the battery tester saying the voltage was oscillating a lot.
Should I do a full parasitic draw test? Or should I just bite the bullet and replace the alternator?
Get original manufacturer alternator? New but different brand? Remanufactured?

I'm pretty handy, I think I might be able to replace the alternator myself. It's just a matter of finding the time.
Car is a 2014 Malibu, less than 70k on the odometer.

ETA: I just remembered, the first time I had this issue I had it tested at Advance Auto and they said the battery was going bad. But that was also 2017, so some time ago.

Wait so the battery is from 2017? If it's 3 years old or more, replace it.

I don't trust their tests. Do you have a multimeter? If so, start checking around.

Since the battery died, you should also put it on a legitimate battery charger. Once it's fully charged, check voltage of battery. The alternator is designed to maintain the battery, not charge it.

No battery last replaced last year.

I'll see if I can find someone with a charger I can borrow.

It's possible you got a bunk battery that's already dead in a year, but i bet there's something dumb draining it like a vanity mirror light, glove box light, etc. Nothing plugged into the lighters? Check it out in the garage with all the lights off

Battery might already be bad after one year. I had it happen a while back with some O'Reilly's batteries. I had two batteries for the same car go bad in about 30 months. All replaced under warranty Lots of Chinese crap out there. The guy at O'Reilly said he had a pallet of bad warranty batteries waiting to get shipped back.

As Silverado said above, the load tests they do at the parts store don't always tell the whole story.

remove battery and carry it in to an Oreillys.

Spent about an hour pulling fuses. Didn't pull any relays or switches. Not sure if that matters. But I did tap on them. Not sure if they're solid state these days or not.

Anyways. When I connect the multimeter in series to the battery, I get about 4.5-5.5 amps, that drops to about 2 after 30 seconds, then down to about 0.6 after another 45-60 seconds. Then after about 3-4 minutes drops to 0.3, and then after a few more minutes down to 0.02A. Couldn't see any appreciable drop as I pulled fuses. Did see it jump up periodically as I put some back in though. But it quickly came down.

Entirely possible there's an intermittent light staying on. Perhaps the trunk light doesn't always shut off since I frequently use the trunk. Not sure, but checked the voltage across the battery terminals before doing the parasitc draw testing and it was 12.2. Was then 11.5 afterwards. Started right up. Voltage on the instrument panel showed 14.8-15. I'll check the voltage tomorrow morning before starting. If it's low, then it has got to be either the battery or some circuitry coming alive while the vehicle is off.

Take it out and to Oreilly's for charging or testing? If I drive it there, wouldn't their battery charger show it fully charged?

Charge and test, you need to drive there in a separate vehicle with battery. It'll likely take an hour at minimum

Load test battery. Find a mechanic digital load tester. One off a tool truck with all the setting of the specific battery.

If the battery tests good, then check the alternator output at the battery using that same digital load tester.

If both of those check out, then I'd start looking for some kind of bad door sensor or other accessory drawing power when the car is off.

traxter said:

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Take it out and to Oreilly's for charging or testing? If I drive it there, wouldn't their battery charger show it fully charged?

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Testing.

Unfortunately don't have a second vehicle and have a pretty hectic schedule, hard to pull it out and take it some place. But I did take it to Autozone for testing, they said it was bad. Just for curiousity I took it to Walmart too and they said it was good, but they also said it was only registering 402CCA, when it's rated for 650. I dunno what's normal.

I think it's worth replacing soon. I've been testing the voltage a couple times before starting it up, and it's usually around 11.8-11.9 or so. Sometimes can hear the engine struggling to turn over if it's been >24 hours since it's been started. It's a lead acid battery, but I'm not sure if this vehicle is supposed to be an AGM battery.

Anyone have any recommendations on batteries?
Interstate - $220 - 3 year warranty
Super Start Platinum (O'reilly's) - $230 - 3 year warranty (20% discount if ship to home)
Die Hard Platinum (Advance Auto) - $230 - 3 year warranty (10% discount)
Duralast Platinum (Autozone) - $230 - 3 year warranty (20% discount if ship to home)
ACDelco - (OEM Dealer) - Unsure on price, but I think 42 month warranty
Exide AGM (RockAuto) - $190 - 4 year warranty (but would have to ship back battery to get back core charge)
Duracell AGM (Batteries+) - $240 - 4 year warranty (10% discount)

Any other recommendations y'all have on a replacement? Or are they all pretty much made by the same company and just get the cheapest.

My recent experiences with store brand batteries has not been positive. I have an old school service station near my house that I deal with because I trust the guys there. They sold Deka batteries, and I bought several from them for my vehicles. Then they quit selling them. The guys at the service station siad they started seeing a bunch of them come back under warranty so they dropped them and started sell AC Delcos.

Those are all likely fine and may even be the same battery with different branding. I'd swap it and I bet your problem is solved. You should also check the voltage with the car running. It should be 13.x V or greater. Even if the alternator/voltage regulator are shot, the battery is still suspect, IMHO.

CEPhD said:

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Those are all likely fine and may even be the same battery with different branding. I'd swap it and I bet your problem is solved. You should also check the voltage with the car running. It should be 13.x V or greater. Even if the alternator/voltage regulator are shot, the battery is still suspect, IMHO.

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Yeah, usually 14.4+ volts when running.

People got to remember the there are a certain percentage of batteries that are bad right from the factory.

Maybe 1-2%. I don't know the number but just guessing. So always keep that in mind.

Same with other parts like starters, fuel pumps and so forth.

A lot of parts getting shipped nowadays that are bad right out the box.

I know a dude that had two bad starters back to back, right out the box.

Since covid, nothing is getting quality checked. Nobody cares. They are shipping whatever they can box up and get out the door.

I run walmart batteries in most of my cars. They work just as well as the parts store ones and are typically cheaper an can be replaced in most small towns in Texas on a Sunday night unlike a parts store battery.

$150 w/a 3yr full replacement warranty

https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Lead-Acid-Automotive-Battery-Group-Size-H5-12-Volt-650-CCA/20531541?athbdg=L1200

AGM is only $20 more if you want to go that route

https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Platinum-AGM-Battery-Group-Size-H8-12-Volt-900-CCA/40647529?athbdg=L1600

txyaloo said:

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I run walmart batteries in most of my cars. They work just as well as the parts store ones and are typically cheaper an can be replaced in most small towns in Texas on a Sunday night unlike a parts store battery.

$150 w/a 3yr full replacement warranty

https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Lead-Acid-Automotive-Battery-Group-Size-H5-12-Volt-650-CCA/20531541?athbdg=L1200

AGM is only $20 more if you want to go that route

https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Platinum-AGM-Battery-Group-Size-H8-12-Volt-900-CCA/40647529?athbdg=L1600

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Yeah, was thinking the Walmart AGM, but they don't have the H5 size one as far as I can tell. And the OEM battery lasted about 5 years on it, the past 2 batteries have been Everstart lead acid, and have been giving me trouble. Not sure if it's the brand or the fact it's not AGM, but figure it's worth spending a bit more and getting AGM this time.

Well crap. Replaced my battery with an AGM battery, and was having zero issues for a couple weeks. Car started right up, even if I didn't start it for 2 days. I let my car sit for about 4.5 days while out of town, and came back and it had enough voltage to let me use the remote to unlock the trunk and flash some lights, but wouldn't unlock with the remote, and certainly wouldn't start.

Just drove 300 miles with it and for the first 100 miles voltage on the instrument cluster was showing 13.5-14.8, then it dropped to 12.5-12.6 for a majority of the rest of the drive. No light flicker or any issues. My assumption is that with the long drive, the battery got fully charged and everything was good so it dropped voltage to a maintenance charging voltage? Is that accurate?

Immediately after I turn off the car, voltage reads about 12.6-13V. A few hours later, into the next morning, voltage reads 12.2 volts. Haven't left it off for more than a day yet and measured it.

I'm thinking there's a voltage drain somewhere, but when I pulled all the fuses I couldn't find anything. I'm thinking something in the computer is turning on after being off for a few hours, and either staying on, or turning on/off. Tried looking up technical service bulletins, and found some stuff about Onstar turning on, or blue tooth coming on, but it appears to be mostly with the following year.

I guess my questions are:
1) Should I just buy a quick battery disconnect and just use that anytime I'm going out of town or won't be starting for a few days?
2) Is it worth taking to the dealer to troubleshoot?
3) Is there a better way to do load testing, like a kill-a-watt that I can connect to the car to monitor current draw over hours?

Piggybacking on the topic of a parasitic draw…

If you have an older car with this problem and decide to trade it in…do you tell the dealer about the issue?

I had a very similar issue with a 2013 Chevy and it ended up being the OnStar causing the battery drain (and I wasn't paying for OnStar). Pulled the fuse for the OnStar system and have had zero issues since. Only downside is I can't use the Bluetooth connection for my cell phone because it's on the same fuse as OnStar.

chris1515 said:

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Piggybacking on the topic of a parasitic draw…

If you have an older car with this problem and decide to trade it in…do you tell the dealer about the issue?

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HELL NO!

Hey man, you got a draw somewhere.

Get you a multimeter and some alligator test leads.

Disconnect the ground lead on the battery.

Put the meter in between the ground lead and the ground post on the battery.

Switch multimeter to amps and see what you got.

You got to find out what's drawing power by pulling individual fuses until you see those amps drop off.

This is the process I used to determine OnStar was the drain on my battery. I also read several examples of OnStar causing battery drains on Chevy / GM forums so I started with that fuse and didn't have to pull a million different fuses to find the right one. When you're measuring the draw with the amp meter, you have to wait for little while (probably 20-30 seconds) for the computers to settle down/go into sleep mode to get an accurate reading on the parasitic draw.

Yep, this sounds exactly like what my Dad went through with their Malibu. After a bunch of tests and battery replacements, It was the OnStar causing the drain. This is a quite common issue.
He said he pulled the fuse, and the problem went away. For some reason, OnStar comes on, or doesn't go into a sleep mode. More than likely the OnStar module VCIM needs replacing.