Car battery dying repeatedly

[themzlab]

Bent wires are no problem.

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[CarNewbie9]

we took the plastic panel off the front of the car and have been struggling with the hood latch for over an hour. We can’t seem to latch it manually or disconnect the wire to the latch. Very frustrating! Is there something we’re missing that could help?

 

[themzlab]

sorry this is hard, I didn't have tons of trouble but maybe it's because I have done this lots of times. I'm not super strong or anything. The place to push.. straight down is at the tip of where the red arrow is pointed (if memory serves correctly). Also, pushing on the blue will push the same thing but you will not be able to get the thing the whole way down pushing there. It may take 30lbf force or more.

The hood has a U shaped rod that pushes the thin hook out of the way and then it strikes blue and continues to slide over and press onto the red area.

I am out of town for a long weekend otherwise I could have done a video of this.


Disconnecting the wire harness from the hood switch might be easier except is a pretty short wire and would be hard to access - the regions is pretty tight.

 

[CarNewbie9]

sorry this is hard, I didn't have tons of trouble but maybe it's because I have done this lots of times. I'm not super strong or anything. The place to push.. straight down is at the tip of where the red arrow is pointed (if memory serves correctly). Also, pushing on the blue will push the same thing but you will not be able to get the thing the whole way down pushing there. It may take 30lbf force or more.

The hood has a U shaped rod that pushes the thin hook out of the way and then it strikes blue and continues to slide over and press onto the red area.

I am out of town for a long weekend otherwise I could have done a video of this.


Disconnecting the wire harness from the hood switch might be easier except is a pretty short wire and would be hard to access - the regions is pretty tight.

Thanks for taking the time to help!
We were using a flathead screwdriver and a screwdriver with a towel, pushing down where the red arrow is. We also were using our thumb to push at that point. For some reason we get really close but not to the point of it fully latching. Maybe we just need to try harder haha

 

[CarNewbie9]

I bought a U bolt to use in the latch. I am hopeful this will work! I might need to screw it into something, tbd. I think it is a little thinner than what’s on the hood.

 

[CarNewbie9]

Here is a video of us trying to engage the latch. Why won’t it click in place?

ETA-I think I will try buying a longer rectangle shaped bolt. That might better mimic the hood striker. Maybe some lubricant for the latch too?

 

[calonzo]

I don't think a longer U bolt will help. I think you need to flatten out the U bolt so the curved part doesn't bottom out.

 

[CarNewbie9]

I don't think a longer U bolt will help. I think you need to flatten out the U bolt so the curved part doesn't bottom out.

I agree it needs to be flattened. We don’t have the right tools to flatten it out so my current plan is to buy a square/ rectangle shaped bolt. I found them on the Lowe’s website.

 

[themzlab]

The U bolt is too wide or has too much curve at the point where it is pushing down. You are not pushing hard enough but that doesn't matter because with that curve on there I don't think it is going to go down far enough. Also the curve is going to make it slip so maybe turning it sideways could work.



but it will be hard to push onto that circular face. would be cool if you had a flat prybar of the type that has a notch in the middle, or anything that would make it easier to push down on there without slipping off.

in my picture I show pushing behind the latch and of course this is going to make the U bolt twist counter-clockwise relative to that picture. maybe you can push down with your hands on the top of the U-bolt? It is hard to know exactly what would work without doing this exact thing myself.

 

[CarNewbie9]

The U bolt is too wide or has too much curve at the point where it is pushing down. You are not pushing hard enough but that doesn't matter because with that curve on there I don't think it is going to go down far enough. Also the curve is going to make it slip so maybe turning it sideways could work.



but it will be hard to push onto that circular face. would be cool if you had a flat prybar of the type that has a notch in the middle, or anything that would make it easier to push down on there without slipping off.

in my picture I show pushing behind the latch and of course this is going to make the U bolt twist counter-clockwise relative to that picture. maybe you can push down with your hands on the top of the U-bolt? It is hard to know exactly what would work without doing this exact thing myself.

I will see if I can push down with enough force with the bolt oriented as shown in your image. I would have to remove it from the wood, so it might be a challenge. Alternatively, I am going to try to find a square/ rectangle shaped U-bolt at lowes. I found some on their website yesterday. A pry bar might also work, I can’t quite picture what that would look like but I will check online.

On another note, I found a post about a parasitic draw test on this forum from 2020. That person was able to get their car asleep without the hood latched at all. It might mess with my results, but maybe I should try and see if I could get my car to sleep with the hood open.

 

[CarNewbie9]

We successfully latched the latch using a square shaped U bolt!! Now I just need to borrow the multi meter with an amp clamp again and finally I’ll be able to run the test!

 

[SethNES]

I'd just buy an aftermarket battery from AutoZone/etc. Screw going to dealership for a bad battery. I have a 19 Si and the factory battery looks like a POS but still works perfectly. Only 13k miles driven in 3 years though. If I was you I'd just buy a different battery.

 

[CarNewbie9]

I am planning to do the 3rd test method shown in this video (starts at about 31:30).

 

[calonzo]

I am planning to do the 3rd test method shown in this video (starts at about 31:30).

Awesome video. Thanks for the link!

 

[themzlab]

We successfully latched the latch using a square shaped U bolt!! Now I just need to borrow the multi meter with an amp clamp again and finally I’ll be able to run the test!

great news!

clamp meters are a little more challenged with respect to accuracy but maybe this will not matter if you are noticing big differences. I do most of my testing with in-line meters but also have experience with current clamps and probes here at work. I guess another way to state this is that they can both be accurate but a current clamp will be more expensive.

of course the clamp meter is much more convenient so hopefully this works for you.

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