The last year or so it has had a strange electrical issue-
If I drive the care to and from work everyday (4 miles each way) the battery slowly dies over the course of 2-3 months. (I bought a new battery 6 months ago, and have had to charge it twice already)
If I don?t drive the car at all, the battery will die. (I went on a vacation for a week, and the battery was completely dead).
Now I realize that there may be some sort of short or something else that could be causing this, but I have no idea where to begin troubleshooting this sort of issue.
Any advice would be appreciated.
This is tough duty for the battery-charging system because there is little driving time between starts. Check all the high-current connections and have the charging system tested.
It sounds to me you may have two problems. One, the alternator may not be charging as good as it should be. Second, the system needs to be checked for a current drain. This is done using an ammeter to watch the current while the car is off. If the current is greater than 80 milliamps then fuses need to be pulled to locate the current path of the drain. A shop can tell you what is happening with these things.
You may have a light that is not turning off, like in the trunk or glovebox. Other than that, do you have something electrical thats not working, like a power window or something?