I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my 2001 Hyundai Elantra. I have had it in and out of the shop and now, it’s just sitting until I can afford to fix the next set of issues. The current problem here is that my car will start with a jump but won’t hold a charge. I was told there’s a miscommunica…

We’ve tried putting in another battery and it did the same thing to that one so, we know it’s not the battery. Also, thanks for replying back so quickly!

OK so something is draining the battery. This is not necessarily an easy thing to pin point but it starts with hooking up a test light or meter and pulling fuses to see if that changes the drain. If you are lucky enough to find a fuse that kills the drain, then you can look at what is malfunctioni…

Try this! https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/car-technology/a5859/how-to-stop-car-battery-drains/ Just out of curiosity any aftermarket stuff? radio, remote start etc.

No, I don’t believe so. Thanks for the article, I’ll check it out!

An alternator can’t be relied on to recharge a severely discharged battery. What does work is a battery charger, preferably one that can be set to charge slowly overnight and then cut back to a trickle charge. If your battery has removeable caps, you can measure the state of charge (specific gravity…

What I’m trying to convey is that without a charged battery in the car, you can’t diagnose this.

The battery is charging right now but what I’m saying is, we have charged the battery and jumped it and the charge will only last for about a minute or so and cut off. The battery won’t hold the charge. And I was told it is because of a miscommunication between the battery & alternator. But I’m tryi…

Not sure. Some batteries cannot hold a charge. If you remove the battery to charge it, you are decomplicating the situation. See if it takes and holds a charge, without any connection to the car. (You may have to reset radio memory, etc. Check owners manual about that. In some cars it is a big hassl…

You are aware that your alternator can fail and become a big giant hole into which electrons will flow… Yes? Do this quick test… unhook the hot lead from the alternator and then hook up your charged battery. Be sure the hot lead cannot or will not ground itself as it is a direct connection to the…

Car starts after jump but battery won’t hold charge

Maintenance/Repairs

old_mopar_guy March 17, 2019, 9:52pm 2

You could put in a new battery and then diagnose the current drain with a VOM. Without a functional battery, you can’t really figure it out.

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Car starts after jump but battery won’t hold charge

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