Question for the car guys
 

I just bought an older truck to have for winter but I went to start it this morning and the battery was dead. Took the battery up to Autozone and they said it checked out fine but it was completely drained when I brought it in. I did not have the alternator tested yet but the dash gauge shows it is charging good. What else could it be or should I not trust the gauge on the truck? Could something be sucking the juice from the battery as it sits? If so how do I find it?

Electrical problems, kill it with fire.

You prolly left a light on somewheres

This.

First make sure the glove box light isn't stuck on though.
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get a test light, turn the vehicle off, test all the fuses for power on the side that should not be powered. Found a parasitic drain in my civic this way, ended up just pulling the fuse since the power locks didn't work anyways.

Also, cold weather is hell on batteries, drive the shit out of it and make sure that's its really charged nicely.

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain <- that way uses a multimeter. I did it with a test light.

Rep +1 kind sir. :thumb:

If you don't drive much, you can put it on a trickle charger to keep the battery up.

Just make sure it’s a “smart” charger, regular chargers can run a battery dry with constant charging cycle.

well done, young jedi

get some 30 weight ball bearings and some Prestone.

what? no c4 explosives for the white house? yer slippin' man :D

Check the fetzer valve

What the hell you need ball bearings for?

ball bearings is where its at these days. It's all ball bearings

Hey! It's all ball bearings nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State.