My battery occasionally dies over night. Or, in the case of last night, a couple of hours...

I say it dies, but yesterday when it 'died' after a couple hours, I hooked up the jumper cables and didn't have to wait for the battery to charge at all...it fired right up within 5 seconds of me putting on the cables...

This leads me to believe its something else. It only occasionally happens...yesterday morning it was dead, then i drove it to school, fired up fine when i left, drove to work, fired up fine when i left, ate dinner, again fine when i left, then i had to run an errand 2 hours after i had been home and it was dead.

Things i think it could be:
-My ignition cylinder is somewhat loose and I can turn it maybe an 1/2 an inch (it won't turn to run or accessory without the key, but it will turn a decent amount) My theory is that it could be making contact with the accessory or run positions and draining the battery.
- The somewhat common problem of door wires getting cut by the door shutting and maybe the dome is coming on randomly(haven't checked yet...its 5 degrees here)
-The PATS or remote lock system possibly messing up and drawing too much power? Occasionally when I lock my car, the dome will stay on for up to a minute afterwards...I thought it was supposed to turn off right away.

Anyways,

Sorry for the long post, but I'd like to hear some experts' opinions on it before I start throwing money at it.

88five-oh

 

Have the battery tested. Could be a bad cell?

 

Clean the terminals on the battery.

 

Like ^ said...most likely the terminals need some cleaning.

 

Disconnect one battery cable and put an ammeter in series, but wait an hour for the computer to turn off battery saver relay . 50mA or so drain is the computer. I had a 250mA drain that turned out to be the BS relay. Battery was just about dead every morning.

Remember the computer has to learn again with the battery disconnected. I rigged up my DMM's test leads so it was still connected as I lifted the bat cable.

 

PATS system is complete S**t. I pulled the fuse for it once my truck unlocked itself. It was doing this exact thing to my battery (would drain it randomly and almost immediatly) and eventually kept locking my car up at random times and while I was driving. Look into it, idk.

 

I cleaned the terminals as said and so far so good...but I'll have to start it in the morning and see.

Does the PATS system have the capability to disable ignition completely? because i'm pretty sure its not it actually discharging all the way, its just that theres no connection some how. because randomly my friend opened the door last night while i was trying and for a second or two the lights all came on and the air started blowing then he shut the door and it all turned off.

 

Really think the problem is bad connections on the battery and maybe the starter wiring.

Check the mounting hardware on any component in the starter system.

Put on some dielectric grease on the connections too, not too much but enough.

While taking off the cables for cleaning, check them out too, crimper end, broken or frayed cables; if they look bad replace them.

Then after all the connections have been cleaned and cables fixed up, go to an Auto Parts Store and have the battery AND alternator Load Tested.

Luck...

 

Did the ranger even come with pats in 95??

 

I lucked out with a n 05 and didn't have to deal with pats.

 

You sure about that? '05 should have it. I know mine does.

Look for an S stamped in the key near the base. That's a tell-tale sign.