{"id":31981,"date":"2016-06-15T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/?p=31981"},"modified":"2016-06-15T11:00:16","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T16:00:16","slug":"1998-buick-lesabre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre","title":{"rendered":"1998 Buick Lesabre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-34461\" src=\"\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/1998-buick-lesabre.jpg\" alt=\"1998 Buick Lesabre\" width=\"598\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/1998-buick-lesabre.jpg 598w, https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/1998-buick-lesabre-300x154.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" \/>Just replaced my battery but something keeps draining it. I checked my alternator and it&#8217;s still good. Checked all wires and connections and they all look fine. What could be draining the battery?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>RESPONSE<\/p>\n<p>An internal short in the <a href=\"\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/battery.html\">battery<\/a> will mostly go unnoticed. Odds are the battery is greater than 4 years old. Replace the battery and all should be fine once more.<\/p>\n<h2>1998 Buick Lesabre Battery Replacement<\/h2>\n\n\t\t<div id=\"wppdfemb-frame-container-0\" style=\"-webkit-overflow-scrolling:auto;\">\n\t\t\t<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/?index=1&#038;pdfID=0&#038;pdfemb-serveurl=%2F%2Fwww.freeautomechanic.com%2Fmechanic%2Fforum%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsecurepdfs%2F2016%2F06%2F1998-buick-lesabre-battery-replacement.pdf\"\n\t\t\t\tid=\"wppdf-emb-iframe-0\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-pdf-index=\"1\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"pdfembed-iframe nonfullscreen\"\n\t\t\t\tstyle=\"border:none;width:100%;max-width:500px;min-height:500px\"\n\t\t\t\tscrolling=\"yes\">\n\t\t\t<\/iframe>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<h3>Battery Charge Low or Completely Discharged<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li type=\"1\">Measure the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> voltage at the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> terminals using a digital multimeter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">A reading of less than 11\u00a0V indicates that the initial charging will be very low.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Some time may pass before the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> accepts current in excess of a few milliamperes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<ol>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li type=\"1\">Set the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> charger to the highest setting.<\/li>\n<li type=\"1\">If necessary, disable the polarity protection circuitry:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">This circuitry, available on most chargers, prevents charging unless the charger leads are properly connected to the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> terminals.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">A completely discharged <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> may not have enough voltage in order to activate this circuitry, even though the leads are properly connected, implying that the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> will not accept a charge.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Most chargers have an override or a bypass function. This function will turn on the charger and charge a low voltage <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<ol>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li type=\"1\">The required <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> charge time varies according to the voltage capabilities of the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> charger. A charger of less than 14\u00a0volts may take up to 16\u00a0hours before the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> appears to be accepting current.<\/li>\n<li type=\"1\">Perform the following calculation in order to determine the amount of time that the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> may need to be charged:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">The reserve capacity rating on the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span> label is the number of ampere-hours of charge required in order to produce the green hydrometer dot.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">After the meter on the charger starts to show current flow, note the number of amps being accepted.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Determine the reserve capacity of the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Divide the reserve capacity by the number of amps shown on the meter in order to determine how many hours of charging is needed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<ol>\n<li type=\"1\">When the green dot appears in the hydrometer, discontinue charging.<\/li>\n<li type=\"1\">If the green hydrometer dot is not visible after an ampere-hour charge equal to twice the reserve capacity rating, replace the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li type=\"1\">After charging, load test the <span class=\"search_highlight\">battery<\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just replaced my battery but something keeps draining it. I checked my alternator and it&#8217;s still good. Checked all wires and connections and they all look fine. What could be draining the battery? RESPONSE An internal short in the battery will mostly go unnoticed. Odds are the battery is greater than 4 years old. Replace&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">1998 Buick Lesabre<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12824,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,54],"tags":[464],"class_list":["post-31981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auto-repair-questions","category-buick","tag-lesabre"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.0 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>1998 Buick Lesabre - FreeAutoMechanic Advice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1998 Buick Lesabre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just replaced my battery but something keeps draining it. I checked my alternator and it&#8217;s still good. Checked all wires and connections and they all look fine. What could be draining the battery? RESPONSE An internal short in the battery will mostly go unnoticed. Odds are the battery is greater than 4 years old. 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I checked my alternator and it&#8217;s still good. Checked all wires and connections and they all look fine. What could be draining the battery? RESPONSE An internal short in the battery will mostly go unnoticed. Odds are the battery is greater than 4 years old. Replace&hellip;&nbsp;Read More &raquo;1998 Buick Lesabre","og_url":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre","og_site_name":"FreeAutoMechanic Advice","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/freeautomechanic","article_published_time":"2016-06-15T16:00:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/1998-buick-lesabre.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Melissa Garcia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Melissa Garcia","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre"},"author":{"name":"Melissa Garcia","@id":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/#\/schema\/person\/d63cb1f52c9a4ed3c7984c65f78be494"},"headline":"1998 Buick Lesabre","datePublished":"2016-06-15T16:00:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre"},"wordCount":391,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/#organization"},"keywords":["Lesabre"],"articleSection":["Auto Repair Questions","Buick"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre","url":"https:\/\/www.freeautomechanic.com\/mechanic\/forum\/2016\/06\/1998-buick-lesabre","name":"1998 Buick Lesabre - 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