1998 Toyota Camry battery draining

1998 TOYOTA CAMRY
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RODRALPH
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Electrical problem
1998 Toyota Camry 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 96K miles

My car sometimes hestitates to start up. After it warms up it usually will not hesitate again until the morninng. I took the negative cable off overnight to see if that stopped any potential draining and it seems to have, but recently I put it back on and it worked for several days but is now hesitating from time to time. The garage I took it to said the battery was bad an replaced it. Same problem. I put an ammeter in series with the neg post and the removed cable and it appears that there is a reading. I get an irratic reading--could be my meter. Any ideas?
Mar 8, 2009 at 12:07 PM
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RASMATAZ
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If its over 30milliamps you have an excessive draw meaning could be a short circuit draining the battery overnite. You might want to have the alternator load tested if its producing the correct output
Mar 8, 2009 at 9:29 PM
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RODRALPH
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thanks but what is the connection between potential drain and the fact that the alternator may not be putting out enough?
Mar 12, 2009 at 4:08 AM
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RASMATAZ
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 75,988 POSTS
When you put your ammeter in series and connected properly and you get 30milliamps and above you got an unwanted drain-

Do this, get the battery and alternator load tested and then comeback with the results so I can continue to help.
Mar 12, 2009 at 7:04 AM
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RODRALPH
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The battery is new. I had alternator and starter checked with computer and all is normal. Also no drain on battery was confirmed.
Mar 15, 2009 at 3:05 AM
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RODRALPH
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[quote:e1874bcc67="rodralph"]The battery is new. I had alternator and starter checked with computer and all is normal. Also no drain on battery was confirmed.[/quote:e1874bcc67]

It was the starter--even though the load test checked the starter and alternator as good,and the battery was new, I replaced the starter and all is ok.
Apr 11, 2009 at 3:56 AM
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