Took me 4 months to find a storage spot that didn't kill my battery

I kept parking my '65 Chevelle in my brother's damp garage thinking it was fine, but the battery would drain dead every 3 weeks. I tried a trickle charger but that only helped for a bit, still had corrosion on the terminals. Finally moved it to a storage unit across town with climate control and a concrete floor, and now it fires up first try every time. Anyone else deal with a mystery battery drain from bad storage conditions?

2 comments

2 Comments

miller.jason10d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy had a similar thing with his '74 Datsun 240Z stored in a carport that faced north. Damp was getting into the alternator brushes somehow and causing a slow drain that took him six months to figure out. He replaced the battery twice before realizing the moisture was messing with voltage regulator contacts too. Ended up putting a dehumidifier in the corner of his garage and running it on a timer for four hours a day, that finally stopped the drain. I guess dry air fixes way more than people think, like how my old Tundra had leaky door seals that let in enough moisture to rust the starter solenoid. Sometimes the cure is just keeping the air dry, not replacing parts.

wren65210d ago

Humidity is a silent killer nobody talks about. Your brother's damp garage was probably causing condensation inside the battery case, which slowly shorts out the cells from the inside out. I had the same issue with a Mustang stored in a shed near a river, and no amount of cleaning terminals fixed it because the damage was already happening deep inside the battery itself. Moving to a dry spot with a concrete floor and some airflow makes all the difference since concrete acts like a heat sink and stops moisture from settling. Did you notice any white crust forming on the battery tray or around the hold down clamp? That's usually a dead giveaway you're dealing with a moisture problem rather than just a bad battery.