I'm sitting here reading this post, wondering where it will all go.
I am a real fan of 1970's technology. But I have to tell my dad all the time, that it is not 1955 anymore and there is no points, plugs and condenser for a tune up. Everything today is ran by computer.
The SI series of alternator is no more and there is no voltage regulator to adjust and so just swapping out a alternator or a battery when the computer could be at fault - isn't always the solution.
It doesn't matter how big the alternator is or how many batteries you carry, if the computer doesn't tell it to turn on until there is a demand or if the computers doesn't shut off stuff when you turn the key off, there is where you will have your drain.
The radio in your new vehicle is connected to the body control module and the power train control module.
Just asking a simple question like why is my battery going dead, just isn't going to get it in todays world. These new vehicles are not that simple.
When you said about your Alpine Head Unit, a bright light appeared overhead and a loud ahah came to mind. Now it is all coming back to me.
Unless you have a converter unit that takes the place of the stock head unit, or unless you moved the head unit to a different part of the vehicle, you are going to continue to have problems. In some cases, the vehicle will not even start because of the theft lock - where the radio must be in the car for the car to run. Other times, the computer does not shut off a module - lets use a module on the transmission for a example.
Since your transmission is shift by wire, because there is not any linkage going from the shifter on the column to the transmission, it also has sensors on the shift motor which tells the vehicle which gear it is in and to turn on the back up lights when it is in reverse and also to unlock the doors when you put it in park and to lock the doors - say when it gets up to 15 mph.
A acceptable amount of error on the program that runs the computer was 1 line of error for every 10 lines of code. Even the updates were sometimes worse then the origional programs. So there you were, you bought a new vehicle and you were all fat, dumb and happy. One day you stopped at a railroad crossing and you turned off the engine - to save gasoline, and you listened to the radio for 15 minutes while the train went by. Only when you went to start your vehicle, the battery was dead.
Ok - so your first thought is that the battery must be at fault, so you run right out and you buy the biggest battery that they make.
Six months later, you are at the same railroad crossing and you do the same thing and again the battery goes dead. So you figure - well the alternator must be at fault. So you run right out and you buy the biggest alternator you can find. Another six months goes by and this time you go to the mall to get a few things and when you come out into the parking lot, the battery is dead. So you figure - it must be the battery, so you go out and you buy a isolator kit and two Optima batteries. Problem solved right?
Well two weeks goes by and you go out in the morning to start your truck to go to work and now the four wheel drive lights are all lit, and the service four wheel drive is lit in the DIC.
So you start yanking wires and you drive down to the dealership and you hand them the keys and you demand that they sell you a new truck because this one is a lemon. You put thousands of dollars in it and a whole bunch of time into it and you can't keep the battery charged and you are tired of screwing with it. So you give him $30,000 and your old truck and you drive away in a new truck, maybe even a different brand - manufacturer.
The next day, the Chevy garage pulls the truck into their service bay and they hook up the Tech II and they scan the program and they see the errors and they download a new program into the computer and they take out the big batteries and junk that you wasted your money on and they sell the truck out on their lot for twice what they gave you on the trade.
1970's technology - you throw parts at it until it works.
2000's technology - you take it to a dealer and they change the computer program and the truck runs. Which is better?
, some people like to work on their own vehichles and as a last resort, let the stealership look at it.
