I have a 1998 ford escort, the battery keeps dying. the alternator tests fine. any idea of what could be causing it? i have replaced the battery three times.
by 
gotheart09
ANSWERS: 2
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If it's not a bad voltage regulator I'd say you have something on that's draining the battery. It could be anything, the light in the glovebox, a radio that doesn't shut off when the key is removed from the ignition, some other device you had installed just before the problem began, etc.
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yeah, and in a car that old it could be a dead short somewhere in the dash or power windows/door locks. Fords are known for that. They build a good body and transmission, but often cut corners in electical connections and switches, the engine and particularly the cooling system. Those shorts can be impossible to track down and most mechanics will just tell you to buy a new one. If you have a volt meter and a lot of time, you can sometimes track it down, but there is no guarantee that somthing else won't short out as soon as you find the first one. Another possibility is to just unhook the hot cable each time you park it, or to put a regular light switch and box on your dash and route the hot cable through it so you can just flip a switch to cut the connection each time you park it. I've seen that done in an old Dodge camper.
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