predator 500 is about 2 years old and the battery isnt holding a charge anymore over a long period. a buddy says go to autozone and pick up some acid and it will do the trick. is this going to work or am i most likly wasting money doing this?

 

what about checking the water level in the bat?

 

Check electrolyte level. Can use a hydrometer to check charge state, specific gravity. Use distilled water (NOT TAP) if needs to be topped off. Most any parts store will load test a battery for you. Would suspect battery. If you have a current meter can put it inline with it turned off & check that there is a drain.

 

like he said have the battery charged and then take to have it load tested. if it test fine then start looking at the charging system.

 

check the water in battery. some you can add water to and some you can't.

 

Hi guys!


I just went through the same battery ordeal as you. I ended up getting a new battery from Checker for $50.00, couldn't get the old battery to hold a charge.

Good luck

 

make sure you have a good battery then do a key off current draw, disconnect the postitive battery cable and put your meter to the 10 amp setting and move your leads to where they need to be, then put one lead on battery positive and then other on the positive battery cable, you shouldn't have any draw on it, if you do, then you have something shorted and is drawing current from your battery. if that checks out, then check your stator output

 

kerbbirds has a point on the dead short drawing power from the battery when everthing is off there should be no drain of power , as are all these other replies ; but if you don.t have a meter to check for power drain you can remove the positive or negative cable in the dark and touch the cable to the battery post and you will see a spark if it has a short !

 

Had the same problem , never found any problem with the battery or anything one the atvs, really bad in the winters, I finally bought a couple of battery tenders and keep them charged all the time, but the charges will not over charge the batteries. So far so good

 

matt did you find out if the battery was bad ?

Just wondering if you found the problem yet !....