Battery dead after valve cover gaskets

[knbrown]

Hi guys new to the forum. Have an 06 4.4 from an old member on here. I just finished changing the valve cover gaskets yesterday. Truck starts up fine, ran it around the block and then I put the scanner on it to check for any codes. 2 random codes (cant remember) were on but no CEL. Cleared them and called it a day. Today I go to start it up, completely dead; just clicking & headlights flashing like they were trying to fire (weird..). So I put it on the charger, get it started and take it for another drive. Scanner again: no CEL but 2 new codes. P1056 and P1059 which are VVT supply voltage control motor high input. Cleared those and trickled charged the battery to make sure it was full. 4-5 hours later I go to start it, completely dead again. Once again, charge it and drive it around. Scanned for codes; none this time. Wait 2 hours, go to start it and yet again it is completely dead.

What could possibly be drawing that much power in 2 hours?! Headlights off, all interior lights off. I cant think of anything else. Could it anyway be related to changing the gaskets? I never had this problem before.

[g300d]

Have you had your battery tested? Maybe its not holding a charge anymore.

If not you may have to check each fuse circuit to find the culprit. Let the car go to sleep than check for current draw through each fuse with a multimeter.

[StephenVA]

Battery Testing proceedures

[knbrown]

I'm going to have to run through the battery testing and fuses but it just seems strange that this is happening right after changing the valve cover gaskets as unrelated as it sounds. I did change the gaskets over a week and the battery was disconnected the entire time so maybe it did drain it fully and now its shot?

[X53Jay4.8is]

Originally Posted by knbrown

I'm going to have to run through the battery testing and fuses but it just seems strange that this is happening right after changing the valve cover gaskets as unrelated as it sounds. I did change the gaskets over a week and the battery was disconnected the entire time so maybe it did drain it fully and now its shot?

Start with the obvious and easy. Check the health of the battery, Is the alternator charging enough. I bet you just have a bad cell in the battery. They go like this.

[g300d]

Its not uncommon for a dying battery to get pushed over the edge by stuff like this that seems totally unrelated.

At the very least you get to elimimate a big factor, and all the electrical troubleshooting procedures have you check the battery anyway.

Hopefully that's all it is.

[David.X5]

Do the facelift 4.4's have the positive battery cable on the firewall in front of the driver like the early ones? It is likely to be in the way for a VCG and it might still be loose if it was moved. I would check that...