I’m admittedly a newb at troubleshooting with a multimeter so please feel free to offer up anything helpful.

 

Sounds like you've got one heck of a parasitic draw on that system. This guys videos are easy to watch and learn from. He has multiple videos showing how to test things like voltage drop and parasitic draw. I linked ya this one to start ya off as it may pertain a bit to your issue and will at least get ya started. Good Luck

 

Check your alternator 1st it should be higher than 13.5 volts

 

I have one of the Nanocom gauges always displaying alternator output and it's always between 13.5-14 volts, so think that's good.

 

There is more going on than what we see here. That battery is rated a 55 AH energy capacity. Your meter shows 87mA draw. If that battery was at full charge it would take 26 days for that current to exhaust that battery. It would be down below useless well before that but NOT in 2 days. Either your battery was never fully charged, or there is something else that is drawing more. It is possible that by disconnecting the battery to insert your multimeter that you "reset" the offending piece and are not now seeing its draw.

 

As said, possible battery not fully charged. Maybe drive to parts store and test State of Charge and Health of the battery/alternator. Or buy one of those battery testers (like Kingbolen BM580), fast and easy, good tool for those who have a fleet.

 

Sorry, should've mentioned that I fully charged the battery just before testing.

 

So, the batt was charged out of the vehicle? Should last at least 20+ days according to Amp Hour calculation above. Should last nearly 550 hours with about 1/10 amp draw. Next test would be the alternator/charging circuit. Those batt testers can check alternators too.

Maybe measure volts at the battery while running and compare to the scangauge reading. Measure with high beams on too and AC on high. Volts should stay nearly constant, no matter the electrical load.

 

The battery itself is still a question mark. Just because it reads 12.6v and just came off a charger doesn’t mean it has enough capacity to even give you one start. As John says, get it tested, though in 2025 a lot of parts store people don’t know what they’re doing when testing a battery.

 

I had to replace the battery in Redrover last September, when I learned on this forum that although the battery voltage and the alternator voltage were good, the battery wasn't putting out the amps needed to start the truck. Here's the link to the thread where this was discussed.

I see from the sticker on your battery that it is just one year old. Despite that, it may still be bad.

I had to replace the battery in Redrover last September, when I learned on this forum that although the battery voltage and the alternator voltage were good, the battery wasn't putting out the amps needed to start the truck. Here's the link to the thread where this was discussed.

https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...em-dead-118947