Yesterday, while working on the Z out in the garage, I turned the key to the Acc position to activate a voltmeter mounted in the car. I had everything else, like the stereo, turned off. However, when I came home from work late tonight, I saw my voltmeter blinking the low voltage warning. I had left the car "on" for more than 24 hours! I immediately shut it off and connected up a battery charger unit. Do you guys think anything on the car could get damaged or "burned out" from being left on for so long?

 

start it and see?

 

possibly could burn out some of the wiring/instrument lighting but check and see

 

eh... people accidentally do it all the time. Just pop on the trickle charger for a couple hours and you're good.

 

nothing can be hurt from the car being on for a day. I've driven a 280ZX for 18 hours straight before and it was fine.

Some batteries are not to be drained completely. The worst you could do is damage a battery which is replacable anyway.

 

LOL, i thought this meant like, u left it idleing all night.

yeah worste case scenario, the battery is no good any more from the discharge.

 

I drove my Z for 36 hours straight this summer at an average speed of 70mph and nothing broke so I think your car will be fine after sitting overnight. lol

 

Until the truck tire hit, but that doesn't really count.

These cars really do just take a beating and keep on going.

 

Well yeah, that was a minor issue. Its all better now though. I've been driving it as my DD for the last week and it has been flawless. Just dropped it off to get the windshield replaced today. Never had the time to do it back when I was in town this summer.

 

...I'd think driving for hours with your Lights, AC & Radio turned on would be riskier...!

 

youll be fine, it takes a few complete discharges to really screw a battery, and even still they will hold a 50% charge most times. i drove 16 hours north steady in some decent heat, then kinda cold, and i was fine, well the car at least.

 

Thanks guys for the reassurances. I'm just a bit paranoid since I've still got that mysterious dim left headlight problem I posted about awhile back.

 

a friend of mine left an old beetle idling all night and into the next day until it ran out of gas and it was just fine. i really wouldn't expect anything to go wrong, but i was still impressed that he put gas in and drove off.

 

idle is low oil pressure, it can go caput. thats why you dont idle cars for long periods of time.

 

what could you possibly burn up?... think if you were driving for that period of time without shutting the car off... it's the same thing just you drained your battery.