Hello all. I just got my car back from having it repaired due to a deer accident. Front bumper, hood, fender, door, windshield, etc.

Since the day I picked it up, the battery has been very weak when starting at first. If i run it for a few mins, then restart it, starts fine. If I leave it sit for a few hours and come back, barely starts like the battery is low.

I had the alternator, battery, and starter tested as well as an amperage draw test and they all passed. Any ideas?? Body shop said nothing they did would affect it.

 

How old is your battery? I know you had it tested but when my OE battery did the same and the dealer kept telling me it was fine, I had enough and just bought an aftermarket battery--no problems since.

 

+1 on the battery.

My guess is their test was incorrect. It is possible that there is some parasitic drain that shouldn't be there, but my guess is that they probably just wore the battery down during the repair work (hood left up, door left open, dome light left on) and it's only taking a shallow charge now. If you want to verify it without replacing your battery, and you don't mind fussing with lost memory presets, then you could drive around a while so it's good and charged up, then park it and pull the negative battery cable overnight and see if it still has enough charge to start when you hook it back up the next morning.