Neto

That is not the case in my situation.....I am able to access the trunk with no problem at all

I read an interesting article in the June Motor Age magazine last night, and it reminded me of this thread. I searched on-line for the article, and it's at:
http://www.searchautoparts.com/motorage/electrical/troubleshooting-parasitic-electrical-drains
I don't personally have most of the test equipment the author mentions, but it gives an idea of the possible sources for the drain, and how the various systems on these cars can drain a battery when the vehicle isn't used every day. I'm wondering now if that isn't what happened with our Journey, even if the battery was actually quite old. It just didn't make sense that after it happened the first time, during the coldest part of the winter here in Ohio, I was able to just charge it again, and it didn't happen again until again this summer. (I did recharge it the second time, and it seemed to be fine after that, the same as the first time. But after I saw how old the battery probably was, I just figured I'd rather do in now, while it's warm, than to have to do it beside the road, possibly next winter. I still haven't taken the old battery in for the core refund, because now it seems to hold a charge OK.) I do have the habit of turning everything off in the car when I shut it off, but I ocassionally forget to, and my wife has already asked me what does it matter. Well, it used to be just so that there was not that extra drain when you're starting it up the next time, but it sounds like now it is important for other reasons as well. It could well be that leaving the A/C or heater, fan blowers, wipers, etc. on when the car is shut down may have been the cause of the battery drain problems. It all gives me the blues with the idea of trying to keep up a car like this as it ages. I sometimes wish for the pre-computer age cars.

One comment regarding topic titles - Topic titles that do not describe the specific problem, or at least in general terms, such as "Ignition-Starting problem" are not helpful, because the reader must open it and read through a bunch of garbage just to find out what it's about. Also, if the thread does have valuable suggestions or a final solution documented, it can be found much more easily and quickly in a forum search.

One comment regarding topic titles - Topic titles that do not describe the specific problem, or at least in general terms, such as "Ignition-Starting problem" are not helpful, because the reader must open it and read through a bunch of garbage just to find out what it's about. Also, if the thread does have valuable suggestions or a final solution documented, it can be found much more easily and quickly in a forum search.