Battery Drain (Part 2)

[Hammerx]

Battery and driver! Anyway, after sitting for a few days the battery is dead. Checked for interior lights on ect. no joy. So, whats the next step to find the source?

[ September 06, 2003, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Hammerx ]

[Chevelleguy]

Remove the positive battery cable, install test light between cable and battery. If there is a drain, the light should be on. Start pulling fuses to isolate the circut that the drain is on. Then you can start unpluging components on that circut to find the drain.

[will e]

Mine has had the same problem for about a week. Yesterday i even had a buddy follow me out from work because I knew he had jumper cables!

While hooking up the cables (yes the battery was dead dead dead) I noticed the fog lights were on. This suprised me because I don't ever remember them working before!

WHo ever wired them up did NOT use a source tied to ignition. My fog lights can be on even with the motor off and the key out of the ignition! :eek:

What happened was the two posts on the back of the switch were just barely touching.

Anyways, do what I should have done (and always recommend). Park it in a dark garage and look for light. A buddy did this with his mustang and found out that the glove box light was on!

[ September 03, 2003, 09:52 PM: Message edited by: will e ]

[Joe Guilbeau]

Don't overlook the alternator diodes being leaky, this will drain a battery.

A quick test for this might be to check an AM Radio Station and moderate the engine RPM's up and down a bit, if the static/radio noise tracks, then suspect the alternator, otherwise go with the above suggestions.

[Hammerx]

Thanks for the tips guys. Guess I have one day of my weekend planed.

[Rhino Racer]

Joe's tip would have saved me lot of headaches some months ago. I pulled out all the wiring from under the dash and the engine compartment. Didn't find anything wrong so I assembled everything back.
As soon as I plugged the alternator the short appeared. I dunno nothing about alternators so I thought that was normal, now I'm thinking the alternator's bad

[Hammerx]

Ok,the test light is on when installed between the positive cable and the positive post. When I unplug the alternator the light goes off.
Do I need to replace alternator?

[Joe Guilbeau]

What are you unplugging at the Alternator?

A two terminal connector or a four terminal connector?

[Hammerx]

A two terminal.

[Joe Guilbeau]

You probably have the 12-SI Delco alternaotr, and it needs to be serviced.

If you e-mail me at joe_guilbeau@yahoo.com I will send over an HTML document that will tell you more than you would ever want to know about these units.

And, how to get an upgraded unit for less than $50 dollars...

[Hammerx]

Thanks Joe, You got mail.