battery drain?

[BUXMAN66]

i've checked through the search function looking for answers to my problem on this subject...none seem to hit the mark. my problem is a slow battery drain.....usually takes a couple of days to really drain it to the point of not being able to start it. electrical problems really seem to baffle me!! i bought a interstate battery last year (4/02) so it was still in warranty....took it back to the firestone service center i bought it from....they gave me a brand new battery...hooked it up to my volt meter when i got home....reading 14+ volts as the engine was running(initial high rpm's till the carb kicked down) okay, no problem.... the alt. is putting out enuff juice to keep charged....,turned off the ignition, and hooked the voltage meter between the pos. and neg. posts of the battery......it read 12.5v . now that i have a fresh start to work from(good battery,good alternator) what method do i follow to track down the drain? i bought a voltage leak tester (2 alligator clips w/ a wire between them w/ a small barrel looking contraption in the center of the wire...between the clips.also in the kit is a guage of some sort to pin-point the location of the short,......like a oscillating needle kinda thing.) don't exactly know how to work the damn thing though !! can anybody help me here??

[JimKshortstep4x4]

Have you checked your amperage output with the alternator under load?

Also, with everything off, does the battery go dead just sitting there and not running it? Or does the battery go dead when you are running it?

I assume that you have made sure that the fan belt is tight and not slipping.

Jim

[cduster]

If you have a short, you can isolate the circut using an amp meter. With everything turned off, to find out if you have a short, unhook the battery and put the amp meter between the battery and the cable. If it shows current flow you have a short somewhere. Hook the battery back up, then pull out fuses one at a time then put the amp meter where the fuse goes. If you have a draw it will show what circut to look at.

Hope this helps, Dan

[BUXMAN66]

yes i 've checked the alt. under load it's putting out 14.5 v the battery is drained when just sitting for days.(obviously not running lol!) dan,...which battery cable do you remove? which cable do you put the test light in line w/? pos. cable or the neg. cable?

[cduster]

I remove the pos cable and hook the ammeter to it and the pos terminal on the battery. My VOM meter dosent matter which way I hook it in, as it will show current flow either way. Dan

[Martin64]

I had the same problem until yesterday. When I disconnected the + cable with the - cable still connected to the battery I could hear something clicking (like a switch). It turned out to be the horn relay. I put my ohm meter on it and sure enough it had a constant draw.

[Old Dave]

It doesn't matter which cable you put the ammeter in just don't accidentally hit the starter when it's hooked up as you will probably let the smoke out of the meter. You can do the same thing with a 1156 bulb (or any single element 12V bulb) with 2 wires soldered to it. If the lamp glows or ammeter deflects you have current flowing from the battery. Start pulling fuses and unhooking things one at a time until the drain goes away. As mentioned above, the horn relay is a good thing to check, glove compartment light, dome light and also the mechanical voltage regulator on the radiator support (left side) if it hasn't been converted to a newer type alternator with an internal regulator.
Good Luck...

[BUXMAN66]

thanks guys for the responses.....i'll be checking these things out in the next couple of days.

[67chevemall]

I feel your pain! It took me 2years to finally find the main wire connection in the fire wall by the fuse box had been sprayed with oil tar undercaoating witch made the main ING wire ground out with it's nieghbour wires which was slowly killing the Battery!
I cleaned the harness out and bypasssed the Ign wire from the harness because of burn damage and made a direct conection and problem solved!
Been 4 years now!

[ChevLoRay]

Boy, do I HATE letting the smoke out of my meters! Usually, the meter will not work after you do that. So, whatever you do, DON'T let the smoke out of them!!!!

[lewi]

Here's another thought. I had a simular condition that took me a year to find, it turned out to be the ground wires from the block to the cab. I reattached them and haven't had a problem since.

[boraxman]

Dont rule out the alt. I was once told theres a circuit inside that can go bad and cause a non-running battery drain.

[BUXMAN66]

thanks again for the responses....i've taken out my after-market (sun-pro) tach i had mounted on my column, and believe it or not i've been checking my battery power voltage level now for the last couple of days since i've removed the tach,and the voltage is reading a steady 12.5v ....dunno whats the correlation between that tach and my battery drain,but there seems to be a connection.seems funny though, as i seemed to start having the battery drain problem at about the same time as when i installed the tach. i'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping this was the source. i've purposely not started the truck(to charge the battery) now for approx.36 hrs. and normally a drop in battery voltage would be have been noticeable.....but then again i got a brand new battery. interstate sprung for me a free replacement!!

[Longhorn Man]

You probably hasd the red wire on the tach hooked to constant power instead of keyed power.

[BUXMAN66]

you're prolly right andy,...... although i would guess that i had checked to see if it was a keyed or a constant power source.....i can't remember if i did or not.......but even if it was a constant power source i used, what is there to possibly drain or pull any juice from the battery?...... does the power just disipitate(sp?) through the body ....?