i got an 86 bronco with the 4.9l, i have a brandnew batter, rebuilt alternator, starter and starter selonoid.

what could be draining my battery?

it only sits for a day and it is dead, i cleaned all the grounds, the area around the starter, and ran a ground wire to the firewall.

i even have a second battery hooked up and it drained that one to. this is my mud and winter truck, i cleanded the engine compartment so no dirt built up on anything, i have just installed the second battery so i can run my off road lights to it and other stuff.

this is just confusing me, ive checked a bunch of things and they turned out not to be the problem. the second battery helped a little bit by not causing the battery to drain as quick, i would even have the charger on 2amps all morning and when i go to my 3rd shift job and go on break around 3am i can tell it is weak again. i live in wisconsin so i know the cold weather will help drain the battery and with hard starts. it is carburated so it takes that extra umph to start the truck.

 

Disconnect the battery and put an amp meter on it to read the draw. Then pull one fuse at a time and check the draw. No change, install that fuse and do the next. Finding the one with draw will lead you to the system that needs fixed. Make sure the doors and all items like radio and such remain off for this testing.

 

I have the second battery hooked up so I can disconnect it when it is fully charged so i can use it as a backup battery to.


Now my dad was saying it might be the starter or selenoid because the stater I got from advance is like a high current starter and sometimes when I go to start the truck the starter will stick and keep turning when the key is off, like the selonoid is bad and letting current through even tho the truck is off.

I have noticd the one time I put a meter on the battery that I could actually watch the battery dropping voltage, almost like the battery would have been dead in a couple hours.

 

You obviously have a short somewhere. AzPete was correct about the fuse test. The only problem is that it is time consuming, and it helps to have a second person watch the meter while you pull fuses. But before you do that, make a simple check to be certain tht nothing is on that shouldn't be on after you turn off the truck. Look for things like the glovebox light not turning off (open the glovebox and push the glovebox light switch in and out to make sure it's working properly). Also check the underhood light (just open the hood enough to peek in there to see if the light is on, not far enough to where it it is supposed to turn on). Check all interior lights, including the one in the back. Check power windows and all accessories that should not be doing anything with the key out and the truck off. If everything checks out then do can the fuse test or take it to a shop. As for the starter, it would have to spin continiously to drain the battery and you'd notice it. But, since it does have the problem you mentioned, there might be other issues with it that are draining the battery. You might just exchange the starter and fix the problem.

 

I ut the meter on 12a and hooked it up,with the dome light on it was about 2A, so went over by the fuses, and held the door button in and it dropped about 1.25Amps. The only fuse that arced was the courtisy when i would plug it back it. What all runs on this?

The truck is a custom(basic) I think its considered, every thing manual, rubber floor. The only thing im thinking that it could be is the passenger door light switch doesn't work so maybe the button is shorted out. How can I replace this or access the wires to disconnect it?

 

I think I may have found the problem, on they radio their is 2 blue wires, one for an amp/sub, and the other for a power antena.
I must have forgot to tape them up, when i checked all the wiring it was good and then when i was putting it back in I heard the speakers getfuzzym then I noticed the sparking, now m truck only draws about 3/10th of an amp. I will, wait and see if this was the problem, I'm guessing with the offroading they must have made their way to grounding out.