Indeed. It can be made even more fun when you're working on a 20+ year old truck a previous owner has futzed with.

My van has a really bad draw right now that absolutely killed the batteries. After I get it running, the first step will be to rip out everything the PO did: stereo system, aftermarket alarm, etc. and start over. Plus, my van is a conversion and a diesel, so I have various conversion bits as well as dual batteries.

Thanks to Jeff for the link to the current clamp meter. I've had a heck of a time finding one that will measure DC current. So far all of the ones I have found in local stores specifically state they don't meter DC current, only AC.

 

Correct. There's the power distribution box under the brake master cylinder (kind of a PITA to pull those fuses). Yeah, I also pulled each relay one by one, and no dice. There's also a sub panel type fuse box by the steering column. I initially checked voltage across the contacts on top of each fuse, but my meter can't read millivolts reliably so that didn't work out. That's why I started pulling fuses.

 

Gotcha. Thank you. I ordered the meter you mentioned earlier. Should be here in a couple days; I'll get back to it then. I needed a new meter anyway, and that thing looks pretty handy.

 

I see two possibilities here:

1. You missed a fuse somewhere. (Being human and all, it is possible. Really! It is!)
2. The problem is not in a fused circuit.

So, what electrical circuit in a vehicle is not fused?

Starter, and starter solenoid.

Can anyone think of any others?

Wouldn't hurt to look there, anyway.

 

I don't know about on his year of van but it is on my '04
I had the fuse pop on my van.
I checked the wires at the starter and that led me to my manual and found the correct fuse to replace.
It was the first time I had seen that.

 

I wanted to return to close this out. I found the draw. It's the solenoid. Really confusing, but it should be easy enough to replace the starter.

Thanks everyone for your posts. And thanks jeffreyclay for the tip on the meter; it's a great unit. It has everything I want and nothing I don't, and it's compact as well. Happy with it so far.

 

Heh. Told ya ta look there!

Great that you got it solved, and thank you for posting back to let us know.

 

Good.........