Help..Battery drain???
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Freshman User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 48
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From: Georgia
Help..Battery drain???
One trick a guy told me was to hook a fluke meter to the battery. Then one by one pull each fuse until there is no reading on the fluke meter, and that will tell you where the drain is. Well, I did that and the meter read 12V during the entire time??. Man I'm lost.......
Posting Guru
Joined: Aug 2007
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From: Belle Mead NJ
You were reading battery voltage. The way to test for a dran is to buy a test light. You will unhook your neg bat cable and then use the test light to connect the battery so it will be neg post on battery, test light, then the neg battery cable. The light should be very dim when everything is working fine. If its bright you have a drain, so pull fuses till the light goes dim.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 236
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From: Taxsonville,Fl.
Originally Posted by cobra427
Well, I'll pull every fuse and see what happens. I dont know what else to do.....
have you had any accidents or electric work done recently?
One more thing !! could your battery just be getting tired? get it checked at your local autopart store, it's a free service
Jim
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From: Belle Mead NJ
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Just a thought, sometimes the glove box light will stay on unnoticed if the switch is a little sticky or door not closing right. Also check everything carefully that has power while the ignition is off, something could be no longer shutting off properly and causing a drain. See that all lights and stuff are working well and nice and bright, slow brake lights or dull lights could indicate a drain somewhere. I used to do electrical work on ambulances with many added circuits and one little thing could kill a battery in short order plus make everyone crazy in the process.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,279
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From: savannah,ga
disconnect your negative bat. cable
connect the fluke meter between them
have the meter on the 10 amp rating
NOT on the ohms or the volts
a correct reading will be less than 0.5 amp
this is your radio and ecm memory draw
I just tested my van today and with the
radar detector included it only pulled 0.24 amp
now when you pull the fuses it
will tell you if you got the rite one
no guessing this way
it also will tell if there is more than one circuit that is a problem
connect the fluke meter between them
have the meter on the 10 amp rating
NOT on the ohms or the volts
a correct reading will be less than 0.5 amp
this is your radio and ecm memory draw
I just tested my van today and with the
radar detector included it only pulled 0.24 amp
now when you pull the fuses it
will tell you if you got the rite one
no guessing this way
it also will tell if there is more than one circuit that is a problem
Junior User
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 93
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Take the neg off and tap the terminal for spark or take it to advance auto and get them to test the draw,, be careful here I have the same problem occuring and it has led me to a brand new faulty alternator and they also mentioned that the starter cutoff goes bad and will draw and if you have an external voltage regulator check that too but if you have I think it was after 87 its built in to the alternator and I believe that alternator was optional on an 87.