Battery Drain 91 Aerostar
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From: MICHIGAN
Battery Drain 91 Aerostar
My sons aerostar has a 10 volt drain showing with a volt meter across the pos batt post and clamp (series). Before he checked this he had replaced the alt because he thought that was the problem. Then he replaced the battery. The brand new battery died overnight. I told him to stop buying new parts and check the drain by the method above. He pulled fuses to no avail. All the time he had the clock/radio fuse out so the drain is elsewhere. Does anyone have a few ideas where a drain could come from if not in the fuse circuits? I know there are other circuits protected by circuit breakers but I'm not sure what r where they are. Also, could it be the starter? Any troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated. It's damn cold out and he lives an hour away and it's his only commute. Thanks.
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From: South Dakota
It's tough working in the cold, I know as I've had to for years.
As far as a drain on the battery if it can be put inside and hooked up to a charger this will help with finding the drain without losing the battery. If not...
If nothing is staying lite on any of the lights, one thing I can think of is if an aftermarket audio component was install and is drawing juice. My son had an Audiovox stereo that always had the lights on and killed his battery. Samething could be for an amp. Otherwise you can only pull the fuses one at a time to see what will change.
You can bump this to the Aerostar forum, a very bright bunch of people reside there.
As far as a drain on the battery if it can be put inside and hooked up to a charger this will help with finding the drain without losing the battery. If not...
If nothing is staying lite on any of the lights, one thing I can think of is if an aftermarket audio component was install and is drawing juice. My son had an Audiovox stereo that always had the lights on and killed his battery. Samething could be for an amp. Otherwise you can only pull the fuses one at a time to see what will change.
You can bump this to the Aerostar forum, a very bright bunch of people reside there.
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From: Virginia
"My sons aerostar has a 10 volt drain showing with a volt meter across the pos batt post and clamp (series). "
This does not sound like the proper way to check for a drain. If you use a meter, you should be reading amps in series, not volts. You will always be able to read volts using your method, because there is always a small load on the battery(clock, efi computer memory, radio memory). The meter is sensitive enough to read this very small load, and give you a reading.
Hook up the meter the same way you had it, but configure it for amps. Or hook a test light in series and see if it lights.
Find on the van where all your electrical is fed. A good place to look is where the output of the alt is connected. You may have several fuse boxes that are fed form this one point, and you could narrow down which one it is if you can find the large wire feeding each fuse box.
PS. Till you find the trouble, take the battery cable off. Try not to let the battery discharge when it's cold outside, because a dis-charged battery will freeze.
This does not sound like the proper way to check for a drain. If you use a meter, you should be reading amps in series, not volts. You will always be able to read volts using your method, because there is always a small load on the battery(clock, efi computer memory, radio memory). The meter is sensitive enough to read this very small load, and give you a reading.
Hook up the meter the same way you had it, but configure it for amps. Or hook a test light in series and see if it lights.
Find on the van where all your electrical is fed. A good place to look is where the output of the alt is connected. You may have several fuse boxes that are fed form this one point, and you could narrow down which one it is if you can find the large wire feeding each fuse box.
PS. Till you find the trouble, take the battery cable off. Try not to let the battery discharge when it's cold outside, because a dis-charged battery will freeze.
Last edited by Franklin2; Jan 6, 2004 at 03:46 PM.
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