[GeorgeU]

Hey,
I have a minor electrical problem draining my battery after about 4 days if I don't run my C3 to charge it up. Since it may take some time to find, I picked up a quick disconnect for the battery. Ok here's the dumb question: Do I put it on the positive or negative side? Or doesn't it matter?
:huh:
Thanks,
g

 

[010752]

I prefer the negative.

 

[iburke]

I prefer negitive all so...

 

[BASSIST]

I prefer negitive all so...

:agree:

 

[vette427-sbc]

i prefer negative also, but due to my own experience, make sure the connections are clean and tight because sometimes they will fail, and leave you stranded. maybe a thought on the batt drain- if it isnt a bad battery, there is a switch ( at least on 69's) that will alow you to keep the wipers in one position for maintanance, if this is on it will drain the battery even with the car off

 

[Fred Mann]

George, do you have access to a DC ammeter? You could put it on a battery lead and pull fuses one at a time to get an idea where the drain is. Once you know which circuit group is the problem, start to eliminate individual circuit/devices from that group.

 

[GeorgeU]

Thanks all :thumbsup: Negative it is!

Fred: I do have a multitester and I'm in the process of identifying all the circuts as you suggest. Unfortunately, I've been punished by an afertmarket sound system and alarm which I'm currently eliminating wire by wire.

That wiper switch power drain sounds interesting and I'll follow up on that along with the frozen antenna motor and some weirdness in the interior lighting.

Thanks again to all
g

 

[69droptop]

I've had the same problem and actually went fuse by fuse this morning, couldn't find a simgle problem. Right now the car is sitting with every fuse pulled out of the box on the driver side foot area and I'm still seeing a 12.26 volt draw when I hook my tester up between the positive cable and battery. Is there a secondary fuse box or am I jus tmissing soemthing? Should I be testing for something other than volts with my multi-tester? Thanks!

 

[The Torch]

With any aftermarket wiring you stand the possibility of someone wiring some that is not fused

 

[69droptop]

I recently put a new starter on and heard I coudl have wired up the silenoid backwards and it would draw power, is this true? My car still starts so does this rule out the starter?

 

[big2bird]

Yes, it's true. Verify the starter wires are correct, and that the black ground wire is on the bell housing, not the starter.
Place a 12 volt lamp with 20' leads in series between a battery cable and the battery. Then remove fuses untill the drain is found. Aftermarket stereos will have a very slight drain to the "memory" 12v hot. It will be very low current.
Other problematic areas on an 82 would be the lighting timer, power antennae, and mis-wired/not parked wiper motor. zPossible drains in factory alarm, wiper pulse controller.
Bubba aftermarket "crap" would be my first investigation.

 

[010752]

Yes, it's true. Verify the starter wires are correct, and that the black ground wire is on the bell housing, not the starter.
Place a 12 volt lamp with 20' leads in series between a battery cable and the battery. Then remove fuses untill the drain is found. Aftermarket stereos will have a very slight drain to the "memory" 12v hot. It will be very low current.
Other problematic areas on an 82 would be the lighting timer, power antennae, and mis-wired/not parked wiper motor. zPossible drains in factory alarm, wiper pulse controller.
Bubba aftermarket "crap" would be my first investigation.

Still jackin with that.
Let loose on a PowerProbe :rolling: :rolling:

 

[big2bird]

Still jackin with that.
Let loose on a PowerProbe :rolling: :rolling:

I am still gonna buy one to shut ya up. However, anyone can use a 12 volt, $1.00 light bulb/holder.

 

[69droptop]

I will jack the car up tomorrow and check the starter to make sure I wired it correctly, I'm hopnig its a simple fix such as swaping the starter wires b/c otherwise I have no idea what it is, all fuses are out of the car and I double check everythnig and it doesnt look like there are any unfused wires anywhere and still have a draw on the battery.

 

[big2bird]

I will jack the car up tomorrow and check the starter to make sure I wired it correctly, I'm hopnig its a simple fix such as swaping the starter wires b/c otherwise I have no idea what it is, all fuses are out of the car and I double check everythnig and it doesnt look like there are any unfused wires anywhere and still have a draw on the battery.

I would. Make sure ya didn't pinch a wire also. A bad/cheap stater solenoid can sometimes not fully release, causing a mild drain to the coil bypass wire,and or stater . See if the motor is warm.

 

[010752]

The harnesses under the hood are still hot with the fuses out, so start unplugging stuff there too.

 

[Fred Mann]

You're looking for current flow, not just voltage being present.

 

[69droptop]

Ok I went out and worked on th ecar for a bit and here is what I found.

The AC Delco starter I recently put on has 3 terminals on the solenoid, 2 small and one larger one (for the main power wire from the battery). I found a small black wire attached to the bottom of the housing on the starter as well. There are 3 small wires plus the main power wire attached to these three posts. One of the small wires is attached to each post with the main power wire also attached to the middle (larger) post. When I removed the small wire that was attached to the same post as the main power wire I no longer had draw on the battery.

I traced the 3 small wires to (a) the blower motor, (b) the coil and (c) wiper motor. I have to double check b and c in the morning as the wires were wrapped up together and I have to unwrap them to make sure that is correct.

This tells me that one of the three items above is pulling current when the battery is connected. My guess is it is the wiper motor. My question is this, if it is the wiper motor can I simply take the wire and remove it from the post that the main power wire is on to the same post as the blower motor on the solenoid or would this do some damage?

Thanks guys sorry for the long post, I appreciate any help or advice!

 

[big2bird]

Okay,
I am doing this from memory, okay. No gauaratees, and I hope someone chimes in that has a schematic for your year.
The black wire is a ground, and should go to a bell housing bolt. The battery goes to the large terminal.(Feed). A small wire from this same terminal is your power feed up to the car.(Probably distributes from a relay). The wire on the terminal marked"S" is your wire from the key/start position. The other small terminal has a wire that goes to the coil, bypassing the ballast resistor in "start" position. I forget that terminals designation. Probably "C".?
If this makes sense to you so far, and you are lifting the small wire with the "larger" lug to eleiminate your drain, you need to look "down stream".
With me so far?

 

[69droptop]

Okay,
I am doing this from memory, okay. No gauaratees, and I hope someone chimes in that has a schematic for your year.
The black wire is a ground, and should go to a bell housing bolt. The battery goes to the large terminal.(Feed). A small wire from this same terminal is your power feed up to the car.(Probably distributes from a relay). The wire on the terminal marked"S" is your wire from the key/start position. The other small terminal has a wire that goes to the coil, bypassing the ballast resistor in "start" position. I forget that terminals designation. Probably "C".?
If this makes sense to you so far, and you are lifting the small wire with the "larger" lug to eleiminate your drain, you need to look "down stream".
With me so far?

Sounds right so far to me. I guess the next step is to follow the wire that I took off(that's on th epost with the main power wire) to see where it goes and look at any relay/fuses I come to, right? Any chance you might know where it goes so I have a good start when I look at it tomorrow?