Battery drain

aggiegirl09 · 07-06-2007, 04:56 PM

I have a 1994 SL1 auto that I bought from a lady at work about 2 months ago. She had it in a shop and they went around a bunch of things and skipped over some things that needed to be replaced like my EGR Syloniod. For some reason my battery won't stay charged. I jump it and after the car sits for about 20 minutes or so the battery is dead again. The battery is brand new. I have gone over just about all the wiring and can't figure out what could be draining it. Any help would be appreciated.

PurdueGuy · 07-06-2007, 07:36 PM

one thing you may want to do is make sure the battery isn't bad, even though it's brand new. Typical car batteries can be damaged by being completely drained, so if it's happened multiple times, then it could be bad now. Of course, that doesn't solve the problem that's draining the battery. May want to get the alternator checked, too. Both those items can be checked for free by most parts stores.

aggiegirl09 · 07-07-2007, 08:13 PM

All right the alternator is good. It is charging the battery like it should. The battery if it is bad is bad due to a short somewhere. The question is now what could possibly be draining my battery? I don't want to go and buy a new battery until I figure out what is draining it.

Any suggestions of what to take a look at?

PurdueGuy · 07-07-2007, 08:56 PM

it can be hard to narrow down. You can check for lights that stay on after you leave the car, as well as pay attention for any other odd things the car does. Have you done or had done any work to the car recently? Car stereo, repairs, etc?

aggiegirl09 · 07-08-2007, 06:59 PM

Just recently but it has been doing it since I bought the car. I installed a new radio and un-installed a car alarm that was wired everywhere which was on the car when I bought it. The lady I bought it from had it in a shop and they didn't know what they were doing because she said the car has had electrical problems since she got it back. This is why I refuse to put my car into a shop. I went through and checked all the lights that could stay on when I leave the car and they are fine. I'm in the process of checking all the wiring under the hood. I just don't have to much time to spend with it at one time.

I'm thinking it is something draining ground somewhere but haven't figured out where. Is this possible?

**Ssicarman** · 07-09-2007, 12:07 AM

The best way to check for a battery drain is to use a multi meter with an amperage setting. You want one that is capable of 10 amps or one that has an adaptor to take an indirect reading. Most modern cars should have less than 0.50 amp (+/-) draw within approx two minutes. If you have more than that then you need to start pulling fuses and relays one at a time to see which one drops the draw to the acceptable level.

If you have less than the 0.50 amp then you do not have a draw.

Check your trunk light through the back seats to see if it is on.

aggiegirl09 · 07-09-2007, 04:47 PM

I'm not very good with electronics so just curious how would I go about doing this process? And I checked my trunk light. It's not on so that eliminates that out.

**Ssicarman** · 07-10-2007, 01:17 AM

As I said you will need a multi meter (digital one not analog) with a 10 amp measurement function. If shoudl have instructions to hook it up for that function. Basiscly you remove the negative battery cable and install the meter on the battery and on the negative cable. You will then get the amperage reading that the system is drawing.

aggiegirl09 · 07-11-2007, 05:27 PM

Ok I disconnected the ground cable and tested it and got a reading of .000. If this is what I was supposed to get as a reading than I'm not getting a draw. What else could be the problem? I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if that is what I was supposed to get, but like I stated before I am bad with electronics lol. If that was the reading I was supposed to get what do I do from there? If it wasn't what am I doing wrong?

the Shaolin UWP · 07-12-2007, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggiegirl09

Ok I disconnected the ground cable and tested it and got a reading of .000. If this is what I was supposed to get as a reading than I'm not getting a draw. What else could be the problem? I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if that is what I was supposed to get, but like I stated before I am bad with electronics lol. If that was the reading I was supposed to get what do I do from there? If it wasn't what am I doing wrong?

Set the multimeter to amps.

Disconnect negative terminal.

Use the two probes of the multimeter to "bridge" the gap you just made.

Should have a couple hundred mA at least, something's gotta keep memory in the radio...