Whenever my car sits for more than a day and a half the battery is dead. I saw the how-to section on batteries but it didnt make sense to me and the search came up with nothing. So how can I find out what is draining my battery?
battery drain
- Thread starter kingcobra9450
- Start date
Did you wire your msd to a switched 12v source?
do you ahve a trunk mounted battery, and how old is your battery?
Im not sure about the msd, its been in there ever since i bought the car 2 yrs ago and i didnt start doing this until a couple months ago. The battery is brand new cuz I originally thought it was just an old battery but it started doing it right after I put the new one in. Its in the original location under the hood.
+1 Start with the fuses that are in the engine bay first.
How do I test the draw with the fuses. I have an amp meter I'm just not very good with electrical stuff....
when the car is off and there shouldn't be a draw on the battery, pull one fuse at a time out, then insert the meter and see if there is a current going through it.
Ok so i hooked up my amp meter and there is drain coming from the radio, internal ill. and the alternator. Im sure the alternator is being drain from the other two. So i looked in my manual and it seems like they have some sort of common wiring.... anyone have this problem before or have any ideas where to start?
Alternator could have a bad diode in it. It will drain your battery.If you do not know how to meter the alt. for current draw,you can carefully lift battery wire (red) off of post on alt. and see if this stops the problem or remove alt. for testing.
The Alt shoud not draw current.
what the hell. I took the positive lead wire off the alt and there is still a reading on the alt and internal ill but not on the radio anymore. I'm way passed pissed and confused. Anyone have some insight?
Alternator
It's a common problem...search these boards for more info.
It's a common problem...search these boards for more info.
^+1 i had the same problem before and after tracking down all the wires in the car it turned out to be the alternator. go to parts store get an alt. try it and if it doesn't fix the problem take it back.
I just called pep boys and its 155 for the alternator but i guess i have no choice. I also forgot to mention that when i take the fuse out for the lights and the radio, they still go on, which boggles my mind still....
ok so I went to pep boys got the alt checked and it was only charging at 12 instead of 14.5 or 15. I got a new alt and put it in but there are still atleast 10 amps going through the fuse for the int lights, alt and audio when the car is off. Plus the lights and radio still work when you take every fuse out from under the hood...WTF??
hmmm.. what did you screw with just before all this crap started?
What component/parts in your car did you touch/replace that has any electrical connection of some sort?
What component/parts in your car did you touch/replace that has any electrical connection of some sort?
the last thing i touched was my ram air but that was put in over the summer in like july and this started happening in december. And before that it was my shifter but that was 2 yrs ago. neither of those really has any major electrical stuff...
Yank the MSD then.
There has been lots of complaints of them going bad, and they're mostly useless anyways.
I searched and found this:
http://www.msdignition.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59
Seems like MSD units do cause a battery drain.
There has been lots of complaints of them going bad, and they're mostly useless anyways.
I searched and found this:
http://www.msdignition.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59
Seems like MSD units do cause a battery drain.
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