sogabe

i have.. brand new alternator,
6month old battery that showed "Good Battery"
with the free battery test i had.

after i let it sit for long time(more than 5hours)
nothing happens with the key in ignition.

i have to get it jump started all the time.. its starting to **** me off

what could possibly drain down the battery?
i read somewhere a short in circuit drains battery or something
but what does that exactly mean?
ima noob when it comes to electrical stuff.. thanks in advance!

WaOnFiRe

I'm having the same exact problem in my Camaro.

I think I know what's doing this in mine, I removed the door panels to replace my doors weatherstrip last week, and I probably put something back the wrong way, because when I charged the battery yesterday, I heard the door wanting to lock/unlock at the same time continuously. I think the two buttons stay pressed or something. Car doesn't have any juice again today. My battery and alternator are also new. I'll have to remove them again to check...

scanman717

I chased this problem in my 92 a while back.. Turns out my underhood light was not turning off when I closed the hood. I unplugged mine a few years ago and that hasn't been a problem since...

tpi90rs

iTrader: (2)

this pic would be a circuit. I shouldn't have said before the load, but more of before the switch, you get the idea. That short will keep an unrestricted path of current flowing until your battery is dead.
You could also have a parasitic drain, that is where the load is stuck on (like a hood light that stays on), this will draw excessive current from the battery until it is dead.

Unplug your hoodlight and make sure all accessories in your car are off. Get yourself an ampmeter or multimeter. set it to amps and plug it in series with your battery ("+" post touches "+" of meter, "-" of meter touches "+" battery cable. if it isn't reading one amp, turn the meter down to milliamps, if the meter is then reading over 100 milliamps, you have a parasitic drain, start isolating circuits to find your problem.

1991L98G92

Battery dead in 5 hours sounds like more that 100ma. The easiest way would be to, as stated, disconnect the hood light. Disconnect the negative side of the battery, because we all know to disconnect the neg side first. Then put a "test light" in series with the battery and cable. If it lights, even dimly, there is a short, or something is on. Then, make sure you do this with the doors closed, start pulling fuses one by one. Eventually the light will go out if the short is in a fused circuit. If not, disconnect the alternator connections. The alternator could be the cause and not fused. Also the starter. It's just process of elimination. Good luck.

sogabe

it all happened since one night the car just died,
but before it died i heard a sound almost like an explosion.

most probably like a fuse blown up?
i heard it from near the battery,
the only fuse around there is the fuse for my amp power cable and alarm(which the fuse is still there)

around the area i heard the noise, the only thing i can think of is maybe couple fusable links
near the radiator units.

now will blown fuse drain battery and not give any functional problem to the car like that?

thanks in advance for the help
and thanks for all the help guys!! i relly appreciate it!!

PS: whats the normal voltage when u have the key in ignition before
turning the engine? just wondering
because it used to read 10-11, now it reads 12 and above.

rgarcia63

There was a time when you could put a test light in series with the negative battery cable.
From my 88's manual:
"Vehicles that have one or more on-board solid state control module (such as an Engine Control Module, E.C.M.) may some times exhibit a failure mode of a control module which may result in a high parasitic current drain on the vehicle's battery."

For these cars you need to follow the manuals battery parasitic current drain diagnostics and use the proper test equipment. If you don't do it properly you can damage the amp meter. Inexpensive meters will not give a correct reading at the range required for the tests.
'82-'91 cars and trucks maximum parasitic draw is 0.050 Milliamps.

xklipze

some battery's even if they test good.... we'rnt designed to be bad ***... goto a autozone type place for boats... like "west marine"

just a thought if the other peoples suggestions didnt work out... Invest in a serious battery.. i had a 800 CCA(cold cranking amp) battery run my stereo with the engine off for 4 hours...

If u get a serious BAD *** "marine boat" battery you could run subwoofers for 3-4 hours (engine off) (my camaro)

Nothing in your car is stronger than 2 1000watt subwoofers

so if u left your interior lights on... on a crappy battery .. i could understand it being drained in 5 hours..

But if u had a Serious Battery.... and maybe a 2nd battery in the trunk....

you could have a bad *** setup, and a very happy alternator. and never look stupid , picking up a girl in the z28, and having to pop the hood every time you turn your ignition off LOL

i do this frequently.. sometimes chicks like this stuff

1991L98G92

Parasitic draws would be the ECM keep alive memory and stereo clock and presets. If you have added anything electrical that is hooked straight to battery positive, disconnect them and double check. 0.050 amps would be in the thousand range. A simple test light lighted at 50 ma's would be VERY DIM almost hard to see. If a test light lights enough to create light, there is a draw. Disconnect the ECM 10A fuse to eliminate it from the system.

WhiteKnight

I know you're supposed to dissconnect the negative first, but why? This is probably a really basic electrical question that is going to make me seem stupid or naive for asking, but oh well.

sogabe

problem SOLVED!!! WOO!!!! AJSLDKSJLADK!!! GHAGAGHAHAHA!

ok.. anyways.
i had couple bad sources causing my battery dying every day.

first of all, i had my 4th gen power seat wired up straight to the battery.
i unhooked that but my volt gauge still seems to wobble low.
i park my car, just thought to myself.. god this POS car giving me headache!
and just sat there for a while.

then all of sudden i started hearing this weird clicking noise from trunk area,
so i thought WhatTHeHELL my fuel pump is new whats goin on!?

but it was my hatch pull down motor making some weird noise.
probably the motor went bad and it was constantly trying to operate without success. so i just unplugged it and presto, my volt gauge is still and stable now!! YEAH!!!!

thanks for all ur help and advise guys and peace viva 3rdgen now

xklipze

thats awsome.. glad to hear...

Just pretty random figured i would throw it up... i have done random work throughout my car.. but for some reason..

my trunk popper switch never used to work... and today it started working for the first time...= AMAZING

but my car is still screwed up in other places

1991L98G92

Voltage from disconnecting the positive battery cable can cause a spark from the post, that can cause adverse effects. But at the negative side, the voltage will have been used up by the resistive properties of the electrical consumers and should not cause a spark when disconnecting. In a word.. SAFETY.

305tbier

glad you got it worked out-I was going to say check the alternator diode. If it failed, it could be draining the battery. In cars with idiot lights, the batt/charge light would be on with the key off, if a diode was bad(voltage flowing the other way). I don't think gages would give any heads up about that.