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Old 10-16-2012   #8
WVZR-1
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,884
Default Re: Amp / Voltage draw issue.

I agree with -=Jeff=- but first establish what the simple parasitic draw actually is. Do you have a DVM? Set your DVM to either 10A or 20A and with the DVM connected between the negative terminal of the battery and the negative cable see what it actually is. Make sure the car has "gone to sleep" - "key off" or in your pocket. If you've got something very low maybe 30 milliamps or less it says maybe you don't. An early 90's car you might expect maybe as little as 20 milliamps or so to be the norm. Never checked mine.

If you've got something larger than that could be as high as 2 - 3 Amp or so you then start to pull fuses one at a time and monitor the drop. When you pull one that dramatically lowers the draw to an expected value then you search that circuit. I was always told to pull lower amp fuses first (don't know why) and do larger value and breakers last.

I was also told to do this first but don't remember ever doing it. Remove both battery cables and check Ohms across the battery cable ends. Something very low hints major shorts.

I don't recall how easy the red wire is to get to on the alternator but a bad diode will take a battery down pretty quick. You could remove it to check also.

It's much easier for me to walk to the car and do it than it is to try and explain it but I just wouldn't start tearing into things. I'd measure the drain before I even worried about the amp. I might make the amp first after the check though.

Last edited by WVZR-1; 10-16-2012 at 09:55 PM.
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