redmund

I went out to the car today to pull it out of the garage before I tore the top of the engine off for the gasket job that needs doing, and behold, the battery was flat as a pancake. There's no stereo in the car currently, so that's definitely not draining it. What other sources could I check to figure this out? It's a brand new battery btw.

lilspeedemon

Do you have an alarm? that might cause a drain...

alordofchaos

Could be many places... there's a door switch that can fail, too. Do a search for "battery drain" for some troubleshooting steps... I remember reading something about connecting a voltmeter to check the drain, pulling fuses to see if the drain stops to isolate the circuit.

redmund

Hmm, just found a strange little wire with a fuse in it, definitely not a part of the stock wiring. Pulled the fuse, my extra driving lights (ones in the bumper) are now working properly, my oil pressure gauge now works properly (previously pegged at 5+, no matter how long it ran) and my temperature gauge seems to work a better now too. I'll leave the battery connected tonight and I'll check again tomorrow, see if this one strange little wire was the culprit.

alordofchaos

Ya gotta love PO wiring! Good catch

redmund

Alas

Went to the city this morning, checked the voltage gauge in the car, reading 11ish volts. Thought it was ok, since it was around that level the previous night when I left the car. Came back to it about 2 hours ago, battery was flat as a pancake.

That wire, whilst it may have fixed a few other things, hasn't cured the battery drain. Time for more digging :/

KuHL 951

Have you actually measured the current drain when shut down and tried the one fuse at a time method while watching the current? If the short is in an unfused circuit I would check the wires at the door entry, any bare wires where the stereo was, and the two grounds off of the battery. If you were reading 11V +/- while cruising you either have a bad voltage reg or you are feeding the short causing your voltage drop. You should see mid 13-14 volts while cruising.

Roger Collins

I had a similar problem. Battery kept going flat. Also saw fluxuation in the guages when turn signal was on (temp needle would bounce up with each click of the turn signal). Put on a new ground wire. Problem solved. BTW if the ground is original, even if it is not the problem, it might be a good idea to change it.

Vjgtrybno1

+1 on measuring the drain on the battery with everything off, then pulling fuses one at a time.

Zporsche944

your batterys prob toast btw once most batterys get lower than 10V they suffer damage... and my car buts out above 14V while driving and my battery is relocated to the rear