91 Explorer Battery Drain

[Sandy000]

Bought a 91 Explorer, new battery, alternator is fine, but it will drain, seemingly at will. When you put the battery charger on it, it makes a kind of noise like a clicking or growling. Before I invest a bunch of bucks, is there something I could check. Also, can anyone tell me which fuse is the radio fuse, I read here that someone took it out and had no more draining problems. Thanks so much

 

[Xpl0rer]

im assuming you had your alternator tested somewhere? or atleast tested it yourself? have you checked the wear on your serpentine belt? also you could check and clean all your ground wires to make sure they are grounded well.... when checking the resistance with a multi meter you ground should read a few ohms at most, if it reads infinite then i would suspect the ground has internal corrosion.
Troy.~

 

[Sandy000]

I have cleaned the ground wires. I will check the serpentine belt (had to look it up to see what it was ) I appreciate your help greatly, as I have no clue about autos.

 

[shamaal]

To answer the question:
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiB..._us/0900823d/80/0b/a8/f3/0900823d800ba8f3.jsp
You want figure #1.

The radio is fuse#10 and the amp is fuse #5.

Troubleshooting battery drain requires someway of measuring the current draw from the battery using an ammeter or a lightbulb with wires soldered on it.

The other possibility is that there is a problem in the charging circuit and the battery isn't being charged completely. These problems are generally:
1. Poor connection at the battery (If you can twist the connection at the terminal, it needs to be tightened)
2. Bad battery (yours is new)
3. Alternator problem (Autozone/O'Reilly can test for free)
4. Miscellaneous items like bad cables or shorted components.

 

[Sandy000]

91 explorer

Thanks so much, I will check it all out......whew...I was so hoping it was not an electrical problem that would cost me an arm, leg and first born male child...

 

[Sandy000]

Battery Drain on 91 Explorer

We took the radio fuse out, same thing happened. Should I take out the amp fuse also? Also, and I know this sounds dumb but, how do you use the meter to check out the battery to see if the cables are corroded. Thanks so much for your help!