Battery drain overnight

[bkb88]

Hey guys I have a problem with my battery losing voltage after being parked overnight. I recently found a parasitic draw that read over .400 amps which from what I have read on this forum is enough to drain the battery overnight. I found the circuit that was causing the problem and it ended up being the premium radio amplifier that was causing the draw. Seeing how I use an aftermarket radio I just removed the fuse and dropped the draw down to .005 amps. About 3 weeks ago I had my battery switched out through the warranty at walmart and it was going dead about every couple of days for the first week then after that it was going dead after parking it overnight. Now the battery seems to not be holding a charge for very long at all. I have had both the alternator and the battery tested and they both seem to check out fine. Could I have a bad cell in my battery?? :scratch:

 

[YBCold]

start plucking fuses. BTW do you have an aftermarket alarm system or accessories those are notorious for this type of isssue. ill post some links to help ina bit

 

[bkb88]

start plucking fuses. BTW do you have an aftermarket alarm system or accessories those are notorious for this type of isssue. ill post some links to help ina bit

Nope all I have is an aftermarket head unit installed in my car. Would .005 amps really draw my car battery down that fast? Thanks for the reply.

 

[YBCold]

its possible the new battery is worn out already. .004 seems small perhaps its intermittent?

 

[marragtop]

.005 draw shouldn't be a problem. Do you have another battery you can put in it for a couple of days?

 

[imp]

Computer "Keep-alive"

0.005 amp. is the current required by the computer.

A possible current drain to look for might be the airbag auxiliary power supply.

imp

 

[Moneyman]

I'm experiencing the same battery drain! How did you find the parasitic draw?

 

[shaggymane]

Hey guys I have a problem with my battery losing.............. I have had both the alternator and the battery tested and they both seem to check out fine. ...............
Could I have a bad cell in my battery?? :scratch:

Yes. Had it happen to me. Take it back, they have a little test device to use. Or you can buy a plastic hydrometer for cheap and DIY.

*********
The parasitic drain on mine was a bad voltage reg.

 

[Moneyman]

Thanks for the idea on the voltage regulator.
Would that cause the engine temprature needle to fluxuate when engine is warm?
Is there a device you used to find the drain?

 

[YBCold]

get a volt ohms meter that has a 10 amps scale. then hook up pluck fuses. on mine the EEC relay was stuck. and i found it like that. are there any accessories that have a direct connection to the battery?

could it be the starter? if its going bad it over draws from the battery, or it could be the battery cables that are no good and causing charging problems?

 

[bkb88]

Hey guys I have a new problem developing. It is probably a bad battery but I'll explain what is happening. I am driving the car around every day to try to keep the battery charged up enough to start the next day. Sometimes I'll drive it and have it parked for about half an hour and when I go to start the car it will act like the battery is dead at first but if I keep the ignition held in the start position the car will gradually start spinning the motor and will eventually start. Is this still a drain problem or is my battery toast? Also could the starter be going out?

 

[KobeJ05]

take the battery in and have it tested. have you disconnected the battery and when you hook the last terminal up do you hear a small spark if so somethings on or you got a short thats draining the battery.

 

[bkb88]

take the battery in and have it tested. have you disconnected the battery and when you hook the last terminal up do you hear a small spark if so somethings on or you got a short thats draining the battery.

Yes I still notice a small spark when I re-connect either the negative or positive cables. It was a very noticable spark when I still had the fuse for the factory premium radio amplifier installed. There is still a .005 key-off draw so I'm stumped on this one. I will take the battery to be charged/tested this weekend to see what's going on. If I can't find out what is causing my car to eat through batteries then I will have to break down and take it to a mechanic.

 

[Delta_1980]

try unplugging your battery and then touching the terminal on the post, listen for something charging up(like the fuel pump) I had the fuel pump relay go bad and that was what was killing my batteries! I also found the fix on this site.

The relays are on the passengers side beneath the fuse box attached to the wheel/fender well. good luck and let us know if you fix your problem just to put some closure on this.

 

[bcbid]

Similar problem

I had a similar problem on the battery dying, it turned out to be a penny had fallen into the cigarette lighter. I found the penny with I was going to remove the radio. Couldn't believe it. Worth taking a look. Brian

 

[geoph1986]

it's quite common on these X's for the relays in the PDB (fuel pump, ecm, etc) to not open when the truck is shut off. I would check there first. On the '94 the relays should plug in on top of the PDB just like the fuses. The earlier design of the PDB had the relays on the underside and it's a bit of a ***** to change. Just my $0.02.

 

[YBCold]

sounds like a bad starter to me. have u checked the battery wires?

 

[geoph1986]

just curious, how could a bad starter be the cause of overnight battery drain?

 

[bkb88]

Thanks for the ideas guys I'll be sure to check them out. On the relay discussion, I replaced the EEC relay and the fuel pump relay about a year ago because I was having the problem of my car not starting up after shutting it off. I could not hear the fuel pump humming and the check engine light would not show when I would turn the key. I can't notice any noise when I touch my battery cable to the terminal so I don't think my fuel pump relay is staying on. I know I have to have a cut wire or something because my stock speaker wiring is shot, my speakers won't work when hooked up that way so I had to run new speaker wire to all four speakers. Another reason I believe it is something with my speaker wiring is because the stock radio amplifier fuse was pulling close to .400 amps by itself. Any ideas on this??

 

[YBCold]

just curious, how could a bad starter be the cause of overnight battery drain?

wait yeah never mind maybe a combo of something not really sure whats up here.