Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Calendar
Go Back   NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds > Tech Forums > Electrical and Wiring

Notices


Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 01-04-2009, 04:38 PM   #1
1QWIKBIRD
11 Second Club
 
1QWIKBIRD's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Hamilton Twp, NJ
Posts: 855
iTrader: (5)
Possible sources of slow battery drain?

My dad's 93 Z28 will drain the battery over the course of a week if not started and used daily. I did some searching and found this:

http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31541

With a full charge on the battery (less than 1 year old), overnight on a 2amp trickle charge the car starts and drives fine, volt guage looks good, no spiking either direction.

First I made sure all the interior courtesy lights were working and the associated switches were behaving. They all checked out.

So I checked to see if the alternator was the culprit (as described in the link) and it checked out fine. Next I started going one by one through all the fused circuits, both at the driver side dash and in the engine bay on the driver side fender well. I think I found the circuit causing the issue, Power Acc. a 15 amp circuit. The only 3 things I could find on this fuse that were obvious were the door locks, the power mirrors, and power hatch release. Is there anything else on this circuit to look for? How do I go about trouble shooting each wire? Probe the end of each connection at the door panels with a test light and see if I have power where I shouldn't? I hooked up my multi-meter between the neg bat cable and the negative terminal and the draw looks to be small, 1.3 amps +/-.

Any ideas?

After screwing around doing this for about 2-1/2 hours we put everything back together, left out the 15 amp Pwr Accy fuse and I want to take the car out for a quick blast......except it wouldn't start cause the battery was weak. Quick jump and it started right up no problems, blasted up and down 295 no problems. Got it back to my parents house in the garage and turned it off. It started right back up. So as a little test we have the battery on a trickle charge for a couple hours and then we are going to leave the car sit till next weekend with the 15 amp fuse removed, just to confirm what is going on.

Thanks
Chris
__________________


1999 Formula 6spd (The driver)
1997 2500 Ext. Cab Dodge 4x4 CTD 5spd (The Earth Mover)
1970 Nova 5spd (The toy)
1QWIKBIRD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-04-2009, 06:36 PM   #2
sweetbmxrider
Meet Coordinator
 
sweetbmxrider's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: brick/pt. pleasant beach
Posts: 19,342
iTrader: (12)
hmmmm i wonder if there is an issue with the rap (retained accessory power) module. if the battery is drained next time you check it, try unplugging the module. its on the driver side under the dash on the fire wall. its mounted in like a rubber tap.
__________________
sweetbmxrider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2009, 05:11 PM   #3
FBODS4EVER
 
FBODS4EVER's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: SOUTH JERSEY
Posts: 581
iTrader: (1)
any aftermarket stereo or car alarm? also my work truck coil was going bad. id work 2 consecutive days. started fine. skip a day and it barely started. needed a jump at times.
__________________
1987 PONTIAC FIREBIRD SHOW WINNER current
1888 Trans Am GTA current
1989 PONTIAC FORMULA WS6 M5 355 sbc 501hp (sold)
1995 PONTIAC FIREBIRD M5 V6 ( sold )
1989 Trans Am GTA 5.7L 67000mi current
FBODS4EVER is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2009, 06:50 PM   #4
1QWIKBIRD
11 Second Club
 
1QWIKBIRD's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Hamilton Twp, NJ
Posts: 855
iTrader: (5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by FBODS4EVER View Post
any aftermarket stereo or car alarm? also my work truck coil was going bad. id work 2 consecutive days. started fine. skip a day and it barely started. needed a jump at times.
Nope 100% stone stock........I even pulled the radio out to make sure there there wasn't any carnage from an old install that got switched back to stock before my dad came to own the car. Everything looks stock. No cut wires, no scotch locks. My next plan is to check the door switches and the wiring in the doors. My dad replaced one of the window motors, so maybe a wire isn't routed properly and is getting pinched or something.
__________________


1999 Formula 6spd (The driver)
1997 2500 Ext. Cab Dodge 4x4 CTD 5spd (The Earth Mover)
1970 Nova 5spd (The toy)
1QWIKBIRD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2009, 11:10 PM   #5
198esp1
 
198esp1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 396
iTrader: (2)
disconect the neg side of the batt and check to see what kid of draw you have it should be less than .4 of an amp if you have more than that then pull fuses one circ at a time.
198esp1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

  NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds > Tech Forums > Electrical and Wiring


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

» Sponsor List














All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:18 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.