WW7

Thanks Oz, I'll check it out.....WW

Cliff Harris

I suggest disconnecting all the wires from the funny stud thing behind the battery. That ought to isolate most of the circuits in the car.

Some circuits get their power from the starter and there is also the ECM power connector. I just became aware that it also supplies power to the MAF relays.

WW7

Thanks Cliff, that's a good idea..... As far as MAF relays , I have them, but there not being used... I have a Blowerworks MAF sensor on my car and it doesn't use either of the relays.......WW

WW7

Well, I figured out one of the problems I had....The "new" battery I bought in Febuary of this year had a bad cell in it....This is what was causing the rapid discharge even though the drain is only 90 milliamps...I tried most of the suggestions you guys posted but so far I haven't figured out what's causing the extra 40 milliamps of drain....But I'll keep searching.......WW

pcolt94

Try a different scale on your meter to see if you get concurrent readings. And if you can, get another meter and do the same.

Make sure you really have a 90ma drain. You don’t want to be chasing your tail for nothing.

jadedvette

A lot of times it is a sticking solenoid. Had that problem with my 84'. Sometimes there would be a drain and sometimes not. Hooked up the DVOM and removed the fuzes one at a time, when that didn't help, I started tapping the solenoids until I read a change on the meter. Replaced solenoid no more problem. Good luck, Joe

desertmike1

A tenth of an amp seems a bit high, but then again is your meter Calibrated?

A battery maintaining 12+ Volts static is just fine, but if you have a drain pulling the battery down, and below 12 volts then I agree there is a problem..

If you are in fact draining too much power, and all of the fused circuits have been tested you now need to look at the un-fused circuits such as the Alternator Diodes, and the Starter/Solenoid. I've seen excess carbon build up in an starter solenoid drain power..

QZRBLU

WW,
I doubt very much you will find a problem at the starter. If you still have the .090 Amp parasitic drain, remove the fusible links one at a time. Such a small drain (50-60 miliamps) is most likely a relay coil.
Most of them (fusible links) attach to a stud just behind the battery on my '90. Just be careful and disconnect the ground cable each time you put a socket on the stud. You don't want a piece of art or a crispy socket/extension.


Mick
Tucson

WW7

Mike , I do have a problem with my starter so I will be replacing it with a new one I have in the garage, Im hoping this will fix it but who knows......Thanks for the reply...WW


I disconnected the power wire from the battery going to the Stud behind the battery and still have the drain...I did notice today that when I open the passanger door the inside lights don't come on like they do when I open the drivers side door..I pulled all the fuses a few days ago, and that should have been one of them that I pulled but Im going to check it further. Thanks WW.

WVZR-1

There's a few different procedures that can be used to check for draws and if a person has a higher-ended DMM that will do mA you can check with out removing the fuses with good probes. If the fuse displays a "draw" it's just a check of that circuit required from the "power distribution" schematic. Each fuse has two available test tabs for checking.

An early car with few electronic modules the connection battery post through DMM to cable confirms that there is a suspect draw but there shouldn't be any need to pull fuses to find the draw for a "key off" circumstance.

The draw at the fuse allows one to check only the circuit involved and eliminates the need to beat on the solenoids and relays that don't need to be disturbed.

Cliff Harris

You should have one of these connectors on your car (item 2), so here is another place to check for possible excess current draw. It supplies power to the ECM all the time, which maintains the BLMs and error codes in memory:



Now here is where things get interesting. For some reason (those wacky engineers!) that connection also goes to the fuel pump relay and oil pressure switch (see ECM POWER CONN. (NEAR BATTERY)) -- note that this is a corrected version of the diagram in the FSM that has several errors and omissions:

Photomania

I had the same problem. Every two to three days my battery would go dead. I thought the battery no good. So I replaced it with a new battery from Advance Auto, and the same thing happened.

The engine was cutting off a lot too. I tried many things. Finally, I gave up and handed the car over a professional mechanic, and he said the computer next to the engine was turning on certain things after the car was parked. I don't know if that was true.

But after he replaced the computer, I never had the problem again.