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Old 08-25-2009, 03:45 PM   #1
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Battery keeps going dead.

Hey guys, i bought an 86-Iroc back in march, and it ran great up untill about a month ago, i got off work and my car wouldnt start, so i got a boost and went home like always. the next day the battery was dead again. I have checked everything possible and i cant figure out what is going on. i have replaced the battery, so i know its not that.

The only lead i have, is the fan controll switch on my climate controll, if i turn it to 'off' this little buzzer turns on right behind my diagnostic port. if i boost my car and get it running, the buzzer turns off. turn off the car, and the buzzer comes back. turn the fan switch on, and the buzzer turns off again. if the buzzer is not sounding, there is no visible inication of any power consumption, but four hours later my battery will be dead again.

i have oulled most of the dash apart and puting back trying to figure out this problem and i am completely lost. Does anybody out there have any ideas what could be going on?

Thanks.
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Old 08-26-2009, 09:25 AM   #2
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BATTERY RING RAM


Pull the buzzer.

If that doesn’t fix the problem
connect an ammeter in series with the battery.

With everything turned off and doors closed observe the current flow.

If you see more than a tenth of an amp pull the fuses
one at a time till the problem goes away.

That’s the circuit with the problem.


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Old 08-26-2009, 04:46 PM   #3
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

hehe, Thanks NINÅ. sometimes the simple answers are the best.
is there any chance theres more then one fuse pannel in the car, because so far i havent seemed to have any luck making the buzzer quit by pulling fuses. yet.

i'll hook up an ammeter to the battery, but i dont have one, so i'll have to go shopping at some point, and test that out as well.
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Old 08-27-2009, 10:13 AM   #4
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BATTERY FLATTERY


The warning buzzer is power fused VIA the STOP HAZ fuse.

The buzzer is also connected to the GAGES fuse.

Happy Racing!

If People Drove Any Slower They’d Be Going Backwards

Fog lights are not driving lights. They look dorky. Turn em off slow pokes.

How bout those dorks too scared to drive without headlights on in the daytime!

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Old 08-27-2009, 10:57 AM   #5
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

How old is the battery?
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Old 08-27-2009, 07:19 PM   #6
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

Is there any way to chane the name of a Topic? to better reflect the nature of my problem? "Really Bizarre Electrical Problem"

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ATony View Post
How old is the battery?
The battery was purchased in 07, it came out of my kinda sorta daily driver sunfire, where it never gave me the least bit of trouble. the batt has water, and will hold a charge if i disconnect it. or even put it back in my other car.

NINÅ, turns out that its not accually the buzzer making the noise, it was a little solenoid plugged in behind the buzzer, so its some kind of electrical short that making it mad. it might have something to do with the choke, because when i pull it out, my choke light is on while the car is running. allthough the batt still goes dead anyways.

and i know the solenoid is not the problem, because i swawpped it out with one from another 86 camaro, and mine still makes noise, and the other one is still fine... Sigh, my next attempt is going to be dissconecting the choke alltogether and seeing what happens to it...

P.S. still cant figure out how the fan controller on my climate controll factors in, its really confusing me. because it seems, at this point to be completely unrelated.

Thanks for the Questions and suggestions guys
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Old 09-01-2009, 09:00 PM   #7
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

allright, quick update. i have unplugged the choke, the solenoid, the STOP HAZ Fuse, and the climate controll fuse. there are no more alarms or warning lights of any kind. i've pulled the battery cable off my car and put an ammeter across it, i got zero draw on the battery, allthough at this point i'm not entirely sure if that accually means its not drawing.

while the battery is disconnected, accually right out of the car, i can put a volt meter between the positive and negative cables and get 0.6 volts steady, is my car holding a residual charge somehow?

i also borrowed a very simple electrical diagnostic tool from a freind of mine, and it is telling me that the Alternator Rectifier/Stator is faulty, i konw that a bad alternator means that the car cant recharge while its running, but could that also possibly be killing the battery, potentially by running electricity through a high resistance circut in the alternator?
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Old 09-02-2009, 02:27 PM   #8
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Battery Ram


If your ammeter says zero draw that means zero draw.

Sounds like you’re on the right track.


.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kainen►
…….while the battery is disconnected, accually right out of the car, i can put a volt meter between the positive and negative cables and get 0.6 volts…….
Make sure you use a low cost analogue meter.

Electronic or digital meters can give false indications.


.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kainen►
…….bad alternator means that the car cant recharge while its running, but could that also possibly be killing the battery…….
Yes. The battery can discharge thru that path.



Happy Racing!

If People Drove Any Slower They’d Be Going Backwards

Fog lights are not driving lights. They look dorky. Turn em off slow pokes.

How bout those dorks too scared to drive without headlights on in the daytime!

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Old 09-30-2009, 10:05 PM   #9
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

Hi i used to own an 89 Camaro RS. It was the nice monoframe. I loved that car other then it had some electrical problems. Arking wires through the spark plug wires. Those cars seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to electrical stuff. Like an overcharging problem.

I am having the same problem as you with the blown ALT CHOKE fuse and dead battery in my Mitsubishi after i didnt use it for a while the battery went completely dead. My bro jumped it. It keeps runs for a bit then cuts off. Thats when i noticed that the ALT CHOKE fuse had blown out. My battery is 2 years old. Should i replace the battery and the alt choke fuse or just the fuse? I'm thinking the fuse will blow again. How did you resolve your dead battery problem?
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Old 10-02-2009, 03:42 PM   #10
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

Investorman, i never accually solved my problem, i installed a battery disconnect relay to keep the power from draining, it was accually my car, and not just a bad battery.

My car was not blowing fuses, it was shorting out a Solenoid, but never accually damaged it. Your first stop would be check the battery, as a blow fuse might just be a coincidence. if you've only blown one fuse so far, you could try two things, just toss another fuse in there, and see if it blows again, if it does, theres a problem. the other option would be to stick a ammeter in there and see how much power is running through it.

when you say it cuts off, do you mean your car stalls? because a car can technically run without a battery it just wont start, so if thats happening, it could possibly have something to do with either the lack of choke controll is stalling the car, or your alternator is not providing enough power to keep the car running.
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Old 10-02-2009, 05:41 PM   #11
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Re: Battery keeps going dead.

Thanks for the reply. I called the auto parts place for a price quote on an alternator choke fuse. Maybe i got it wrong or him but he told me the price was $130 for a lousy fuse!!! So off to the junk yard i went for the part. There were plenty of Mits with alt choke fuses there. I popped that baby back in there and i has'nt blown yet. 2 days and the car has been running like a champ! The alt fuse that i grabbed at the yard has a thicker metal piece inside it. Maybe thats why it has'nt blown because maybe it is a better quality fuse. Perhaps that can help you in some way or another. Good luck with yours. Thanks man!
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Old 10-02-2009, 05:41 PM
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