hey, my battery wont hold a charge for more than a few days.. new battery so its not the battery... is there any easy way to check if there is a short anywhere? there are two wires hanging out of the side of the steering wheel, could that be the problem?



THANKS!

-Andrew

 

A short would blow a fuse or start a fire so I doubt there is a short.

A load or a draw is possible. A hand held amp meter can be used to locate a circut that is using current.

 

There can be a short without blowing a fuse. The easiest way to find out for sure is to get a cheap 12volt light of some kind.

I use a small light I bought at walmart that plugs into the cig lighter of the car and some small jumper wires. The gauge of the wires doesn't make all that much difference because the short may not be drawing much current. Which is why it may not be blowing a fuse.

Anyway, hook the light up in series with the positive post of your battery.

Jumper the positive battery cable to the light.
Jumper the other contact on the light to the battery.
Leave the negative battery cable connected.

If you have a short (close all the doors in the car) the light will come on. If the light does glow you can start pulling fuses under the dash. When the light goes out, you found the circuit the short is on.

One thing to be careful of when you start pulling fuses is that you will most likely have your door open. Which means your interior lights will be on. Make sure to pull that fuse first so you will know for sure when you find the correct fuse.

This works great to find possible shorts. I manages to find a short in my firebird like this... unfortunately. Nobody seems to know what the fuse goes to.

 

The wires hanging out is only an indication that someone incompetent has been hackin up the wiring in the car. It would need a complete inspection of the car to discover what else might have been done.
You can do like RehKal says, and connect a test light in series with the battery. It will light as long as there is something drawing power in the car. But, please connect it in series with the negative terminal/ post!
Failing that might lead to a situation where you suddenly hold a white hot wrench in your hand, if it touches ground as you work on the positive post..
ALWAYS disconnect the ground (negative) first, and connect it last!

 

RehKal: I agree with everything in your post except your definition of 'short'. What TexasSilhouette said is correct. A 'short' will blow a fuse or burn a wire.
I have used the method you described to check for draws on the battery to much success.
But, a short is a direct connection from the battery to ground and will produce enough heat to cause something to burn.
Using and understanding the correct terms is important.

 

Very very late at night, when all is quiet, open the hatch and put ear on hump - listening for the fuel pump. If you can hear it running with the key in your pocket, you have a bad oil pressure sending unit.

Mine did this - battery dead after about 2-3 days - and frustrated me to no end, until very late at night I heard the fuel pump running - I couldn't hear the pump running during the day with cars on roads, lawn mowers, kids, etc. - until very late one night when all was real quiet in da hood.

I know, it's crazy - but try it - OPSU is only about $30.