notrabies

Been having a series of issues with my Camaro over the past couple of months, but now the car's stopped running so its time to ask for help. Not sure how electronic the actual issues are, but since the result is a dead battery this seemed like a good place to start.
The most serious issue I've had is that I'm hearing an electrical sound even after the car's turned off. Its the same sound I hear when the engine is off but the car is on (so that I can listen to the radio), and while I suspected the alternator it was recently replaced and the sound doesn't appear to be coming from that side of the car.
The first time I heard it I turned the car on and off several times until I thought I couldn't hear it anymore, but the next time I attempted to drive it the battery was dead and the car was very hard to jump. Even after jumping it the car was displaying very low voltage even while driving, and after I reparked the car the same sound was audible. I attempted to restart the car but by then the battery was already too drained to start again, so I just disconnected the battery.

The second issue may be related, but with my luck it probably isn't. On occasion, and getting more frequently as time passes, when I attempt to start the car the starter won't make any sort of normal sound, but I get a sort of loud electric whirring sound instead. Removing the key and trying to start it again solves the issue, but sometimes it takes several attempts. I've heard it could be the starter or ignition, but I haven't had any professionals check it out yet.

Any advice would be appreciated, otherwise I'll just be getting it to a mechanic and letting him try and figure it out.

redneckjoe

you could pull the fuses one by one and check with the key off, to see if a circuit is draining your battery, with a multimeter.

sounds like you might need a starter and solenoid soon? or you could have some bad connections. probably a good idea to clean all the connections, battery, grounds, starter, etc. you might find something loose or corroded.

notrabies

Thanks for the advice, I'll check out the circuits as soon as I get my hands on a multimeter.
For the starter, is it located on the underside of the engine? A quick lookover of the engine bay didn't reveal anything starter shaped and the internet hasn't helped much either. I figure I'll replace the whole starter since a remanufactured one is not much more expensive than the solenoid by itself.
Concerning cleaning of the connectors, do you have a guide/technique you recommend or should I just get some sandpaper and a wire brush and get to work?

Scorpner

iTrader: (4)

You can find a lot useful info by searching. Here are a few threads that may help.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...d-battery.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...ain-issue.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...arly-need.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...s-dead-if.html

This one has some basic multi-meter pointers if interested:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ding-help.html

notrabies

Some good advice in there as well, but my concern with my car that I hadn't seen elsewhere was the electrical humming that came alongside (and is most likely causing) my battery drain. That started entirely out of the blue about 2-3 weeks ago and I figure some specific component went wrong, as battery drain hasn't been a problem I've had to deal with before now. Nonetheless I'll be checking the circuits with a multimeter to see if I can pinpoint it from there.

Scorpner

iTrader: (4)

You may be able to locate it via the humming, especially if you're pulling fuses to find it. Sometimes it can be a combination of things too. A meter will open your eyes to what's going on so you can see actual numbers and the changes while troubleshooting.
Make sure to get a meter that can read amps, that way when you remove a suspect part of the circuit you can see the actual drop.

You should have read that the battery can go bad as well and a bad one can drain on its own. A good indicator is a freshly charged battery dropping from 12v to 9v while it's cranking.
I made an adapter that plugs into the cig lighter so I can watch the voltage before and while it's turning over. It's also good for troubleshooting the charging system while driving. It frees up your hands and makes it a lot easier for general trouble shooting.

notrabies

Just an update on this, took it into my mechanic and the only thing he could find causing an electrical drain was the power antenna motor being permanently on, which he disabled; I hadn't noticed since the motor doesn't actually function.
However, the humming sound didn't occur when he was working on it (because that would have been far too convenient). On the way there and back the voltage gauge consistently read very low numbers (8v-10v), but the car drove fine with the only sign of a dying battery being very slow power windows. Unfortunately when I got home the humming sound returned, but it was after dark so I couldn't identify where it was coming from, but it did go away when the battery was unplugged.
Someone else thought it may have been the radiator cooling fan, which does seem possible, but more importantly I had the alternator and battery tested today, which turned up the new battery was already drained and that the alternator had died.
I stopped messing around with used alternators and put a new one in, and as soon as the battery finishes charging I'll put that in and give it a shot to see if the issue has been resolved.
Assuming the issue remains, what would I need to do with the fan? Could it be a bad relay or switch?

My mechanic also confirmed that the startup issue was indeed a bad starter, do you guys think a remanufactured unit would be alright or should I spring for a new one? Assuming I can jack the car up myself I should be able to install it fairly easily from what I hear, anything extra I need to worry about?