Hey everyone,

my car is constantly being drained of power. I’ve installed a new battery, last year a reman ac Delco alternator, and installed new aftermarket vortex style fans in the engine bay (I upgraded the fan amp as well so it wouldn’t short anything out).

I’m not sure if it’s because it’s at the shop and they just let it sit there and not run it, but it’s becoming problem after problem. Any help I would appreciate. Thanks.

 

How much current is flowing?

"Upgrade fan amp" has nothing whatsoever to do with "short anything out". Not saying it wasn't A Good Idea or any such thing; only, totally and completely unrelated in any way to the matter at hand.

 

I should also have added:

What aftermarket electronics are in the car? (stereo, alarm, remote start) How are they installed? Does the wiring look almost factory neat and orderly, or is it more like a bird's nest?

 

I don’t know what the current draw is. At the moment the car is currently at a shop due to the shifting/transmission problems. I’ve gone through the car and cleaned up most of the wiring under the hood and around the radio area so it’s pretty solid. Radio is stock again, no aftermarket alarm, horn hasn’t worked ever since I got the car. But at this point I’ve decided to sell the car. With the estimate coming in for a new transmission and the body work needed I don’t have time for this large of a project to continue on.

 

Electrical work??? That's not a "project"; it's hardly even ... effort. Car electric stuff is EEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZY. Hardly anything is any eeeeeezzzzier.

Disconnect the red battery cable and put your ammeter in between the batt terminal and the cable connector. See how much current is flowing. Something in the neighborhood of 10 - 25 mA (.01 - .025 amps) is pretty normal. Any higher than that, you've got a problem. Start by pulling fuses one at a time to see if you can localize it. If you're lucky it'll be the CTSY fuse and it'll turn out to be something simple.

Be aware, it might not be a continuous drain. I recall a friend of mine who bought a new 85 Vette in 85. He lived, worked, and went to school all within less than a half-mile of each other, so he walked or rode his bike for his daily routine during the summer. After about 2 weeks, the batt would be FLAT DEAD. After about the 5th time of having the dealer come pick it up on a wrecker, he had his Simpson 260 hooked up to it (google it), and was standing there watching it scratching his head as he looked at the 15 mA draw with it hooked up on the 10 amp range, and all the sudden it SLAMMED to the right, and after about 2 seconds, dropped back to just barely off of zero. He set up a video camera to watch it (remember, this was 1985) and discovered that about every 30 minutes or so, it would do that. He found that it wasn't anything on any of the fuses. He got the FSM so that he had the full power distribution diagrams (I HIGHLY recommend that you get yourself the FSM for your car for the wiring diagrams if nothing else) and discovered that if he unplugged the power seat circuit breaker, it quit. Come to find out, the driver's seat harness was slightly misrouted, and the Big Red Wire feeding it, had chafed to the track; what was happening was that the circuit breaker would reset, the shorted wire would draw untold amps until it tripped the breaker, 20 - 30 minutes later the breaker would reset, and the cycle would repeat. Not saying this exact same scenario would apply to your car, but you can get an idea of how diligent you may have to be to find it.

This might be somewhat of a clue. The factory wiring didn't need any "cleaning up", unless it's been bathed in oil for a hundred years or something, and then all it needed was a can of engine degreaser and a trip to the quarter car wash. If you did any "cleaning up" more than that, like for instance if involved dykes and strippers (hehehe) and such as that, you probably installed a bug in it yourself. Go back and check your work. Maybe, UNDO whatever "cleaning up" you did, and put it back the way it came. If the "cleaning up" involved anything aftermarket, then "clean up" whatever it is OUT OF the car.

 

All I did was upgrade the fans and rip out the aftermarket stereo and subwoofer that were installed and went back to stock. That’s it. I double checked all of my connections, soldering, crimping, everything and had my friend who is good with cats check my work out. No hack jobs, no short cuts. The car was driving just fine, no power drains, nothing until the shifting cable broke and the transmission crapped itself. The shop just said that it was draining power, and had to jump the car multiple times in order to start it up. But, the car has been sitting at the shop for the last 3 1/2 weeks. If I had to guess that’s probably why the battery has been draining. They haven’t been starting it up and Running at like they should. But again, that’s just a guess. Either way, right now I’m between a rock and a hard place because if the main problem is the transmission and will require getting a new one ( or a rebuilt one), It’s going to be around four grand according to the tech at the shop. And that’s just a rough quote.

 

OK fine.

So, what's the current flowing out of your battery? When you HOOKED UP YOUR METER AND GOT THE READING, what did it say? After all, this is YOUR car, no??? Don't you pride yourself on KNOWING what's going on within it?

Protest all you want, "shop" until the cows come home, whatever.

Although, I'm kinda curious... what is this "shop" you speak of? Is it like the place my daughter and my wife go sometimes to buy handbags and girl shoes and other such stuff I have no knowledge of? I'm not sure what that has to do with REPAIRING A CAR? Please help me to understand. I'm not very bright you know, all I know is, when MY car is broke, I get up off the couch and quit posting stooooopid crap on teh Interwebz and FIX IT. Not too hard really. Is that related to this "shop" thing you are speaking of somehow?

 

Lol, Whoa, hold on sport. Let’s Dial it back a bit, shall we? To answer your question, I don’t know what the voltage output for the battery is yet. It’s currently at an Auto repair shop getting the transmission checked out and I got out of work late, so I wasn’t able to go and check it out. But, as soon as I do, I can personally message you if you like.

Now, champ. I hope that answers that. And remember, it’s not good etiquette to derail a thread with your backhanded trolling comments. Let’s keep it civil, yes?

 

Sofa motivates me to be a better mechanic. Whenever my car is blowing its breaker, lights turning on and off by themselves, fusebox shorting out on its own filth, gauges going every which way, wires all teal with corrosion in the splits, all I think of is EEEEEEEZZZZZZZY. And some day I hope to believe it.

 

Heck, with advice like EEEEEEEZZZZZZZY and a good chip on your shoulder, we can be just like just like that: EEEEEEEZZZZZZZY. #lifegoals

 

years ago one of my power doorlock buttons stuck "in", that killed the battery and was hard to find, found it by accident.

 

Going to need to get more sophisticated with your problem solving if you're going to whip this one.

I could explain what to do but Sofa already covered it. Good news is he doesn't require much thanks for his efforts, just being able to belittle you is reward enough.