I pulled out all the fuses and 2 small relays that were in the fuse block under the hood on the driver side. I was told the alternater could cause a drain, so I unpluged the alternater too and still get a drain that’s killing the battery in a couple of days. Also, my ABS/ Traction control light is on, coult that be a related problem? I also have a remote car starter, which also opens the door locks and trunk, Could that cause a problem? What else can I try? Sorry about all the questions, but I’M FRUSTRATED!!
How are you measuring the drain? Have you tried taking the cable off the battery to see if the battery may have in internal problem?
Is that remote starter an after market? We see a lot of problems with them, although not specifically battery drain.
The large wire which attaches to the alternator with a nut (usually) is directly attached (electrically) to the battery positive terminal. If that large wire’s terminal is touching the body of the alternator, it’s a short to ground. If the alternator is defective internally ,and shorting to ground, the battery will discharge that way.
The battery can discharge in a similar way through the starter.
If the blocking diode in the alternator is shorted the drain could be through the large output wire of the alternator as Hellokit suggested. If you haven’t disconnected it yet try that. It is hot to the battery so don’t short it to ground. There should have been a fuse in the panel to disconnect that but there may be a fusible link used for that circuit.
There may also be a path being made through the fuses in the dash so I would check them also.
Can I get a blocking diode anywhere, or do I have to replace the alternater? Also, how do I check to see if there is a path being made through a fuse?
Are you frustrated enough that you would get a multimeter (“voltmeter”), an instruction book on its use from Radio Shack, or Sears, and track down the electrical short? Are you frustrated enough to do that? If not, take it to someone who can, and will. It’s a near impossible task to find an electrical fault without an instrument which can detect electricity.
The blocking diode I refered to in my last post is built into the alternator.
To do the testing needed to help you find the trouble having a DVM meter is really helpful. One that can handle 10 amps of current in case something is pulling a lot of current. From what you describe, I don’t think the problem you are having is pulling more than 1 amp.
One trick for trouble shooting this sort of problem is to rig up a 12 volt, 12 watt lamp with clip leads; disconnect the positive battery cable; connect the lamp leads from the battery terminal to the cable; and see if the light illuminates. If it does light, start removing fuses and disconnecting devices (like the alternator). When the light goes out you have narrowed the problem. Then you just disconnect each electrical device from that circuit until the fuse can be installed without the light illuminating. Then you can troubleshoot that device or replace it.
Hope that helps.
First things first. I’ll disconnect the hot wire to he alternater and see what happens. I’ll get back, Thank’s soo far.
I disconnected the large wire on the alternater. the one that comes from the Pos. battery post. It’s not draining. However, I found a lot of large amp fuses under a large plastic cover and stsrted to pull them, one by one. I found a 50 amp fuse that is listed as body 3. When I disconnect it, the drain is gone. I noticed that the car won’t crank while the fuse is out. It also controls th trunk light and opener, but when I disconnected thoes, the drain remained. I dont know what else that fuse controls. No other lights seemed to be on either. Could the problem be in the starter circuit?