Battery Drain

[sb69chevy]

It seems that ever since I put in a new horn relay and had the horn hooked up to the button, my battery has drained. It will start w/ a jump, but after sitting will not restart. I have unplugged the horn from the relay and turned off the radio, but still no progress. The alternator is working correctly. Do you all think I have a short somewhere, or have I done irreparable damage to the battery over the last month or so w/ drainage? Any other obvious places to check?

P.S. Have taken the battery in twice and they have said it's good, although I'm not too sure on this one.

[76bonanza]

did you try a different relay? Maybe the relay is bad? I hate electric stuff. I see you are from springfield I live down by Fort Leonard wood.

[Longhorn Man]

With the horn relay hooked up, does the horn work?

[herb101]

May or may not be relavent but....I had the same problem lately. Battery would charge just fine when the truck was running, but sitting for very long would draw it down to about 3 volts!!

The issue with mine seemed to be an internal short or other problem inside the alternator. It would charge fine, but caused a path to ground when not running. What tipped me off to it was when I charged the battery in the truck one day - after a couple hours on the charger, the alternator was as hot as if the motor had been running.

I fixed the issue last night with a swap up to a 140 amp internally regulated unit from a mid-90s F-Body. HUGE, BIG, LARGE and HUGE improvement all around.

Herb

[72 68 andmore]

mine was the external voltage regulator cause the alternator to draw power so I bought a new alternator with the regulator built in and disconnected the external one via instructions in the FAQ's here. Works great.

[matthufham]

bad battery, which happened to go bad after the horn relay install?

[sb69chevy]

Yes, horn works when harness is plugged into the relay. Horn never worked, so I changed the relay, still no horn. I guess it wasn't hooked up in the wheel. Got it hooked up when some front end was worked on. When I went to pick up the truck, it wouldn't start. I'm thinking maybe it is in the column and not the new relay??

[Overkill67]

I just found mine (I hope anyway) by accident yesterday. My son and I were working on another project (big arse homemade log splitter) when he tripped and caught himself and pushed off the door, shaking the truck. It then started down the drive way.........it's a 4 speed 1 ton. Luckly I had converted to HEI and ran the hot lead via a toggle switch because the ignition switch shorted and was cranking the motor over in 2nd gear!!

That was the only thing I didn't look at or replace. Went out this morning (put the new one in yesterday) and badda bing she fired right up.

I am sure the neighbor across the road is glad I didn't wire the dizzy to the ignition switch lol we got her stopped 3 feet from his mail box!

[sb69chevy]

Overkill, so your problem was in the ignition switch?

[Overkill67]

yep, last place I would have thought to look. Just started it again this morning and no need for the jumpper box

[sb69chevy]

Well, I guess I'm off to the store to get a new battery. Not sure that's it, but I'll find out soon I suppose.

[sb69chevy]

Ended up not getting a battery. Just for fun, I tried to start the truck this morning, and it fired up right off the bat. Battery showed 880 cranking amps when tested today, and wouldn't even turn over yesterday. I'm really confused by this.

Went back out to go to work, and...nothing. Surprise, surprise.

[Overkill67]

is this an everyday thing? or was it?

[sb69chevy]

It has been an everyday think since the horn was hooked up in the steering wheel...or that was the first time I had noticed the engine not trying to turnover at start up. Fired right up w/ jump. I have horn harness unplugged from horn relay and radio off. Very weird.

This same thing DID happen last year around this time, but it was more intermittent and I never tried jumping it then. It was also after the regulator went out on the alternator and fried the old battery. Changed alternator and battery and problem fixed, or so I thought.

[69TowRig]

I'm sure you've tried this, but have you unplugged the column harness and left it overnight? Wondering if the button in the steering wheel is constantly shorted and trying to send power to the horn relay all the time, but the horn itself doesn't work so you don't know it. Do you get voltage at the horn relay plug all the time?

[sb69chevy]

I've unplugged the horn power supply from the fuse box to the horn relay. Horn does work when button is pushed. Where would the column harness be plugged in?

[jhow66]

Originally Posted by sb69chevy

I've unplugged the horn power supply from the fuse box to the horn relay. Horn does work when button is pushed. Where would the column harness be plugged in?

Right below the column where it goes thru dash. Remove the metal piece that covers the rubber around column and you should see it. Unplug it. Take a test light and touch one clip to hot source on fuse panel and the other clip to the black wire that goes uo to the horn button. If it lights , your horn wire is grounded all the time. (the black wire is a ground wire not a power wire). Next take jumper wire and hook to the black wire on the other end of plug and ground it. Horn should blow. If not first make sure horn is grounded. If it is and still does not blow, the horn relay still should click when grounding the black wire. If it clicks, then try a horn that you know that blows.
Below is a photo of the horn relay-red wire to power at fuse box--green wire to horns--black wire to horn button.
NOTICE-the about statements carries no warrenty implied or otherwise (disregard the plug here text)