Battery Draining

[BigFishBobby]

My battery is draining on me and I don't know where it is going. It takes about two days of sitting and it will be dead. The battery is new and I have unhooked it from the truck and the truck will run on the alternator alone, so I dont think the alternator is my problem. Where should I start to look? Common fixes? Thanks.

[ClassicRedneck05]

get u a voltage Regualator set it on OHms connect it up to ur batt then have someone go pull you fuses till the # goes down

[BigFishBobby]

Sounds good. I will do that this weekend. I take it this is a wiring issue? Find the fuse that is draining the battery, figure out what that fuse runs, and either find the break in the wire or re-wire it all together? I know I sound like a retard, but I really know this little.

[ClassicRedneck05]

Originally Posted by BigFishBobby

Sounds good. I will do that this weekend. I take it this is a wiring issue? Find the fuse that is draining the battery, figure out what that fuse runs, and either find the break in the wire or re-wire it all together? I know I sound like a retard, but I really know this little.

i know this cause im an electronic wiz lol i used to have the SAME prob u did lol then i rewired my whole truck no more prob but all u gota do is find whats causing it by process of elemination once u find it pull the fuse and if u have the old BUS fuses im guessing its gona be hard to read what fuse it is lol or mayby not but if it is send me a PM and a pic of which one it is and i can tell you probably then all ya gota do i like u said trace it down... mine ended p being the dome light somehow

[BigFishBobby]

sweet I'll PM you when I figure out which one it is. Thanks.

[70c10]

Bobby, go to your local parts store (Autozone or Advance auto parts) and have them test your electrical charging system for free!. It is possible that you got a bad battery, but unlikely.

[67Fleet]

I had similar problem. I had removed and replaced my steering wheel, and my horn was unhooked. I guess I damaged the horn button connector on the steering wheel when I replaced it. It was causing the horn to blow constantly, only I didn't know it because I didn't have one hooked up! It was just enough to drain the battery every few days just like yours. I unplugged the relay and was good.

[mac]

Or, its possible you have a shorted diode in the alternator that is draining backward thru the alt to ground. It acts like a dome lite left on but pulls battery voltage down the the point the battery may not ever fully recover or fully charge again even if its new. If you have reversed polarity during a recharge or a jump start, or even sparked jumper leads together, it may have been enough to take out a diode. Get the free charging system check done before you spend any money.

[BigFishBobby]

Thanks guys. I just checked the fuses. No changes in the ohms. I need to check the alternator.

[Critter]

It is possible that you have a short before the fuse block. My + cable has a couple of differnet wires coming off of it. Only one of them runs direclty to the fuse box. Just a thought, but you might want to keep it in mind. I had the same problem but mine turned out to be the horn issue like 67Fleet talked about. Oh yeah, I found that using a test light is much more convinient than an Volt meter. You can see bulb shining from farther away. For instance, when you pop you head up from under the dash to look at the battery area.

[BigFishBobby]

Where is the horn relay?

[71MUTT]

It's about 2" to the right of the fuse box. A two inch metal box with a two prong plug.

[BigFishBobby]

A buddy of mine told me to sit in the cab and have someone else touch the positive battery wire to the battery. He said if I could hear a sparking sound in the cab, that was the short making the noise I heard. I did it, and I can hear it. Is all of that true?

Question #2 - Can I just unplug the horn relay without any other problem arising? ( I dont have a horn anyhow)

[Critter]

Originally Posted by BigFishBobby

A buddy of mine told me to sit in the cab and have someone else touch the positive battery wire to the battery. He said if I could hear a sparking sound in the cab, that was the short making the noise I heard. I did it, and I can hear it. Is all of that true?

Question #2 - Can I just unplug the horn relay without any other problem arising? ( I dont have a horn anyhow)

You might be able to here the short like that, depends on how direct of a short it is. You will definitely here it "click" if it is the horn relay because the contacts will immediately close when they get power.

Just unplug the relay, it won't cause any problems.

[69TowRig]

I just found a short on mine on the radiator core support where a wire splice was "leaking" to ground when moisture showed up. Left a blue-ish powder mark on the sheetmetal (looked kind of like when the battery starts corroding). I cut those old splices off, soldered and shrink-wrapped and my problems went away. It was draining the battery every couple of days.

[Sweet72]

If you can borrow a good multimeter capable of reading amps, connect it in series with the battery neg. cable. Disconnect the battery negative cable, set the meter up to read DC amps, put the red lead on the batt. negative terminal and the black lead to the negative batt. cable(aligator clips work best here). Caution: DO NOT turn your ignition key on or it may blow the fuse in the meter. If you are getting a reading on the meter indicating that something is drawing current, then do as ClassicRedneck05 suggests and pull one fuse at a time until the current reading drops to 0.

[BustedTruck]

I agree use a multimeter set on amps. Its probably the best way. You may have a small amount of draw if you have a radio with memory. I think anything over 50 milliamps you need to be concerned with.

[Wootdog]

I agree with the aforementiioned remedies but I have another. Do you have the original type of alternator or do you have a one wire hot rod type alternator? If you have one where it is a one wire, you may be losing your voltage and or amps going through the fuse block. I ran another large gauge wire back to the battery direct and no longer have a voltage/ampere loss.
My two cents. Kerry
PS and in the electronics field we have a saying of KISS. Keep it simple stupid. I have found alot of problems with prior owners installing things like stereos when they didn't have a clue.
Merry Christmas everyone.

[BigFishBobby]

Thanks guys. I am going to tackle it tomorrow. I am thinking the short is where I am hearing the clicking noise in the dash. Somewhere around the radio/cigarette lighter/heater area. I'm gonna pull the radio tomorrow and see what I can find. Hopefully, it will be simple and I will find it. If not, I'll have a bunch more retard questions for you tomorrow I'm sure. LOL

[BigFishBobby]

Ok, I think I found my source of the battery drainage. Like a moron I've been leaving the truck with the ignition in the accessory mode. So this leads to a series of questions....

#1 - Can everyone remove their keys from the ignition in the accessory mode or do I need to fix this?

#2 - Would leaving the ignition in the accessory mode (even with any accessories off) kill the battery in a couple days?

#3 - What kind of moron leaves their truck in the accessory mode for days at a time and doesnt ever notice it? - I know that answer.

[69TowRig]

First off, good detective work.

#1 No, your lock cylinder is worn out. One of the first things I changed on mine, could remove the key in any position.

#2 It could, depends on if anything gets energized if the switch is on. You could have a minor short downstream of the switch somewhere too. If I recall correctly nothing is actually "on" if all the accessories are turned off when in acc. position.

[BigFishBobby]

69TowRig, Did you do the lock cylinder yourself? How difficult is it to change?

[truckdude239]

at my old job we had a 70 chevy c-30 people would do that. the key cylider is not that hard to do insert your key turn to acc insert a small push pin or something in to hole and pull i believe thats all there is too it

[Critter]

Originally Posted by truckdude239

at my old job we had a 70 chevy c-30 people would do that. the key cylider is not that hard to do insert your key turn to acc insert a small push pin or something in to hole and pull i believe thats all there is too it

The little hole is only about .25" away from the key hole. I usually use a paper clip with one side pulled out strait. Put the key in the off position, push the paper clip in the small hole, and turn the key to the accesory position while holding the paper clip in. There is a little "button" inside that you are pushing with the paperclip. A little spray oil before you start will help things alot.