Jump to content

Battery drain? Help!!


Acardiel11

Recommended Posts

Thank you all in advanced!
Just started having this battery drain recently. Started her up one evening and drove to have dinner. After dinner, I jumped back in the truck and went to start her. Nothing happened, no lights or clicking. Jumped her and she started right up and was able to drive home. The next day I went to go start her and nothing happened again. Before this issue, the starter was a little slow when cranking and so I went to oreillys and grabbed a reman starter. Also ended up replacing the alternator and battery after that. After searching on some forums, I did a few checks. I hooked up a test light to the negative cable and post, turned the key and the light came on. I pulled the fuses under the dash and the light stayed on, pulled out the cigarette lighter and light was still on, I disconnected the voltage regulator and the light turned off. Figured that was the issue so I went to oriellys and grabbed a voltage regulator, installed it, hooked up the test light again and the light came back on. I’m lost at this point. Any other things I should check out? Thanks guys!

Link to comment
  • Replies 26
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Stop replacing parts. The ones on there were never bad and you may put a bad something in and added to your problems. New is no guarantee that they are any good.

 

 

You want to check with a light and THE KEY OFF. Like you shut it off for the night. If the key is on.... so are the gauges and the ignition so yes the light will be on. Start with the fuses, then

 

unplug the alternator,

 

Is the dome light on???

 

Does you horn work?

 

are the brake lights on?

Link to comment

Yeah I know. I should have never bought parts. Smh....

Anyways, i did have the test light hooked up with the key off before I turned the key on. Test light was not lite up.

 

Brake lights are not on, fixed that problem.

Steering wheel was replaced with a different wheel and I just read on a forum that the wire could cause it to ground out and drain the battery. I pulled the wire out to make sure it’s not being grounded.

Dome light has no light bulb.

 

Thanks for the response!

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Stop replacing parts. The ones on there were never bad and you may put a bad something in and added to your problems. New is no guarantee that they are any good.

 

 

You want to check with a light and THE KEY OFF. Like you shut it off for the night. If the key is on.... so are the gauges and the ignition so yes the light will be on. Start with the fuses, then

 

unplug the alternator,

 

Is the dome light on???

 

Does you horn work?

 

are the brake lights on?

Yep, it's always something simple. Check the basics first.

Link to comment

Yeah I know. I should have never bought parts. Smh....

Anyways, i did have the test light hooked up with the key off before I turned the key on. Test light was not lite up.

 

Brake lights are not on, fixed that problem.

Steering wheel was replaced with a different wheel and I just read on a forum that the wire could cause it to ground out and drain the battery. I pulled the wire out to make sure it’s not being grounded.

Dome light has no light bulb.

 

Thanks for the response!

 

 

Then by this statement you have no draw when the car is sitting.

Link to comment

Battery is new he did mention.

 

With all that money on new parts, you could get a DC amp meter. Clamp that on the battery lead and you will have an idea of how much drain you are looking for. Multimeters with DC amp reading are valuable to have around anyway. I'd consider the horn on your steering wheel. The Datsun was switched negative, most parts are switched positive.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Yeah I know. I should have never bought parts. Smh....

Anyways, i did have the test light hooked up with the key off before I turned the key on. Test light was not lite up.

 

Brake lights are not on, fixed that problem.

Steering wheel was replaced with a different wheel and I just read on a forum that the wire could cause it to ground out and drain the battery. I pulled the wire out to make sure it’s not being grounded.

Dome light has no light bulb.

 

Thanks for the response!

 

 

There is no battery drain! if the light is out there's no current flow.

Link to comment

if you hooked test light up in series from the battery post to the cable with the test light in middle . and light did not come ON with key off. then there is no DRAIN. when key is ON and light comes on then shows you have test light hooked up correctly and it should drain. or dome light on ect......

 

now a weak alternator will act like a battery drain if lights and wipers are used say driving home at night and then in morning car don't start. One can buy a cheap Innova test battery volt meter  that plugs in the cig lighter and will show while driving if your holding a charge under load. Many version of this on Ebay/ amazon. Some are digital or lighted diodes. Simple to use and don't drain the battery

Link to comment

Mike is correct. Test light is hooked up with key off and there is no light lite up. Battery lasted over night and did a 60 mile drive this morning. I must have read a forum wrong about how to test for a drain. I thought key on with test light lite meant there was a drain. Before I replaced the reg, I was have symptoms of a bad regulator.

My bad guys! Haha thank you all!

Link to comment

Hang on you said the lights got dimmer and dimmer? That says the battery was charged up but not re charging and the lights slowly killed it. If the alternator was working it would have run on the output till you shut it off. So...

 

Does the red charge lamp come on when you turn the ignition to ON? 

 

Was the red charge light on while this was happening?

Link to comment

Sure sounds like an alternator issue. Or something preventing the alternator from working right. Loose belt, bad ground, stator dead,

 

I bought an Optima. While my alternator was dead (waiting on a new one), I drove that battery 50-70 miles per day, coming home with headlights, and often wipers., that Optima gave me two solid days before showing signs of low voltage. Then id charge it up at home and do it again. Those batteries are worth it, but you still have a problem charging. Test your alternator, then re-install all of the connections.

Link to comment

Yes it got dimmer and dimmer. Not sure on the red lamp light. I pulled the dash off a long time ago and didn’t label wires so I don’t believe that light is hooked up. It was working before I pulled the dash though. Let’s say the red lamp light was lite up. What does that tell you?

Link to comment

Yes it got dimmer and dimmer. Not sure on the red lamp light. I pulled the dash off a long time ago and didn’t label wires so I don’t believe that light is hooked up. It was working before I pulled the dash though. Let’s say the red lamp light was lite up. What does that tell you?

 

That lamp has to be in the circuit or the alternator won't energize. Sometimes if you rev it up there is enough residual magnetism to get it going. Then it will charge till you shut it off. But generally the reason the red light comes on with the ignition is to tell the driver that the bulb is good. If the bulb is good that alternator gets a mild 12v signal to energize the field coils. Better get that dash light fixed.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

That lamp has to be in the circuit or the alternator won't energize. Sometimes if you rev it up there is enough residual magnetism to get it going. Then it will charge till you shut it off. But generally the reason the red light comes on with the ignition is to tell the driver that the bulb is good. If the bulb is good that alternator gets a mild 12v signal to energize the field coils. Better get that dash light fixed.

This sounds promising.

Link to comment

 

 


Yes it got dimmer and dimmer. Not sure on the red lamp light. I pulled the dash off a long time ago and didn’t label wires so I don’t believe that light is hooked up. It was working before I pulled the dash though. Let’s say the red lamp light was lite up. What does that tell you?

 

How the hell do you operate without your gauges warning lights and a dash??????????????

 

 

White/Red stripe goes back to the alternator, it's the #6 position on the round plug but the other side of the lamp goes to the Yellow/Red wire that finds it's way to the fuse box and is turned on by the ignition switch..

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.