Leifmb

My 09 Z06 sat for about 2 days and wouldn't start. I know this is fairly common for Corvettes but I wonder why? I heard that Corvettes draw a lot of current while sitting, something like 200mA. So, I decided to test the current draw on my battery and I read -102.88mA. This figure is quite normal, as far as I know, for "most" modern vehicles-Right?

Here's how I tested it- I opened the rear hatch the evening before so the car would cut power to the lights that night and not in the morning when I wanted to test. I started by loosening the 10mm nut on the Negative terminal. Then I clipped on one of the multimeters terminals to the same negative terminal (not the battery post). Next, I set the meter to test current draw (most innexpensive meters may not have this setting), NOT Volts or something else. Then, I touched the other connector of the meter to the top of the Negative battery post while wiggling and eventually LIFTING OFF the Negative battery cable (while still holding the meters connector to the top of the battery terminal). Note: you can only lift the battery cable up and around the meter prod. Make sure not to touch the non-insulated prod to the battery cable or you will get bad data. By doing this, the electron flow to the car will NOT be broken and will instead continue to flow through the meter and be measured. If done properly, no window re-indexing or similar "disconected battery" situations will occur.
I'd be curious to know what others have for current draw. I think the spec of the car calls for under 200mA or so but am not sure on that.

If you attempt this (very easy), make sure the car is completely off.