I have a battery drain and found it in the courtesy light circuit, does anyone have a wiring diagram of that. The lights light when the door is opened, it a 71 coupe.
thanks for your help

 

any body with ideas atleast what could be wrong

 

If it has the timer they can cause a drain on the battery.

 

I have a small battery drain in that area too. What I did was just install a battery cut-off switch. Turn the **** in to start the car and when it's back home, turn the **** out to shut the current off. It's also a good way to prevent car fires and your car getting stolen if you remove the **** entirely. It's kind of a band-aid I know, but just didn't want to rip the whole dash apart.

 

On my 78 there was a time delay circuit located behind the glove box. You can disconnect the two wire plugs from the circuit board and plug them together. The plugs where designed on the 78 to jump the delay circuit. Solved that battery drain.
I am looking for a picture.

 

this is on a 71 it has no timmer od delay, i doo have a battery cut off, but i would like the lights to come on when i open the door, for now i just pulled the fuse, hopefully someone will chime in.
thanks guys

 

I can send you a '71 wiring diagram in pdf format, but the file size is too big to attach here. Send me an email and I'll send it to you.

 

hipocars1 sent you a pm
thanks

 

If you pull the bulbs does it still show a drain? Could be the buzzer for if the key is left in the ignition, possibly something to do with an alarm system, or some after market adder. The buzzer is mounted on the drivers fender well on my 69. Hopefully the wiring diagram will be helpful.

 

Glove box light behind the seats ? Clock ?

 

Well the clock doesn't work and I'll check the glove light, it drains with the key out. The buzzer never worked either so i will wait for the wiring diagram so I can trace the wires

 

Clock doesn't have to work to draw battery down, also cig. lighter is on that fuse. Key buzzer is not on that circuit. Just about every orange wire is connected to that fuse.

 

i will have to check none of those worked before and now after 6 years i have the drain.
thanks for all of things that could be bad

 

So exactly how much drain are you seeing in milliamp.

 

Pull the bulb on the center storage compartment behind the seats and see if it stops the draw.
Had this problem on my '71.
The latch wasn't securing the door in the closed position.
The door appeared to be closed, but popped up just enough to trigger the lamp to come on.

 

ok i finally got to look at my problem and this is what i found, in the glove box behinf the seats there is no bulb or socket just a orange and black wire hanging there, i disconected the cig lighter, the switch on the passenger door has 1 white wire and the switch on the drivers door has 1 white wire. when i tested this with my test light it was very dim almost could'nt see it lit. this gives you guys alittle more to go by

 

anybody

 

It still could be the clock. Once in a rare while my clock will start running a bit and then stop again.

 

thanks, I gues I'll have to pull the clock and check that

 

It's probably going to be something hard to disconnect , something really screwy. Maybe the clock......I have the same issue .....since I bought the car.

When I bought the car ...one of the courtesy floor lamps wasn't working. I checked it ....no bulb.......ok......so I put a bulb in. Open and close door ....hum it's working . Next day battery was drained dead.

So took the bulb back out. Not a problem . ....I just don't know...

another vette C3 vette I once owned with pretty much same issue you got ......was one of the door switch ....door ajar ....that screws into the body down near the seal plate was loose. So I tightened it and put the leads back on from the rear wheel well..... Ok ...all I got for that effort was a dead battery .

So ....there are reasons people pull wires off switches and remove bulbs ...the cars are just fraught with screwy stuff like that. I had a 79 too , had courtesy lamp delay box ...was drainng battery ....and then a bad clutch switch or backup also drained that cars battery. I d look at all the mechanical switches for everything .

Because something somewhere is always screwed up ......with a freak n fiberglass car you d think they wouldn't have all these screwy electrical issues. My old Camaro has none.

I'll bet the floorboard courtesy lamp circuit or the door ajar is screwed up , also ....those damn theft horns under the rear wheel area ...short out too...just a turrible place to put something electrical. And the screwy clocks are always messed up.

I d investigate one circuit ....door ajar etc at a time dis able it, then see if the drain disappears . Eventually you find it.

Let us know