Battery dies overnight
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
From: Land O Lakes, FL
Battery dies overnight
Need help with a friends 82 C.E.
The battery dies over night when connected. He replaced the battery and I replaced the alternator for him. When I drove the car to my house to replace the alternator I noticed the antenna was having trouble going down after the ignition was turned off and I could hear a relay clicking sound in the antenna. I thought A HA, found the battery drain. Replaced the alternator and with the antenna in the up position I disconnected the power antenna at the plug behind the left rear speaker. I gave him the bad news that he would need to replace the power antenna, and what I thought was the good news, I had found the power drain. I just talked to him and he said the battery is dead again. Anyone ever had this gremlin before?
(REVIVER)
The battery dies over night when connected. He replaced the battery and I replaced the alternator for him. When I drove the car to my house to replace the alternator I noticed the antenna was having trouble going down after the ignition was turned off and I could hear a relay clicking sound in the antenna. I thought A HA, found the battery drain. Replaced the alternator and with the antenna in the up position I disconnected the power antenna at the plug behind the left rear speaker. I gave him the bad news that he would need to replace the power antenna, and what I thought was the good news, I had found the power drain. I just talked to him and he said the battery is dead again. Anyone ever had this gremlin before?
(REVIVER)
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
From: Land O Lakes, FL
That is what I was going to do next but I was hopeing someone might have had this before and save me some troubleshooting time. I believe pulling one fuse at a time and checking for a ground on the back side of the holder should help me iscolate the bad circuit, wouldnt you say?
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 37
Likes: 0
From: Greer SC
On my '79 I had this problem. It turned out (I think) to be the seat belt / key warning buzzer.
The way I went about finding it was to install an ammeter in-line with the negative battery cable. I have a disconnect with a fused jumper (to keep radio presets). With the cable still connected, I pulled the fuse at the jumper and installed the leads to the ammeter in its place. Since I have the delay lights, I disconnected the driver's door switch and waited until the lights went out. Then I unscrewed the disconnect, sending all the current through the ammeter. It was about 150mA. I then started pulling fuses in the fuse panel until the current fell off. I tracked it down to the buzzer circuit using the service manual schematics. Once I pulled the buzzer out and replaced all the fuses, there was only the small current draw from the radio.
Good luck finding it, electrical problems have to be the worst to track down!
The way I went about finding it was to install an ammeter in-line with the negative battery cable. I have a disconnect with a fused jumper (to keep radio presets). With the cable still connected, I pulled the fuse at the jumper and installed the leads to the ammeter in its place. Since I have the delay lights, I disconnected the driver's door switch and waited until the lights went out. Then I unscrewed the disconnect, sending all the current through the ammeter. It was about 150mA. I then started pulling fuses in the fuse panel until the current fell off. I tracked it down to the buzzer circuit using the service manual schematics. Once I pulled the buzzer out and replaced all the fuses, there was only the small current draw from the radio.
Good luck finding it, electrical problems have to be the worst to track down!
