Ive got a power drain in my 84,whats the best way to find it.No lights are on,nothing out of place here.

 

The best way is to start eliminating circuits. Charge the battery, check the amp draw with everything off. Then start removing fuses one by one, checking the draw each time. If you're lucky it will actually be a fused curcuit that is causing the draw.

 

First check at night if your underhood lights are on, check for vanity mirror lights on, check for console compartment light on, check your door lights (middle of door). Do you have a radar detector, an aftermarket alarm, an aftermarket radio or audio amplifier? Check them first. If none are on, remove the negative cable from the battery and place an ammeter from the negative battery terminal to the negative cable lug. Start the ammeter out at several amp full scale because the courtesy lights will come on and can damage an ammeter set to 100 milliamps full scale. When the courtesy lights time out you can then measure the leakage current. GM says it shouldn't be higher than 50 milliamps. My 87 draws 27 ma. To find the circuit that is drawing current, start removing fuses one at a time and watch the ammeter. Remove the courtesy light fuse first because you will have the passenger door open to remove fuses. There are about 8 wires that have a fusible link and these need to be disconnected one at a time to see if they are the cause of leakage. I don't know where these are connected on an 84, but on my 87 there is a jump start bolt behind the battery where these 8 wires are connected. Good luck.
Keep in mind that if you have normal leakage current, lead acid batteries at the end of their life won't hold a charge and self discharge. Lead particles flake off the plates and when they build up high enough to touch the plates, cause a leakage path and discharge the battery and then its new battery time.

 

 

A friend of mine had a random power drain in his car. No lights on, no sounds from within, everything looked fine when he shut it off and locked it up. Turned out to be his power antenna sucking the battery power away for some reason... it was really weird..

~Derek

 

I just took my 84 month warranty battery back after 11 months. I got tired of trickle charging it back up to start the car. I have disconnected the underhood lights as mentioned. I tried putting a multi meter set on Amps between the terminal and the battery before hooking it up, On a 10 Amp scale it did not move, on a 300ma scale it went off scale and then drained down to zero. I know the clock and security system and computer draw a little even with car off. Thanks for fuse box idea. That will be my next test, seeing the car sits for weeks at a time in this cold winter period.

 

buy a battery tender, thirty bucs, or so.

every '84 discharges the battery in a hurry

 

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Race On!!!

 

Ive had this car since 87 and have never had a problem before.An 84 is no different than any other year as far as power demands go.I dont drive this car too much anymore so maybe im being punished.

 

Disconnect one of the battery cables and connect an ammeter in series with the cable and battery post. Note the draw and then start pulling and replacing fuses until you find one that significantly reduces the draw. If it is not a fused circuit, try disconnecting other things such as headlights, fusible links, etc.

Good luck,