Battery Draining please help!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 944
Likes: 11
From: Davie Florida
Maybe the battery itself is no good or Something must be staying on,
Maybe lights on hood arent shutting off even when closed ?
I think I know one way you can find what is draining the Battery,
Pull a few fuses when you park the car at night, If you still have juice when you get up in the morning you know it is on one of the circuits of the fuses you pulled...
If the batt is still dead the next morning, Replace the ones you pulled & pull a couple more & continue process until you narrow it down & pinpoint what it is...
Just a thought, Trying to help....
Ant....
Maybe lights on hood arent shutting off even when closed ?
I think I know one way you can find what is draining the Battery,
Pull a few fuses when you park the car at night, If you still have juice when you get up in the morning you know it is on one of the circuits of the fuses you pulled...
If the batt is still dead the next morning, Replace the ones you pulled & pull a couple more & continue process until you narrow it down & pinpoint what it is...
Just a thought, Trying to help....
Ant....
Last edited by ant-knee470; Nov 26, 2009 at 07:40 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 10,428
Likes: 9
From: Southside of Western Norte Americano State of Confusion, ColoFornia
St. Jude '13
Have the battery load tested.. Autozone and checker can both do this.. if the battery has a bad cell it is probably only taking a surface charge. there is always some small amount of current drain on modern electronic cars.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
At night check for underhood lights, vanity mirror lights, center console light, door map lights. Do you have a CB, GPS, radar detector, aftermarket alarm, radio, audio amplifier? Check em. GM says leakage current should not exceed 50 milliamps, my 87 draws 27 ma. and I have no battery problems. Remove the neg batt cable and connect an ammeter from the battery post to the battery cable and pull the courtesy light fuse so you can keep the passenger door open and not have to wait for the courtesy lights to time out while you pull fuses one at a time watching for a drop in leakage current. If you would tell us what year C4 you have, further help could be offered because early C4's have circuits with fuseable links going to a bolt behind the battery and those need to be removed one at a time while watching the ammeter and later C4's have a fuse block near the battery.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 602
Likes: 0
From: North Bay Ontario
If it's not your battery failing...and if you have sport seats, the toggle switches can get dirty, broken or just disintegrate inside and short out. This will kill your battery in a few hours or less - been there!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,105
Likes: 126
From: S.L.C. UT
Here is the best way to check for a draw on the battery. Pull either the pos or neg cable off the battery. The neg might be easier. Put a test light, one end attached to the cable, and the other end attached to the battery post itself. make sure everything is turned 0ff. If the test light is on you have a draw on the battery. The brighter it is, the bigger the draw. And small light is a small draw. The next step is pull fuses one at a time until the light goes out. Then you have located the circuit it is on, then you can find whatever the draw is on that circuit. Make sure when checking for a draw, all doors are closed, lights off ect. even any under the hood lights are off. Anything like that left on will show a draw on the battery. But that is the proper procedure to check for a draw. You can susbsitute a DVOM meter for a test light, But a basic simple test light will do the job just fine.
But make sure the battery and cables are good before you do anything.
But make sure the battery and cables are good before you do anything.
Last edited by tpi 421 vette; Nov 27, 2009 at 02:03 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,363
Likes: 7
From: 1994 LT1 Coupe 6-speed with FX3 & 2000 LS1 Vert 6-Speed with F45 Hunterdon County, NJ
Also presume the alarm is now arming itself and you are NOT leaving the key in the ignition (as this prevents the CCM and PKE from going to 'sleep' to drop the normal draw to just milli-amps).
Have you checked the power antenna? This is another common fault point that drains the battery. What can happen is the antenna motor does not shut-off, but overheats, pops its circuit breaker, then it resets, and runs again. Likely it is powered from a fusible-link, but you could pull the relay for an overnight test (relay is the trunk area behind the rear trim panel).
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 219
Likes: 0
From: Houston TX
Ok guys sorry to leave info it is a 93 LT1 6SPD. standard seats.
p.s. Guys when i turn the car off there is a weird buzzing/humming sound from the dash by the fuse box.
p.s. Guys when i turn the car off there is a weird buzzing/humming sound from the dash by the fuse box.
Last edited by -WhItE_NoIsE-; Nov 27, 2009 at 11:50 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 20,170
Likes: 672
From: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
St. Jude '03 thru '24
One of the most common troubleshooting techniques is to place an Amp meter across the batt and with the ignition key off start pulling fuses and watching the amp meter.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 219
Likes: 0
From: Houston TX
Yeah i know about doing that just want to see if this is a common problem? Also the last thing i want to do is that, just droped new motor in the vette in my single car garage at my apartment with just a stanley rachet kit. lol
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 20,170
Likes: 672
From: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
St. Jude '03 thru '24
