I need some more wiring help.

[steedalx]

To sum things up my battery is being drained when the key is "off". I am tired to pulling the negative battery cable off so I am starting to troubleshoot the problem. So far I pulled ALL of the fuses out and unplugged the voltage regulator going to the alternator. It is still pulling power from somewhere. I am by no means an expert in this area so if anybody has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

To determine that it is pulling power this is what I have done. I pulled the negative wire off of the battery, I used a pair of vice grips and connected the clip end of a test light to the battery and "stuck" the pointed end of the test light into the negative wire. If I am correct there there should be no light if no power is being pulled, but obviously the light is on. Is this the best(correct) way to test??


Thanks

 

[hawkeye649]

Normally an Ammeter connected between one of the posts and the cable will tell you. Remove one of the fuses at a time, and see what changes. But you have done this, so I would try disconnecting things like the starter, etc, etc. If you don't have an ammeter then your test light idea should work.
Good luck /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[dyeager535]

So if you removed all the fuses in the panel, and it's still drawing, is there anything else added in that perhaps bypasses the stock fuse panel? A lot of wiring gets added to vehicles as they age (unfortunately) and it seems 9 times out of 10, electrical problems are caused by the "new" wiring.

Even with a radio that uses presets, I doubt you should get anywhere near enough draw to power a test light. IIRC, draw with the key off is usually measured in milliamps.

Did you pull the door switches if you have them? Those can cause problems, not sure if they are on a fuse or not though.

 

[diesel4me]

I noticed on my 74 GMC when I did this test the test light would stay lit very dimly,like 3 volts was going through it--I disconnected fuses and all suspected wires and it stll glowed dimly--finally the last wire I pulled off put it out--the pink hot wire to the HEI distributor!.I checked my other vehicles(all GM's with HEI)and they did the same thing!--but the batteries dont get drained in the other vehicles(I concluded the 74 had a bad cell in the battery)--this has me puzzled--how the hell can that pink wire have juice when the key is in the "off" posistion???--And why is it only enough to make the test light glow dimly???.I wonder if any of you with HEI could do this test,and see if yours does the same thing--I cant figure it out!.I guess it doesnt affect the vehicle any--the batteries dont go dead in the other vehicles,just curious as to why it does this!. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[dyeager535]

To my knowledge, that shouldn't be the case. No wiring diagram here to check, but that should be something on the ignition switch...nothing on the trucks HEI run lower than 12V that I can think of.