battery drain

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by therex

tested it with out positive cable, there was only a .58 draw and with it on was the same thing .58 but now i have no way for the battery to charge...

What about the other alternator connector (field coil) - was that connected when you tested? If not, I'd test it again. If you're talking Amps here, 0.58A is A LOT of current - at that rate of current draw, you'll kill a battery pretty quickly.

To troubleshoot these kinds of problems, here's what I'd do:

1. Disconnect positive battery cable, and connect an ammeter in series between the battery + post and the + battery cable. Make sure it's an ammeter/digital multimeter that is rated to read up to at least 2 Amps without getting fried.

2. With every electrical gadget in the car turned off, read the current. If all is well, you should see a current draw of anywhere from 10~100 milliamps. This is a ballpark figure, and assumes you'll only have things like the clock, ECU, and a few other low current electrical loads drawing current when the key is off (e.g., radio memory presets, aftermarket gauges w/memory, etc.). This is normal.

3. If you read anything significantly higher than this (you were reading ~580mA), either something is on that shouldn't be on that you may have missed (e.g., glovebox light on when the door is closed?) or you have a short or defective circuit component somewhere. Start by looking closely at ALL the lights, and verifying that none are on.

4. If that test passes, then with the ammeter still connected, you'll want to remove fuses one-by-one in sequence, observing the ammeter each time you remove one. If the current draw drops significantly, you'll know you have a problem within the circuit whose fuse you just removed. Time to crack out the FSM/wiring diagrams and start troubleshooting that particular circuit.