page305 Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Pretty much what the topic says, if I let it sit for more than a day the battery is 100% dead. Not even an interior light or door lock noise. By the way; this is for my beater car (96 Olds Aurora). Sorry for the off topic post, but the Aurora forums are pretty much useless as far as technical grease monkey talk. Does anyone know how to test to find a small leak or short? Special tool or technique? Any help would be MUCH appreciated. All I know about the car is that it had an aftermarket "self install" alarm and a subwoofer. I checked for loose speaker wires and also pulled the fuses for the alarm system. It still drains. I also know that there is a gremlin in the heated seats and lumbar cushions. Sometimes the buttons work, other times you have to turn the fan on then off to get the heated seats to turn on. Thanks all, Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireman31 Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Jim, time for a draw test. Get a Multimeter that can read Amps, hook it up to the battery to see how much draw there is, then start pulling fuses until the draw goes away. This should help you isolate the draw.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
page305 Posted September 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Dan, YOU ARE THE MAN !!!!!!!!! I'm an industrial electrician and for some reason that "pull the fuse to isolate the problem" would have never come to me! Simplistically Genius. You work at a GM shop... do you have any idea how many fuses an Olds Aurora has?!?! I may have to take time off from work to do this :0) Thanks again man... Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireman31 Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Dan, YOU ARE THE MAN !!!!!!!!! I'm an industrial electrician and for some reason that "pull the fuse to isolate the problem" would have never come to me! Simplistically Genius. You work at a GM shop... do you have any idea how many fuses an Olds Aurora has?!?! I may have to take time off from work to do this :0) Thanks again man... Jim. Actually, I am a municipal employee ( ), I used to manage a 25 unit fleet of Chevy vans. I apologize, I don't have the slightest clue about Auroras.....I am sure someone here will chime in....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
page305 Posted September 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 All this time I thought you worked at GM... I guess because you knew so much and because of the GM canopy in your Sig's background... ha! That's what I get for assuming. The joke about Aurora's was because they have 5 fuse boxes jammed up with 2 billion mini's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueAKSSS Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 (edited) I know what your saying about them having a lot of fuses, my dad has a 95 aurora. If it has an aftermarket amp check to make sure that it turns off with the ignition and start pulling fuses like fireman said. Edited September 6, 2010 by Matt* (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wody Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 electrical is all about isolating the problem circuit and the best/ easiest way is to pull their respective fuses. oldest trick in the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
04CHASE Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 electrical is all about isolating the problem circuit and the best/ easiest way is to pull their respective fuses. oldest trick in the book. being a 96 it shouldnt have too many but look for a large draw . id guess a couple amps if its killing the batt that quick. most pos mulitmeters will show amps just make sure you have your probes in the right spot on the multimeter for this as some have 3 plugs for 2 probes . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desrtrat Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 also have your alternator checked for bad diode(s) good luck.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
page305 Posted September 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 also have your alternator checked for bad diode(s) good luck.. Charging system was good at 13.8v to 14.4v (varies by rpm's). Diodes as in mosfets/jfets and bi-polar gates? :0) Half Wave Rectifiers baby! lol. I appreciate all the help guys. I'll be checking and pulling the fuses one by one when I get home from work tomorrow. Will post the result as I find it... just for spits and giggles. Couldn't believe I didn't think about the fuses... that's the first thing I was taught about electrical troubleshooting; Logic, Control, Systematic, and Isolation. I was looking through the wiring schematics in my GM service manual thinking "how am I going to test all this?!" Never even looked at it as fuses were tiny disconnects for every circuit in the car. Sometimes you have to be on the outside looking in I guess. Thanks again gentleman... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted September 10, 2010 Report Share Posted September 10, 2010 Remember that these 'smart vehicles' are basically a collection of individual computers (aka "modules") that constantly talk to each other, and for some reason one of the modules in the vehicle is "staying awake" long after it has been sent the command to power down; in the trucks the Bose headunits and amps are infamous for this. Remember that the BCM (body control module) *never* goes to sleep, because it is always monitoring ignition key cylinder, entry/exit, lighting, your remote keyfob, etc so that circuit will always have a trickle of a draw, but not enough to exhaust a large car battery. Everything else is supposed to power-down when the "retained accessory power" timer is exhausted. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
page305 Posted September 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2010 (edited) I think I found it by chance. I was routing an ipod cable from the trunk and as I stuck my hand behind the trunk liner I felt a very hot piece of metal. The antennae motor was burning hot. Being that the antennae was broken, I'm assuming it was trying to lower the "raised" antennae and continued to do so after the car was off. Figured I'd post up just for records sake. Thanks guys for the help... by the way, I did the draw test and got nothing. I believe I did it right (used an auto-ranging ideal DMM with .000 placement of sensitivity placed in series with the positive terminal of the battery and the positive cable while they were detached). (I have little/no experience with auto wiring or complex DC circuits) Edited September 25, 2010 by page305 (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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