Something is draining my battery

[Squirrel]

whenever my car is left unattended for more than a period of 24 hours it will no longer start, this isnt occasional, its pretty much guarnteed and its not slightly drained, its out, the starter wont even give me a whirl :P...bring out the jump box, put it on and it fires right up no probs...
1. the alternator is throwing voltage back at the battery fine
2. i have not had my system hooked up for months
3. my volt gauge is pretty much useless since it swings back and forth like a freaking clock
4. my fans are no longer hotwired and they dont come on until about ~160*
5. the characters at autozone tested my batt. and came up with a clean bill of health
any advice would be helpful right about now

[Fasterthanyou]

Something is drawing a lot of power. Remove the ground cable and place a multimeter in A mode to measure the amps. Run the multimeter inline and see if it's drawing more than an amp. The only thing that should be taking power is the ecm to retain memory and the radio to do the same. Everything else should be completely off. If you find a lot of amps are being drawn from the battery with key off then keep measuring and start pulling fuses. That'll tell you what circuit is the problem. Good luck.

[89 Trans Am WS6]

yeah like he said.

Just depending on the meter make sure you do it with a quality meter that has a internal fuese/breaker and that you have it set on at least a 10a scale..

FWIW i dont think even the ecm mem and radio mem is going to draw even a full amp.

Best thing to do is put the meter in series on the amp scale..then record your reading. Leaving the meter as it is, start pulling fuses one by one..if it stays the same replace the fuse if it suddenly drops down then you found your circuit.

Check places like glove box lights console lights etc..

[Squirrel]

well i just went out there and found 3 fuses that were using juice....11.89 volts at the battery with them in and 12.01 w/o...they were the pcm, pwr accy, and courtesy lights...but theyre always on, so theres not much i can do about that
ive cleaned the terminals, grounds, and posts connected to the battery
any other ideas as to what it can be?

[tastyle88]

well i just went out there and found 3 fuses that were using juice....11.89 volts at the battery with them in and 12.01 w/o...they were the pcm, pwr accy, and courtesy lights...but theyre always on, so theres not much i can do about that
ive cleaned the terminals, grounds, and posts connected to the battery
any other ideas as to what it can be? try looking at the back hatch motor sometimes they draw power when they are shorted try unplugging that and see what happens

[Squirrel]

hatch motor??

[Tru2Chevy]

hatch motor??

It's a very nifty device that only the thirdgens got. Allows the hatch to be shut tightly without slamming it. Remind me next time you are around and I'll show you how it works :wink:

- Justin

[89 Trans Am WS6]

Its prolly the stupidest device known to man kind. It requires you to use effort to close your hatch ALMOST all the way, and then the motor does it the last inch or so...why this is important i dont know..i had a thirdgen without that option and it closed without slamming..who knows.. ;(

[Tru2Chevy]

Its prolly the stupidest device known to man kind. It requires you to use effort to close your hatch ALMOST all the way, and then the motor does it the last inch or so...why this is important i dont know..i had a thirdgen without that option and it closed without slamming..who knows.. ;(

Eh - I've had one third gen with it, and one without. I still think it's nifty, but it will prolly get fired one of these days in the name of weight....

- Justin

[foff667]

Its prolly the stupidest device known to man kind. It requires you to use effort to close your hatch ALMOST all the way, and then the motor does it the last inch or so...why this is important i dont know..i had a thirdgen without that option and it closed without slamming..who knows.. ;(

Eh - I've had one third gen with it, and one without. I still think it's nifty, but it will prolly get fired one of these days in the name of weight....

- Justin

i dont think tim ever found one to work on his car...found one, but it didnt work...i cant stand them they always kill themselves.

[Untamed]

Hey guys,

I'm reviving this old thread because I am in the same boat. I got the whole car buttoned back up, turned the key, and got nothing. Nothing lights up, no chime to tell me the key is in the ignition, etc. Took the battery to Autozone for testing and they said they couuldn't even charge it enough to get any cranking amps out of it. And while I have a warranty on the battery (bought it at Sears) I need to find out what drained it.

I have a multi meter as describe above, but haven't used it for anything other than checking AC outlets in a house. How do I use it for checking fuses? I'm a noob at auto electrical stuff and need some guidance on how to use the multimeter for checking electrical shorts in the car.

Thanks!