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Old 01-04-2009, 03:38 PM   #1
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Possible sources of slow battery drain?

My dad's 93 Z28 will drain the battery over the course of a week if not started and used daily. I did some searching and found this:

http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31541

With a full charge on the battery (less than 1 year old), overnight on a 2amp trickle charge the car starts and drives fine, volt guage looks good, no spiking either direction.

First I made sure all the interior courtesy lights were working and the associated switches were behaving. They all checked out.

So I checked to see if the alternator was the culprit (as described in the link) and it checked out fine. Next I started going one by one through all the fused circuits, both at the driver side dash and in the engine bay on the driver side fender well. I think I found the circuit causing the issue, Power Acc. a 15 amp circuit. The only 3 things I could find on this fuse that were obvious were the door locks, the power mirrors, and power hatch release. Is there anything else on this circuit to look for? How do I go about trouble shooting each wire? Probe the end of each connection at the door panels with a test light and see if I have power where I shouldn't? I hooked up my multi-meter between the neg bat cable and the negative terminal and the draw looks to be small, 1.3 amps +/-.

Any ideas?

After screwing around doing this for about 2-1/2 hours we put everything back together, left out the 15 amp Pwr Accy fuse and I want to take the car out for a quick blast......except it wouldn't start cause the battery was weak. Quick jump and it started right up no problems, blasted up and down 295 no problems. Got it back to my parents house in the garage and turned it off. It started right back up. So as a little test we have the battery on a trickle charge for a couple hours and then we are going to leave the car sit till next weekend with the 15 amp fuse removed, just to confirm what is going on.

Thanks
Chris
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Old 01-04-2009, 05:36 PM   #2
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hmmmm i wonder if there is an issue with the rap (retained accessory power) module. if the battery is drained next time you check it, try unplugging the module. its on the driver side under the dash on the fire wall. its mounted in like a rubber tap.
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Old 01-05-2009, 04:11 PM   #3
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any aftermarket stereo or car alarm? also my work truck coil was going bad. id work 2 consecutive days. started fine. skip a day and it barely started. needed a jump at times.
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Old 01-05-2009, 05:50 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FBODS4EVER View Post
any aftermarket stereo or car alarm? also my work truck coil was going bad. id work 2 consecutive days. started fine. skip a day and it barely started. needed a jump at times.
Nope 100% stone stock........I even pulled the radio out to make sure there there wasn't any carnage from an old install that got switched back to stock before my dad came to own the car. Everything looks stock. No cut wires, no scotch locks. My next plan is to check the door switches and the wiring in the doors. My dad replaced one of the window motors, so maybe a wire isn't routed properly and is getting pinched or something.
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Old 01-05-2009, 10:10 PM   #5
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disconect the neg side of the batt and check to see what kid of draw you have it should be less than .4 of an amp if you have more than that then pull fuses one circ at a time.
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