Crazy Electrical Issue - long

dsintrepid · 10-03-2008, 04:56 PM

My car never has a dead battery - no matter how long I let it sit. I went to start it the other day & it was completely dead after sitting just a couple of days. I figured I left a door open, put it on the charger for a few hours and all seemed to be fine. I drove it to a football game 1.5 hours away 2 days later and it started fine. After the game it was dead again. I mean totally dead - like the battery was missing. I got it jumped & made it home. It started several times immediatley after getting home. The next morning totally dead again. Did a series of checks & determined 18 month old battery to be dead. Sears confirmed & gave me a new battery. 2 hours later dead again. More checking - 16.0 amp draw. Removed every fuse & relay and still had the draw. Got out the wiring diagrams & found the starter and then alternator fed by main cable. I jacked up the car & disconnected the started & sure enough draw is gone. Just to double check myself I hooked it back up but now the draw is gone. The car has now sat totally back together for 2 days & starts fine. Any one heard of this before? What could I have done that would make a draw disappear? I had the main cable disconnected at the battery end many times - not sure what difference it made disconnecting the other end. While I am happy the car starts now - I have no confidence that I will not get stranded again as I didn't really do anything. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

john walker's workshop · 10-03-2008, 05:12 PM

the alternator also gets 12V from the starter battery connection. i've replaced alternators for this problem, a few times. early external regulators can stick also. yours should be internal and solid state.

dsintrepid · 10-03-2008, 05:23 PM

Thanks JW - I was kinda thinking regulator/alternator - what I can't or won't LOL come to grips with is why did every thing change when I removed the cable from the starter. I had removed the cable from the battery many many times for a couple of seconds to several hours. Is the thinking that the regulator sticks open or closed and sucks the power? Any way to confirm when it is not acting up?

1986911 · 1986911's Garage

Dave, a 16 amp draw is pretty significant. If the problem disappears at the starter motor end, I would lean toward the starter motor, specifically the solenoid. If you can duplicate the draw again feel around the starter motor and associated wiring. Something shorting out to the tune of 16 amps is going to get warm if not hot. Remember the solenoid is basically a bridge that connects the battery to the starter motor during start up. If you can get it to repeat, bang on the solenoid and see if the draw goes away. Maybe it did not reset completely after its last start and was partially open. Good luck

Manny

ramonesfreak · ramonesfreak's Garage

subs'd
im having similar problem

dsintrepid · 10-05-2008, 07:26 AM

Thanks 1986 - The advise from both you & JW makes a lot of sense. What is curious to me is why it took removing the cable from the starter to "reset" it, because I had the battery end disconnected many times. 3 days now it has been fine - I have only driven one time however. Disconnecting the cable from the starter required me to jack the back of the car up, maybe the angle of the vehicle had something to do with it, though I highly doubt that, or maybe the solenoid stud twisted. Very confusing.

911pcars · 10-05-2008, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1986911

Dave, a 16 amp draw is pretty significant. If the problem disappears at the starter motor end, I would lean toward the starter motor, specifically the solenoid. If you can duplicate the draw again feel around the starter motor and associated wiring. Something shorting out to the tune of 16 amps is going to get warm if not hot. Remember the solenoid is basically a bridge that connects the battery to the starter motor during start up. If you can get it to repeat, bang on the solenoid and see if the draw goes away. Maybe it did not reset completely after its last start and was partially open. Good luck

Manny

+1 I suspect.

gshase · 10-05-2008, 03:21 PM

You might look for a warm spot somewhere. That 16 Amps should make close to 200 Watts of heat. Get an IR thermometer and check it out.