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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / December 2005How to find out where the short circuit is?
My Chrysler T&C battery would drain out if I don't run for a while. Initially, if I don't run the car over 2 days, then it needs jumped to start. Then 1 day, then the last time, it took only about 10 hours not running to drain out. Before that 10 hour drained out, I drove the car for at least 40 minutes continuously mostly on high way. I took the battery to check out at AdvanceAutoParts, it it's good. Now, I unplug the negative plug after I shut off the engine. When running, I can turn on the heat (winter), and things are working fine. It does not seem to be the alternator because it seems to generate enough electricity for this. I don't like to jump into any conclusion here. Please give me some ideas of where should I start to trouble shoot this given the symtoms above. I have with me a volt/amp meter (max current of 25 Amp). I also have the factory service manuals. The best start to this problem is to remove one of the battery terminals, and measure the current drain (with the car off, doors closed, etc) between the battery post and the battery cable terminal. If you have an alarm system, you will probably have to disengage it if you can, or make your VOM connection permanent and wait for the damn system to settle down. If your drain current is more than approximately 100 - 150 ma, then start removing fuses one by one and see if you find one circuit that is draining your battery. It is often due to a courtesy light that is staying on when it shouldn't, sometimes to a bad alternator diode, stuck or malfunctioning relays, etc. If none of the fuses decrease the drain, disconnect the main heavy wire to the alternator and see if that stops the drain. If still no relief, use your circuit diagram and start going down the circuits, disconnecting branches of the 'tree' and noting the result. The most confusing one I ever saw was in a Buick Regal...Fully charged, good alternator, and good battery, it would often refuse to start the next morning. Finally, I got serious about troubleshooting it and found that there was a relay that controlled the safety belt retractors that would activate when it got cold. Intermittents can be a bitch to find. But you CAN find them, in time, disabling the wiring branches and observing the results. > If none of the fuses decrease the drain, disconnect the main heavy wire to > the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > CAN find them, in time, disabling the wiring branches and observing the > results. I had an old "fishing car" we never could find the problem. EVERY circuit was leaky! We used a bench 12 volt (actually 0-30, 0-3A current and voltage regulated) on each fuse terminal and every branch showed current all the time. Turned out it was a flood car and the fix would be to rewire completely. I put a master switch on the battery and drove it that way six or seven years. Eventually it rotted out and we pulled out the drivetrain and all the salvageable stuff and burned it. The engine is still running in a camper truck and has never been apart as far as I know. I gave the trans to a trans shop and the rear end sold for as much as I paid for the CAR to a roundy-rounder! "Bret Ludwig" <bretldwig@yahoo.com> wrote in message Turned out it was a flood car and the fix would > be to rewire completely. Rita, and Katrina, and Wilma (and possible Gamma) certainly left a horde of flooded cars. Caveat emptor > "Bret Ludwig" <bretldwig@yahoo.com> wrote in message > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Rita, and Katrina, and Wilma (and possible Gamma) certainly left a horde of > flooded cars. Caveat emptor Check this out: http://www.nicb.org/ It would be really nice if they could keep this going for future hurricanes. Ted Thank you for the help. Using the pulling the fuses trick, I pulled and put back one by one every fuse and every relay on the fuse box. Only 1 causes the current to drop from around 1amp to very small (maybe 0.1 or something). This is the IOD (ignition off draw). I checked the circuit diagram, it seems to go to the radio, speakers, front module controller and wiper module. I pulled out the radio, but it didn't help. My radio/cd player did not work properly for a long while, so I think this probably causes this too. My plan is to locate different connectors, disconnect them to see if it helps and locate the problem area further. With this new information, do you have any new advice? Thanks, --vdu You know this could be really simple. I had Advance tell me my battery was good too after placing it on their machine. My battery was stiil running down after a day or two. I took it to a local Auto Wiring place to check out. They told me it was a bad battery. It was discharging on its own after a day or two. It wouldn't hold the charge. I replaced the battery and have not had a problem since. >My Chrysler T&C battery would drain out if I don't run for a while. > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >I have with me a volt/amp meter (max current of 25 Amp). I also have >the factory service manuals. |
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