Battery Drain

[80RedL82]

My 80 L82's battery will drain if I dont start it once a week. Can someone steer me in the right direction to isolate the problem and troubleshoot. Thanks in advance. bob

 

[JohnZ]

Remove the ground cable at the battery and insert a digital multimeter (set on Amps) between the end of the cable and the battery terminal; if you have a current draw, you'll see it on the meter. Pull the fuses out of the fuse block one at a time, checking the meter each time; when you find the fuse that makes the current draw disappear, that's the circuit with the problem. Get a wiring diagram and see what's connected to that fuse, and start checking each item on that fuse's circuit for a short.

 

[80RedL82]

Thanks John, I will tackle it tomorrow.

 

[Cream79L82]

Now don't think I'm calling you dumb, because this was happening to me not too long ago and I was stumped too. Turned out I just needed to add some regular grade tap water into one of my batteries fuel cells. I only had about half the battery that was keepin any kind of decent charge because there wasn't enough H20 for the chemical reactions to do their thing..... you might check that if you haven't yet. Good luck.

-Jon

 

[80RedL82]

Not offended at all. Brand new battery, with correct water levels. I will be shooting the wires to see if I can isolte the circuit. Bob

 

[cruisin80]

I had this problem with my 1980 a few months ago. used the amp meter and pulled the fuses until i found it. it turn out to be the fuse marked theft, located at top left of the fuse panel under the hazard flasher. I have just left the fuse out because the factory alarm doesnt work. No more battery drain.

 

[80RedL82]

Went and trouble shot the battery drain, low and behold it was the theft circuit......... Pulled the fuse , will see if that "fixes" the problem. Thanks all for the right on troubleshooting procedures. Semper Fi... Bob

 

[ccflorida]

Battery drain too

I just did the test as mentioned above and no short but I still get battery drain. This is what how I performed the test. Set meter to
both 20 amp and 2 amp. Placed black lead into negative battery terninal and red to disconnected ground cable.. No reading meter stayed at 0. Did I do the test correct?


Thanks
Roy