My son's 91 Corvette had a very low battery (65%) and I replaced it. The new battery dropped almost immediately to 85% when it was installed. I took my multimeter tester and connected it between the negative cable and negative post and it immediately blew the 200 milliamp fuse in the tester. The car has the notorious china wall oil leak and I wonder if enough oil has gotten on the starter/solenoid to create a short. That is difficult to check since the starter is not easy to get to. Any ideas on where this much load could be coming from?
Checking battery drain
- Thread starter pdeason
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
- Messages
- 720
- Location
- Amherst, NY
- Corvette
- 1996 Torch Red Coupe (Prior 1988 and 1989)
That is enough juice to light up a small bulb. I would hook up a test bulb like you did with the meter and start pulling fuses one by one.
- Thread starter
- #3
Think I may have found the problem. The starter is soaked with oil from the rear oil leak. I took the electrical connections loose and clean them. Put them back on and the car started like normal. If this proves to be the issue I see a long day (maybe two) of fixing the oil leak.
boomdriver
Well-known member
wow...
you have the opportunity to turn the situation around and benefit from this upcoming repair...
Since the intake has to come off, take a good look at the injectors and think about $200 to replace them with a set from FIC while its all apart.
Service and clean/test the EGR valve, change all the hidden vac lines and get a handful of pushrods or even a new set all around. Those are cheap. If the motor is high miles (close to 200K) I'd buy a set of lifters as well.
Its all a matter of budget of course, but there is a LOT that can be done when the intake comes off. Even if its just simple housework cleaning and securing loose wire, hoses etc, the car benefits. One thing that I would definately do is to inspect the harness on the firewall and all the branches that run off of it. If its broken open or the conduit is damaged repair that and seal it back up. Secure the branches so they are not pulling on the trunk line. The harness is suceptable to damage from corrosion, water, moisture in the sleeve, and wire pulling apart. Securing that section along the firewall can potentially save you a ton of headaches in the future. I advise doing it now because its accessable with the intake off and that leak could have been getting in or on the trunk. That can degrade the plastic insulation...
you have the opportunity to turn the situation around and benefit from this upcoming repair...
Since the intake has to come off, take a good look at the injectors and think about $200 to replace them with a set from FIC while its all apart.
Service and clean/test the EGR valve, change all the hidden vac lines and get a handful of pushrods or even a new set all around. Those are cheap. If the motor is high miles (close to 200K) I'd buy a set of lifters as well.
Its all a matter of budget of course, but there is a LOT that can be done when the intake comes off. Even if its just simple housework cleaning and securing loose wire, hoses etc, the car benefits. One thing that I would definately do is to inspect the harness on the firewall and all the branches that run off of it. If its broken open or the conduit is damaged repair that and seal it back up. Secure the branches so they are not pulling on the trunk line. The harness is suceptable to damage from corrosion, water, moisture in the sleeve, and wire pulling apart. Securing that section along the firewall can potentially save you a ton of headaches in the future. I advise doing it now because its accessable with the intake off and that leak could have been getting in or on the trunk. That can degrade the plastic insulation...
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks for the tips. The sad part is we replaced the injectors last year and could have done this but it was not leaking then. The car only has 87,000 miles so I doubt the internal components are hurt. I was reading last night and found that oil is a very poor conductor of electricity. It actually acts as an insulator.
Similar threads
Corvette Forums
Supporting Vendors
Dealers:
