LOL, thanks TOFIC. I dont know why EBs seem to have a much higher rate of alternators being the source of the draw. In other vehicles it is only about 10 percent of the time the alternator is the source of the problem.
An examlple:
I bought a 87fleetwood brougham in mint condition for $400 in 1992. No one could believe it at the auction. Found out the next day why. It drained the battery over a period of 24 hours. So I start a looking. First thing I did was disconnected the positive battery cable. Then placed a volt meter set on amps between the positive cable end and the positive post on the battery. (Test light work as well). I also took the bulbs out the underhood light and taped the door closed buttons down. So there were no lights on it the Caddy.
It showed 3amp draw, the test light would just light up. (problem with the test light is small circiuts like computer memory will leave it on in newer vehicles). Now-a-days I would just put an amp clamp around the cable and leave it connect, as with computers it is alot safer not to create sparks. (But at $400 for a decent low amp clamp not many mechanics have them) Back ot the Caddy, I started pulling fuses one by one while one of my guys watched the meter. Finally I pulled the light circuit fuse and the meter read 0.03 . So I had found where my draw was. So I put the fuse back in and start disassembling the light switch. Thought I was going to be done quickly until I discovered there where 20 something wires on the switch that lead in groups to other boxes. In total over 40 wires in the control of the lighting system, Ahhhh. Intimidating, but it just means repeatting the same steps over and over, so it really is only more time consuming.
So I start pullling one group of wires at a time. None of them orked. So I moved on to the control boxes. Third box I disconncted power from took the draw away. So now I am down to 6 possible wires for a short.
Now all I have to do is disconnect each wire at the other end (this case lights) and I will know which wire or device is shorted. Which I did and none of them solved the problem. I am only about 10 hours into this now. 10 hours of rechecking later I give up and call my stepfather in for help. It took him a few more hours to find the issue. In our case one of the plugs going through the firewall had corrosion in it. So all the wires were trickle leaking to ground. A quick cleaning and some dielectric grease and all was cured. It took another5 hours to get everything back together.
I traded the Caddy straight up for a 89 Firefly for the girlfriend. (we originally went to the auction to get her a puddle jumper, but the Caddy was the first vehicle through and I bid as a joke, the girl friend was pissed and walked 4 miles home) She drove the Firefly for a year and got a $4500 trade in credit on a new Tempo. So all in all it was a good deal. It was also a good example of how it does not need to be amajor part failure to cause the battery to drain. I have always wondered how much time or money the pervious owner spent trying to find the problem. The Caddy's light circuit literally had about twice the wiring of an entire EB. Plus another 10-15 circuits like it for us to work around. Kind of a worst case senario.
