Battery Drain

Aug 04, 2007 14 Replies
2001 Silverado. My truck drains the battery after 3 or 3 days of no driving. I replaced the battery and checked everywhere. I can find nothing on that could be draining the battery. Any suggestions? Rob

Quit searching and put in a battery cutoff switch. Under $4 at Walmart.

bad diode in the alternator

Whitelightning

This suggestion is absolutely ridiculous for so many reasons

It was good for a saturday morning laugh.

Rig up an ammeter in line and start disconnecting things and pulling fuses until the current drain goes away. I'd start with the alternator like Whitelightning suggested.

Do you have any aftermarket electronics installed?

How old is your battery?

Took the words right out of my mouth:)

Al

Sounds like the cigarette lighter is pushed in and stuck.

No after market parts. The whole truck is completely stock. Battery is about 2 weeks old.

Rather than a amp. meter , rig a 30 watt bulb in series with one leg of the battery. For a good battery to lose its charge in 2 or 3 days that 30 watt bulb should glow very nicely ( and with long test/jumper leads the bulb can be seen by you, as you disconnect ((start with that alt. lead as someone else suggested , then fuses ,then other electrical connections)) till that bulb goes out or so dim you can't tell it's passing current ( should normally should draw a slight bit). This gives you a fair chance of locating the source of the drain.

lol, did the truck's dash catch fire? If not, that probably is not it.

I'll add to the list:

glove box light. check at night to see if its on.

Just out of curiousity, does this truck have a safety kill for anything left on like the newer Fords?

I had an ash tray with a light in it once. Where I used to keep my sun glasses... Used to... It ran my battery dead. It may be a little loose... maybe.

my2cents.

My dead battery turned out to be a bad Ttanium from Advance Auto. Aparently, they have had some serious quality control problems.

When I had some othe work done on the vehicle, I got an Internstate battery, and that has performed dependably for me.

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