Dead battery

|Got another ammeter (l-cheepo). This one says .7 amp. draw.

Too high

50 milliamperes to 100 milliamperes with key out. This is to power electric clock, and such. Junk that stays on when car is turned off.

|Pulled previous 40 amp fuse dropped down to.01 draw.

|Pulled each fuse under the dash and every circut breaker. Still showed |between .7 and .5 amp draw. The one that had the biggest drop was the "left |low beam" but then it went right back up before I put the fuse back in.

That is not to be overlooked. There is a message in here somewhere.

Go take a look at your wiring for your left headlight. Follow it back through the wiring harness to the firewall.

My suspicion right now is:

You have a wiring fault in your steering column. Specifically, with the HI-LO beam switch for your headlights.

If I were you, that is where I would be looking. I wouldn't go anywhere else until I had that checked.

Lg

Lg

Not gonna be easy to locate. I'll get on it tomorrow if the weather is not to bad I gotta go to work now...

Thanks LG

|Not gonna be easy to locate. I'll get on it tomorrow if the weather is not |to bad I gotta go to work now... | |Thanks LG

Wiring faults in the steering column are common, because so much mechanical activity takes place in there when turning levers, and such.

If there is an airbag in there, disconnect car battery first and wait

15 minutes for emergency electrical air bag reserve to bleed off so you don't get an accidental face full of safety restraint system.

Do all checks with an ohm meter, unless there is no airbag in there. Then you can do the checks with power on, and a voltmeter.

Lg

This may sound like I'm a dummy but. How do I check for faults with an ohm meter? Dave

|This may sound like I'm a dummy but. How do I check for faults with an ohm |meter? |Dave

Well you should not use an ohm meter on a circuit that is energized. The voltage may blow a fuse in your meter or worse. Ohm meter is only good for non-energized circuit.

Use volt meter instead, you know how to do that. This is not an easy problem. Electrical system problems are amongst the toughest to solves sometimes. Not easy to do.

You could have a defective hi-lo beam switch, that is leaking current when it is supposed to be -off-. Maybe this is the problem, maybe not.

To check it quickly, detach the connector to the back of your left headlight. See if there is a voltage there when the light is supposed to be off. If there is a voltage there when the light is supposed to be off, there is the problem. Not enough current to light the lamp, but enough of a parasitic load to run your battery down.

What is the chance of this happening? 1 in a million. The same as for anything else being wrong. But that is the fastest/easiest way to check for hi-low beam switch without tinkering with the steering column.

You should see zero volts when lights are switched off. If you do, that is checked off the list of possible faults.

also, remove your dome light or turn it off when you are making these tests, because with your door open, of course that is going to be pulling current from the battery.

Lg

I haven't been able to get out to the car lately. I'll keep you posted when I do. As for now I'm just disconnecting the battery.

Dave

|I haven't been able to get out to the car lately. I'll keep you posted when |I do. As for now I'm just disconnecting the battery. | |Dave

Good idea to disconnect the battery. Listen, don't feel bad, it isn't easy to fix electrical problems. But it has to be repaired, no choice, right? So when you can get back to it, I am happy to help if I -can-.

Lg

I wanted to chime in the fact that I am enjoying this thread as much as a good murder mystery. I sure hope WW keeps reporting back!

It's amazing to me how much you can learn from reading these types of threads.

Nice to see a person as helpful as you, LG! Kudos to you!

Best of luck to WW, and please keep reporting back. I think I want to find out what the problem is almost as much as you do. :)

(Now I will go back to lurking in the shadows.)

Disconnect the battery, put an amp-meter in-line between the battery post, and battery clamp, and you should see a reading if there's a drain. Pop fuses out, and disconnect connectors, ONE AT A TIME, until the drain stops. I suspect from what I've read that you'd do better to take it to a shop that specializes in automobile electrical repairs.

Lawrence Glickman wrote: : On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 15:05:59 GMT, "Willywanka" : wrote: : : |I haven't been able to get out to the car lately. I'll keep you posted when : |I do. As for now I'm just disconnecting the battery. : | : |Dave : : Good idea to disconnect the battery. : Listen, don't feel bad, it isn't easy to fix electrical problems. But : it has to be repaired, no choice, right? So when you can get back to : it, I am happy to help if I -can-. : : : Lg