Phantom Load was Charging circuit in 1982 TDT only putting out 13 +/- .2 volts

I took my battery into Sears and it tested good.

I put the battery back in this morning and there is a big drain when nothing is turned on and the car is shut off, so I have to start removing fuses and trying to locate which circuit is causing the load.

I put the black lead of the tester on the negative post of the battery and the positive lead on the negative cable from the car with the positive battery cable from the car connected to the positive post of the battery and it pinned the DC ammeter on my tester.

Is that the right way to connect the tester?

I will post my results.

Paul

Reply to
heav
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Suggest you disconnect the power antenna motor - there are two connections at the antenna, one for the antenna signal the other for the motor. The radio will work if the antenna is UP and the motor is disconnected.

Reply to
-->> T.G. Lambach

Thanks for the suggestion. The antenna shorted to ground last year and I just disconnected it, but I was wondering if the harness may have been pressed against a ground by the spare tire. I have satellite radio in the car and don't use the old FM antenna anymore.

For now I have the ground wire off the battery and will only connect it when I want to use the car and then in the next few days I hope to get time to go through everything.

I think my ammeter may not be any good though. I did the same check on my 4Runner, which has no charging or dead load drain problem, and the ammeter pinned on that one too. When I put a 12v light bulb in- line between the ground wire and the negative battery post on my 300 TDT, there is not enough current to make the light illuminate, so maybe there is not an excessive drain. I have a friend who has an ammeter and I am going to get him to come over and see what he thinks.

Thanks again.

Paul

On Nov 10, 10:31 am, "-->> T.G. Lambach

Reply to
heav

For now I have the ground wire off the battery and will only connect it when I want to use the car and then in the next few days I hope to get time to go through everything.

I think my ammeter may not be any good though. I did the same check on my 4Runner, which has no charging or dead load drain problem, and the ammeter pinned on that one too. When I put a 12v light bulb in- line between the ground wire and the negative battery post on my 300 TDT, there is not enough current to make the light illuminate, so maybe there is not an excessive drain. I have a friend who has an ammeter and I am going to get him to come over and see what he thinks.

Thanks again.

Paul

Are you certain the Satellite radio receiver turns off with the key?

Reply to
me

And are you sure you're connecting the ammeter correctly? On the multimeter the ammeter function has seperate input from the voltage,resistance, etc test input.

Reply to
trader4

You're right! I forgot all about plugging the leads into the other port!

Thanks a lot!

Paul

Reply to
heav

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