Battery Died

Sniper101 · 09-22-2005, 07:51 AM

I have a 93 chevy lumina z34 that i am preparing for inspection. I had a bad IAC valve and was in the process of changing it; but i diconnected the battery to try to reset the idle(it didnt work). later I hooked everything back up and found out the the IAC valve was the problem by doing the diognostic computer check trick with a paperclip. I went in later that night excited that i had found the problem and woke up with another. My battery was totally dead. I tried to start it and no lights or sounds at all. Please help I've never seen this problem before and have no idea what to do besides take a volt meter to every single light, wire, and fuse in the car which would take so long my inspection tags would expire. thanks

tblake · 09-22-2005, 10:34 AM

you have a parasitic load. Its not that hard to narrow down on. Just Turn the car off, access the fuses, and take a multimeter, set it to measure amps (current flow), and pull out each fuse individually, and insert the ammeter leads where the fuse leads contact. The meter will complete the circuit, and will give you a readout. Make sure there are no lights on in the car, no radio and no doors open. Do this to every fuse in the fuse box. you should have at most a couple milliamps. If you get any more, you have found the faulty circuit. On a side note, the interior light switch sometimes will get bumped to the top, and that sets the interior lights on. Once you have found the suspect circuit, you may need a wiring diagram to trace down the suspect component. Good luck.

Sniper101 · 09-22-2005, 01:01 PM

Thank you sir. Ill try it out tonight and get back to ya tomorrow on the results.

Sniper101 · 09-23-2005, 06:54 AM

Thank you it worked i found it

tblake · 09-24-2005, 06:03 PM

found it, huh? What circuit was it? Did you find the bad component or bad wire, or just know whats causing it?

Sniper101 · 09-26-2005, 08:06 AM

It was some wiered wire that the previous owner installed. I checked all of the fuses i could find and when they all came out good i took a really good look all around the car and in the motor and found i yellow wire that was just chillin out against some metal. My battery is fine mow. Thanks again

tblake · 09-27-2005, 06:14 PM

ha, yeah, someone tapped into a fuse in my g/f's GMC jimmy, I found a wire just hanging (even stripped at the end) and it was left to flop aginst bare metel (ground), when I scoped out where it came from, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was not needed, and I took it out. Man, the stupid things people do to cars, huh?

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