Hard time finding slow electrical drain...I need advice

I have been having a hell of a time tracking down an electrical drain in my 1989 GT (5sp). It has no aftermarket sterio (although it did but whoever wired it was a hack). I thought i found the problem once, it was the light in the hatch area, it was't turning off so i removed the light and everything was good. It sat for about 2 weeks and started fine everytime i fired it up. Then i went out the next time (about 2 days later) and my battery was completly dead. So now i was thinking bad alt. so i removed the battery after jumping it and it ran fine ( i drove it about a mile). I have removed all the fuses from the interior fuse panel, but it is still drainging somewhere. I know that there is not a easy way for someone to tell what i need to look at, or what i need to fix so what i am looking for is a better method or a better testing process for finding this(or these) drains. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

take the battery to murray's/autozone/pepboys/aap and ask them to test it. usually they do it for free. if the battery is bad buy an optima, last battery you'll ever buy.

Sorry i forgot to mention this is the third (3rd!!!) battery i have put in it because i have forgot to disconect the cables when i am done driving it. I am about to haul it in to a local garage that i trust will be able to fix it, but at what cost! you know what i mean?

1st determine the amount of drain. With a multimeter disconnect one side of the battery and connect multimeter to read amperage. Without a multimeter (primitive) touch the dissconnected lead (tap) and gauge the spark. Better at night or in dark. (power and ignition off, door closed, lights off, hood light disabled, etc)

Then pull all the fuses and try again. With all the fuses pulled and testing the battery draw again..... if still getting draw, then you've determined that its not in the secondary circuit. (a possible short in the base wiring before the fuse box)
.......If no draw then systematically install a fuse and test. Continue one at a time until you determine the circuit that your problem exists. Refer to the owners manual to see what accessories are on that circuit, then test all components until you find your demon.

Hope this helps!

Hey thanks man, i was kinda fuzzy on the procedure for checking this. Thanks for clearing that up. I have done this before and it fixed it (i was using a multimeter) then about 3 weeks later another drain popped up and killed that baterry. This time it was not draining from the secondary circuit, so i need some help with locating the drain in the engine bay now. Where do i start? What is the procedure this time?

Five bucks says its the belt tensioner.

I have never heard of a over/under tensioned belt causing charging problems? Thanks for the idea.

solinoid??? Mabey???

It can kill brand new batteries.

I don't know if this helps to narrow it down but i just killed another battery. The car was never started or run, i had it in there for testing purposes and forgot to remove it. I guess that would eliminate the belt tensioner. I just found a bunch of receits for oil changes and shit inside the (formerly locked) glove box. I found a receipt dated 4/16/03 for a alternator and i found another for a starter but the half with the date is ripped off. Thanks for all the suggestions

I'm definitely sticking by it being the belt tensioner. My uncle had this same exact problem. He killed 3 brand new batteries...bought a brand new alternator. blah blah. he was stumped. I told him. "it's the belt tensioner" and he would reply "no, it can't be..that has nothing to do with it." What was it? Belt tensioner. It's worth a shot!

I do not think it could be the tensioner because there is no electrical connection. Start pulling fueses untill you get no more drain on the battery (using a meater).
I had a 76 Stang that had a bad Hood switch so the light under the hood would never go out,(or trunk) It was fine if i drove it every day but as soon as it sat for more then a day dead battery.
Just a thought.
Good luck!

PS any after market stereo or alarm in the car if so disconnect and see if that gets it.

Sorry just had another thought.
What about the Egnition switch? If it is faulty would/could it leave the acc. circuit live??? Any thoughts???
Monte_SS
PS don't let the Monte SS thing get to you i have a 88 5.0 too.

The ignition is hot wired, coulld that be a possible cause? The car has a (really really) long story that goes with it, but needless to say it has no keys. I am buying lock cylinders somtime over the winter to fix that.

The ignition is hot wired, coulld that be a possible cause? The car has a (really really) long story that goes with it, but needless to say it has no keys. I am buying lock cylinders somtime over the winter to fix that.

Hot wired? Im assuming this car was stolen. Did you have this problem prior to that (back when you had keys)? There are lots of connections in your ignition. Turning over the motor is just one of many functions. I would put repairing your ignition at the top of your list because that could easily be the problem. Sounds like something isnt getting shut off.

Wow...you should have said that to begin with. Well damn. There you go.

I was going to say... an important chunk of information to leave out.

HAHA sorry that was pretty stupid to leave out, i had just gotten so use to not needing a key to start it i did't even think about it. No it is not stolen, it was an abandoned vehicle and i have all the paper work filed with the local police and the secretary of the state, all i need to do is pass a final inspection and i can title it. I bought it for $350 back in july and have put about $1800 into it (this included a new front clip, a door, a new window, a parts car i bought along the way and all the misc. painting supplys and the paint itself). The guy i bought it from owns a few of these and was planning on driving it before selling it. Well he got married and the wife did't like seeing 3 5.0's everytime she looked out in the driveway. Thats when i saw it sitting in the guys yard, i asked how much and he said $350. It ran and droove when i bought it and still does today so i am pretty happy with the purchase. I could have possibly bought a car in the same shape for about the same total price but i would't have learned anything from that car. I have learned alot from this one already, way more than the $2150 i have spent on it. But back to the question at hand, if i replace the ignition lock will that possibly solve this or is the igntion more complicated than that?

Yeah I would replace the ignition lock and depending on the damage quite possibly replace the entire ignition. I can't gauantee it will take care of your problem but I'd say the odds are real good. Like I said earlier your not just unlocking the steering there are alot of things getting turned on so there are a lot of things that need to be turned off. If you've got a damaged ignition that should be one of the first things you get repaired.

Integral voltage regulator may be leaking.
I've seen this several times and seems to fit your problem description. Usually discharges a battery in 1 to 2 days! To test, pull plug on regulator to see if it stops the discharge

Integral voltage regulator? Where can i find this? On a good note, it is really coming along...i got some dynomax mufflers on it, new pads and rotors, and new driver seat is wating to be put in. Now all i have to do is wait for things to thaw out around here. I am aiming for the 1st week of march to be ready to title and insure it. I hope to be driving it within that week.

Integral voltage regulator is built right into the alternator. Replacing the whole atlernator is best.

If the battery checks out fine, and you've gone through a few, start checking everything connected to your continual power. Things like the cigarette lighter, the lights. Any accessories you might have hooked up across your continual power will kill your battery faster than you might think. All it takes is a cell-phone charger or a portable CD player left plugged in overnight in mid-winter temps to eat up your battery.
Don't do like that one guy said, though; don't look for current. Check for resistance. If your battery and all your grounds are unhooked, and you check for resistance between, say, the hot on the light-switch and ground, you should read infinite resistance. If not, that's where your short is. Do the same with the lights, the cigarette lighter, power to the computer, and anything else you might have wired in like a tach or other guages.
I went through the same thing with an F-250 of mine, and it took me weeks and weeks to figure out that when I wired in the Tach, I hooked up the hot across the cigarette lighter, and even after I shut the truck off, the Tach continued to draw power. That thing had a 1000 CCA Deep Cycle Marine battery in it - and wouldn't stay charged if I didn't run the truck every 24 to 36 hours. Maybe check your voltage regulator, as well. Ford (Mazda) alternators are notorious for having shitty VR's.
Just a couple ideas.

Thanks for the info, it has really helped alot. i want to work on it right now, but we just got about a foot of snow and now it is covered completly. Anyways i know the alternator is fairly new (less than 9 months) but if it is the voltage regulator can i have autozone or someone like that check for a bad VR? Or can they only test the alt. as a whole unit? I was looking around inside of it the other day, and i noticed that there are a pair of RCA's haniging out of the carpet in the hatch area. So i am certain that someone had a system in it at some point in time. I am gonna try and find where they wired the remote wire into the stock radio, cuz that could very well be the whole problem right there. i will keep all of you informed as i progress with the car. 3 months till i can drive it....