94 Plymouth Grand Voyager battery problem

[chadx451]

My van's battery keeps going dead. It never dies after it has just ben driven just after it sits for a few days. I can't figure out what is draining it! I bought a new battery and that didnt help. Also ive had my alternator checked out. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[jamesslcx]

Chad if you haven't fixed it yet I would check for a draw which means something in the electrical system is pulling the battery down when the engine is not running.

[Spit]

If this isn't fixed...what you have to do is take the positive battery cable off and hook up an amp meter between the battery cable and the positive terminal teminal of the battery... within a minute or 2, the reading on the meter should drop down to a down to a fraction of an amp pobably less than .5 (Of course don't try to start the car or turn on any high amperage components with the amp meter in place)

Note wait a minute or 2 beacuse there are various circuits and relays that cut out after a couple of minutes, like a dome light or a dashboard convenience lamp. If there is a higher draw than the 1/2 amp after waiting a few minutes...start puliing fuses one at a time and see if the reading on the meter goes down to the 1/2 amp draw..if it does not, put the fuse you just pulled back in and pull the next one..Keep pulling and replacing one at a time until You pull a fuse and it goes to near zero..

Now you know what circuit that has the problem, Next you need to refer to a wiring diagram and try to figure out what devices and wires are on that circuit. In some cases you can unplug a switch or a lamp etc. from the circuit to eliminate that component..you may find that there is corrosion at a connection or bad insulation on a wire letting some battery voltage go to ground.

I wouldn't say that this is easy...but it's not rocket science either. But this is the best way to eliminate the 99% of everything electrical and reduce it to a managable amount of wire and components to look at.

Spit

[chadx451]

Thanks for the advice guys! It all seems right on par for what i needed to do. I talked to a couple of guys on here (Crvett69 and shorod) on the live chat. They gave me some of the same advice. I finally got around to it with a lite tester because i dont have a meter. I think i got it. i found a wire that went to an old hook up for a hitch lite that i dont use. Ever since i disconnected this wire my van has started every day. I hope that was it! Thanks every one!