Battery dies 91 Lumina

[fromhere2there]

Hello,

I've been reading many of the post and they are really helpful. I have a 91 Lumina 3.1 that I just purchased and the battery dies over night or maybe two nights if I'm lucky. I have disconnected the - battery cable and the battery doesn't die. I connected a test light at the positive and it is bright.

My ??? is should the gagues (fuel, temp, oil pressure) stay up and reading correctly or should they drop all the way down when the car is turned off. The gagues stay on. I thought someone might know this from their car.

Thanks for any help.

[jeffcoslacker]

Newer ones zero out but I think the older ones would float when the power was shut off.

Easiest way to find out is to pull the fuse for them and see if it changes anything.

If not keep pulling fuses until you find the load. If you don't find it, try disconnecting the alternator...on the old ones if a diode had problems, power would be drawn from the battery and energize the alternator's windings when shut off....it's called "motoring"...the alternator is trying to act like an electric motor.

Other things that are live and on dedicated fusible links (not fuses) can be a source of load too.

[fromhere2there]

Thanks, I guess the battery is just old and the radio was draining the battery. I'll just keep the fuse out and live without the radio.