Electrical problems

[Jess&Greg]

Well, here's the deal. I recently bought an 88 Camaro. It's in perfect shape, subtract the engine. I wanted to keep it all original and the original engine was a 2.8 V6. I found an 86 firebird engine, and it ran great. All redone. So we dropped it in yesterday fired right up. Here's the problem. It drains the battery in a matter of a minute. The alternator is brand new. The wires running to the starter, battery and alternator are all right, but something is draining the battery unbelievably fast. If you let it just idle you can go for quite a while but as soon as you hit the gas it starts jumping and jerking and finally just quits. I was just curious if anyone else has encountered the same problems or am just looking for suggestions as to what I could do to fix this problem. I looked for loose or broken wires, everythings plugged in?? Just very frustrated.

[92rs25th]

The starter might be shorting out , take it out and have it tested. Has happened to me before .

92rs25th.

[89IROC&RS]

also possible is that you pinched a harness somewhere, when you dropped the engine in, and you have a short to the chassis and strait to the battery. i think you can narrow it down to a major ground or power cable, that is somehow grounded and completeing a circuit to the battery. the starter is a very likely place, but id check all your wiring and test all your major cables for a short to ground at the chassis

[Jess&Greg]

You really had the same problem? It would lose the charge right away. So what did you end up doing, just getting a different starter? I've checked every wiring harness, every ground wire, everything is tight. Maybe it is the starter. I'll try it. Thanks.

[92rs25th]

Yes sir , On my s-10 . My starter was bad and not a wire was exposed , lose or grounding out. Just something that happens with starters when they go bad.

[ridge_runner]

is the alternator hooked up right?

[4onFloor]

i think IROC is on the right track with the ground problem. make sure that the chassis and the block are grounded.

[ridge_runner]

well you never kno, you could have gotten a bad alternator, its happened to me

[4onFloor]

isn't there a fuse on the passenger side fender next to the battery, like a 20amp? if so, i think it's in line with the alt. and battery, might make sure it's not blown.

[89IROC&RS]

well my main reason for thinking its a pinched harness is that you just dropped an engine in, its very easy not to notice that something got smooshed when doing that kind of job. but basicly what youre gonna want to do is dissconect every wire at both ends, without moving it, leave the negative post of the battery connected to the chassis, disconect the positive cable. then test each wire for continuity to the positive battery cable. if you get current flow, through a dissconected cable, then its rubed through, grounded out, or pinched somewhere. and thats your problem.