Something draining my battery

[Mondo3D]

Hey peeps,

Got a problem with my 87 turbo II, well actually a bunch of problems, but the main one seems to be my electrical system. Something seems to be draining my battery. I can only drive my car for a week before i have to recharge. I did the obvious, by having my altenator checked out everything is fine on that end. All my belts are fine. I bought a new battery with 800 cranking amps (more than enough), but still it keeps dying.

Other recent problems is that my wiper switch only has one working setting and security light doesnt blink when the door is open only when i unlock it. The locking beep sound also isnt working anymore. I also unhooked my cd deck, so that cant be causing the problem.

Not sure if the other problems are connected to my battery issue. But if you guys have any ideas it would totally help.

God i hate electrical problems!!

[Soyo]

you might have some bad sensors, I have some on my car right now and it won't even start because it is sending the wrong amount of volts to different things I guess so I can only start it if I get a jump and then it dies within a minute.... I have a bad map sensor and a bad throttle positioning sensor so maybe you should look into those... just an idea

[89tracerman]

did u mess with your car lately? did u change something?

[fcdriver]

The wiper switch more then likely has a bad solenoid, you can clean the contacts on the solenoid and that will solve the problem for a while if not indefinitely or you can change the bad solenoid, it's the hardest one to get to and if I remember correctly it's the lowest on the switch.

You should check all your ground cables to see if they're corroded or if the connectoin isn't good and also check the battery terminals that could cause a drain on your battery.

You should buy a shop manual on the car so you can find the source of the security light, I want to say that the pcm? pcu? controls it but I think there's an additional control unit that has command over the security system, if I can find my manual I'll look over it and see what controls it to help send you in the right direction.

[D3rELiC]

theres a device in the alternator that keeps your battery from discharging over time, i cant remeber the name off the bat, but do some research in that sens, its the main difference between a 80 and 81 + alternator on Fbs

[Mondo3D]

thanks for the replies boys! I'm still on it tho I decided to try and fix the main battery problem before tinkering around with all the broken switches. Altho the guys at the parts shop said my alternator was good i tested it with a volt meter and i'm only getting 12.5 - 12.9 out of it (pretty sure it should be at 13-14 range if not higher). So me thinks i might have to replace the voltage regulator.....i checked all the grounds and they look good and all the fuses are good as well. Also the belts are snug, but not too snug..lol..but another problem i'm having is the stock alarm keeps going off every time i put my key in the ignition...that's no biggy at least i know it's working, but the funny thing is it's the first time i've ever heard it in the 5 years of owning my car!

But i have a another question, i looked down by the oil filter and saw there were two electrical plugs dangling (ones black male double knotched wire and the other one is a single wire with a white female connector), not sure what those are for and where they go....they could be diagnostic plugs not sure tho so i didnt touch them plus my hands are to big to reach and i didnt feel like taking things apart to get to them.

Anyways if i cant get things figured out i'm going back to my home town for xmas and they have an rx7 specialty shop, so i might just take it there and get raped...ah well?! (such a good idea to open a shop like that cause these cars break easily)

btw my rear wiper is broken as well, i'm sure it's the same fix as the front ones...thanks again, peace.

[drftk1d]

if you put in a ls1 it will solve the problem.

[D3rELiC]

plus you'll have more power and better milleage.

[Mondo3D]

Well my problems just got worse....my car has been cranking over really slow lately, but i was still able to start it. Today on the drive home from work, supprisingly it cranked over super fast. I got home parked it and then tried to start it up, and i got nothing (not even a whisper of a crank). At first i thought the battery was dead, but all the interior lights work and heads lights have power. So i guess maybe the starter is gone?? I read through the repair manual and it shocked me that i also have the symptoms of an seized engine. If i was the hulk i would take that car and chuck it to the moon!! Any idea's from you guys would help a ton. I really hope it's not seized!

[fcdriver]

I would check the cables going to the starter first and take a breaker bar and socket and put it on the main pulley and try turning it to see if the engine still turns. I'd say your starter is either not getting a good connection, or the seleniod is bad or the abendix(sp?) is having problems. I have the same problem with my starter sometimes but the abendix sticks at times, I've pulled it apart and cleaned it but that still didn't help. I can tap on the side of my starter with a metel bar and that will free it up and it'll crank, if your engine still turns you could try that to see if it helps any at all, but I would start with the connections and then try tapping the starter.